Have you ever participated in a conversation that took a complete left turn leaving you with a “Da!” moment? Did that same conversation have you wondering if the person really heard you? I mean, did they really understand what you were trying to convey? Did you feel that you may have left something up to interpretation? Well, I have.
Being able to repeat what a person says just means you hear them. Not that you understand the context in which the statement or statements were being used. It is important to listen to understand the perspective of the person speaking and how the words apply to what you stated or how it aligns with the subject of conversation. Most confusion comes when one is focused on either being right or wanting to prove another wrong.
In other cases that is not the case. See, hearing a person and being able to repeat what is said does not mean the person understood the context in which the words were spoken. I call this a disconnect. It’s a disconnect that in most cases stops the flow of the conversation and brews the start of an argument or disagreement. It outlines the start of a person feeling they have not been understood which births a need of the other person to focus on different methods of reiterating or relaying the information in hopes the message is clarified. But the variation within the interpretations is viewed as just a redundancy of the same ole thing igniting more confusion. Now the feels, are that the variation of reiterations is just another way of the person needing to know everything causing the translation to further get lost, escalating…
What’s next?
If this is not a first occurrence with the individual, examine the conversation to determine where things went sideways for future reference and decide if commenting is necessary at all. Determine how important it is for them to understand your perspective or add-in on the topic before you comment. Most likely the conversation is casual in its context and “righting” a misinterpretation would be too much effort. If this is an occurrence that happens between you and many others, re-evaluate your add-ins to conversations and your method of presentation. It may be something you are doing that creates the disconnect and/or allows it to easily lend itself to misinterpretation.