Interpretation

I found this wonderful card, which sadly I can’t share here, but it beautifully illustrates how one can look at the same data in two totally different ways.  It shows two overweight ladies sitting in front of a plate of cakes and one says to the other “According to my BMI chart, I’m too short!” Mostly we see the results we expect to find, so our own preconceptions are a key to what we discover.  That is why having an outsider look at a something, even if he or she knows less about the subject than you can open up new vistas.  I often feel that asking ‘stupid’ questions is a part of my job!

We also tend to receive the messages we expect to get when others talk.  So, if I think ‘John’ is clever I will find clever ways to interpret what he says, if I think him a fool I will probably listen far less attentively and be far more dismissive of anything  that he says that I don’t understand. How many misunderstandings are rooted in one party saying something and meaning A, and having the other person listen to the same words and take away meaning B.  This can be affected by how we feel too, so if we feel guilty, or insecure, then we are more likely to suspect we are being slighted or belittled. 

So perhaps next time you are confronted with data or a message, you should check if standing it on its head makes just as much sense and if it does, taking the time to find out which interpretation is more valid or useful.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2015 at 16:58 and is filed under Communication, Hints, Tips & Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.