I was talking with a riding instructor yesterday about the challenge of making sure the student understands the points of the lesson. Often, she said, students nod their heads yes, when they have no idea what you are talking about. It's like being up front at the chalkboard in the classroom trying to do math equations with X and Y. You just want to sit down and end the confusion.
Conversations with students are not unlike conversations with employees, children and spouses. You will tend to keep presenting information in the same way instead of stopping to ask what part don't you understand?
Communicating the information in another way will solve the problelm quicker than repeating the same thing over and over and louder and louder.
If the other party doesn't get it and you don't change your words, you don't get it either. The reason the other party doesn't understand is that you don't understand.
Stop playing your own home movies over and over and start being creative and communicate with the goal of helping the listener understand in the best way possible for him or her.
The assumption of understanding is made in haste frequently with practices you are familiar with doing. When you teach, give instructions or introduce something old to you and new to someone else, take a few more seconds, minutes to make sure the other party understands.
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