I heard from Scott Allen again and I want to share it with you, because it’s such a great illustration of how two people who have a history of accurate communications and are generally on the same page can still miss and see the same thing differently.

When I wrote Are you understood? using a video to illustrate that ideas that have brilliant clarity inside one’s head may not come through when presented externally.

Scott responded by sending me Mackenzie v. Miller Brewing Company because he saw a direct connection. Hmm, I didn’t, but I have enormous respect for Scott, agreed that there was a good lesson in the case and wrote The high cost of gaming employees.

I then emailed Scott a link and said that I was really curious exactly what connection he saw because I thought it likely that I had missed it.

Scott wrote back, “I didn’t think Mackenzie’s judgment was faulty in the first place…The point I think it makes is about context. Out of context, it would have been harassment to just walk up to her and hand her the open dictionary. But IN CONTEXT, it was actually the polite thing to do — not say it out loud, but also not be rude and just leave her hanging, either.

I don’t know if you’ve heard this from me before, but one of my favorite sayings is “Context creates meaning.” That’s the case in the Mackenzie case, and also in the cartoon. Out of context, the woman’s just fondling herself or making suggestive gestures. In context, though, it makes some sense.”

I still think Mackenzie’s judgment was faulty, but also that she was setting him up. Mackenzie may not have had a real reason to think that, but he knew he was on shaky ground or he wouldn’t have used the dictionary. (As opposed to the dictionary, I think his best/safest bet to extricate himself from a deteriorating situation would have been to politely sidestep out of the discussion by suggesting that she ask a friend.)

One final note, I agree that context does create meaning, or, at the very least, shapes it. What managers need to remember is that their words will be repeated and discussed by their subordinates, so they should be as context-independent as possible.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 10:06 am and is filed under Business info, Communication, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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