Standard Communication is what we use most of the time, and gives us what we need. We order a salad at a restaurant, and we receive a salad. We ask directions, and the directions we are given leads to our destination. We schedule a meeting, and we both turn up at the agreed place at the agreed time. We ask someone how they are and they politely respond “fine, how are you?”

It works well enough, most of the time.

In organisations today, people report to us that people are under more pressure than ever before, they are time-poor, and they are in a near constant state of stress and this leads to hurried often unclear communication. When communication is delivered in a stressful tone, it doesn’t invite questions to clarify, so the respondent does the best they can with the information they have, only to discover later that they have wasted time doing the wrong thing, leading to more pressure and stress.

Standard Communication is similar in many ways to Problematic Communication.

It’s mainly habitual and unconscious, but the main difference is that the assumptions etc. are correct and therefore don’t produce upset or misunderstandings. It’s our belief that most assumptions are correct, that’s why we continue to make them, and make them unconsciously. In Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman explains that the brain uses 25% of all the energy we use, and therefore energy saving mechanisms are critical. Assumptions, expectations, biases and beliefs are highly effective at saving energy. And they work most of the time. Probably. We can’t be sure because when they are done unconsciously, noticing the impact passes us by, until the communication produces a big mistake or upset. That’s when we slide back into Problematic Communication.

Standard Communication is lucky Problematic Communications!