What Are They Hearing?

The Moment

Gunner does not understand my intentions.

He understands what I communicate.

I can know exactly what I meant by a command, but if my voice, body language, timing, or consistency tells him something different, the communication has failed.

And blaming Gunner for misunderstanding me does not fix it.

That realization has followed me far beyond dog training.

The Leadership Lesson

Leaders spend a lot of time thinking about what they said.

Strong communicators also think about what other people heard.

Those are not always the same thing.

“Take ownership” may sound empowering to one employee and like “figure it out yourself” to another.

“This needs to improve” may sound urgent to you and optional to someone else.

“Come see me when you have a minute” can create twenty minutes of unnecessary anxiety.

Communication is not complete when the words leave your mouth.

It is complete when meaning arrives.

On the Trail

Before assuming someone “didn’t listen,” examine the communication.

Was the expectation specific?

Did the person understand the priority?

Did your tone reinforce or contradict your words?

Have you communicated this standard consistently?

And did you create an opportunity for the other person to clarify what they heard?

A useful leadership habit is to stop asking:

“Do you understand?”

Most people will say yes.

Instead ask:

“Walk me through what you’ll do next.”

Now you can hear the message that actually landed.

Gunner taught me that repeating something louder is not necessarily better communication.

Sometimes I am the one who needs to change the signal.

Trail Question

Are you evaluating your communication by what you said—or by what people understood?