Talking Turkey

Over the last few weeks I have become increasingly frustrated by, what I call, ‘lazy communication’ and have concluded it must be a facet of modern life. I wonder if the daily use of emails and texts has reduced us to glib gibbering.

Now, I would be the last to suggest we take a step back to flowery Dickensian language but somewhere along the way we have lost our thread. I personally think we have a responsibility to listen to what people are saying to us, consider the content and then construct a response based on our judgement, knowledge and opinion.

What is really starting to bother me is that people are responding to serious requests with ‘single word answers’ – where possible with no more than three letters. When I was taught the art of serious communication; actually radio telephony (RT), as used in aircraft, I was taught to consider ABC (Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity), while also applying Relevance and Logic.

I always remember being told that if (as a Pilot) you are asked by a paratrooper if it is safe to jump now, you must never start the sentence with ‘Yes’ if you then intend to go on to say ‘In just a minute when we are over safe ground’. If you do, then you’ll be speaking to yourself and have a stick of injured soldiers to deal with!

So next time you ask someone if they like the report you wrote and they answer ‘Yes’, don’t take it at face value and ask then if that was a qualified yes or with certain reservations! Join me and outlaw ‘Lazy Communications’.

Gareth