Have you ever walked out of a meeting thinking a decision had been made, only to discover your coworker thought you were still discussing it?

You were in the same room. You heard the same words. And somehow, you walked away with two completely different interpretations.

In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we’re kicking off our Overheard at Work series by looking at what can get lost in translation during everyday workplace communication.

Because we don't necessarily listen to conversations neutrally. One person may be listening for What did we decide? Another is listening for What could go wrong? Someone else is focused on How will this affect the team? while another is already thinking about What happens next?

The Enneagram can help us understand some of the different patterns influencing what people naturally pay attention to, and why two smart, engaged coworkers can hear the exact same conversation differently.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why workplace miscommunication isn't always about someone being a “bad listener”
• How different people assign importance to different parts of the same conversation
• Why we can mistake our interpretation of a conversation for the conversation itself
• How the Enneagram can help teams get curious about what coworkers may be listening for
• One simple question managers can use at the end of a meeting to catch misunderstandings before everyone walks out the door

Try This

Instead of ending your next meeting with:

“Does everybody understand?”

Try:

“What is everyone walking away believing we've decided?”

Or:

“What are you taking away as your next step?”

You may be surprised by the answers.

The goal isn't to test whether people were paying attention. It's to give everyone a chance to translate back what they heard, and catch what's been lost in translation before it turns into a missed deadline, unnecessary frustration, or the classic:

“Wait...that's not what I thought we decided.”

That's your translation to try this week.

Learn more about bringing the Enneagram to your team: enneagrammba.com

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