Elizabeth Newton, Ph.D. earned her Stanford University doctorate in 1990 by taking a group of volunteers and dividing them into two groups. “Tappers” and “Listeners.” Here’s what she had them do.
The tappers were given a list of 25 well known songs, (Happy Birthday, etc.), and were asked to select one song and then tap out the rhythm of the song to a listener. Listeners only correctly guessed the song 2.5 percent of the time. But before the listener guessed, the tappers predicted the odds of the listener guessing correctly 50% of the time.
Think about it. The tapper could clearly hear the song in their own heads because they knew the name of the song everyone could recognize. But they had the KNOWLEDGE of the song title. The very same knowledge the listener DID NOT HAVE. To a listener most often the tapping was unintelligible.
How often do we have knowledge we attempt to communicate to others that seems “self evident.” In truth, knowledge that is “self-evident” to the communicator is often anything but self-evident to others.
In the last few weeks, I’ve learned how to do podcasting. When I first read about the technology, and directions, and the mechanics of uploading files on a server to achieve an actual podcast, it was very complicated. Only after I assimilated the knowledge, and actually did my first podcast, did it start to make sense. In-fact, somethings I read about that made very little sense at the time now seem very obvious. The bottomline once you know something, it simply is part of your thought process, and seems simple.
It only became that way after I understood the entire process. However, when explaining how I understood the process to work to my wife, she was as confused as I was initially. Only when I explained it in various ways, with different illustrations and examples, did she “get it.” All she heard was “tapping” before it made a substantive difference.
When we communicate something we know, pause to recognize that what you hear so clearly in your head, isn’t clear at all to the mind of listeners. To achieve communicatoin excellence it is important to get out of our own minds and get into the minds of the people we are working to influence. The sales adage, “it’s not about you, it’s about them,” is really saying “it’s not about your mind, it’s about their mind.”
Don’t just continue to tap… let them know the name of the song too. Then they can enjoy “tapping” with you.
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