We all know that communication needs to be two ways. We have the sender that says something (“What was said“) and a receiver that hopefully heard the message (“What was heard“). They do get mixed up from time to time. Over the past, weeks I have been communicating, listening and adding some of my peers to this discussion. Below you will find a list of some of the more humorous “What was said, what was heard”.
| What Was Said | What Was Heard |
| Be More Assertive. | Make them agree with you. |
| Scope is not clear. | That’s not what I meant. |
| Your data is misleading. | That data makes everything look bad. |
| You’re a bit too aggressive. | Being a “B” (male or female version) |
| Think out of the box. | Heard all your ideas before, get some new material. |
| Emerging Market Strategy. | Moving jobs offshore. |
| You always offer ideas on how to improve. | Too opinionated. |
| Viewed as a SME by peers. | Total Know It All. |
| Keeping it real for me, thanks. | Better use a “filter” (don’t say that) for others. |
| You’re doing great! | Probably has no clue how I am doing. |
| Fly under the radar. | Don’t tell anyone – what they don’t know will not hurt them. |
| That is not what I meant. | Bring me a rock exercises are fun, not! |
| Disagree and Commit. | Just agree with me, it is much easier. |
| You are too valuable to the organization. | No transfer for me. |
| Need to be more open-minded. | Have to get alone with everyone. |
| That will not work. | Not invented here, so of course it will not work. |
| Site strategy. | More compressed office time. |
| That should be Zbb | Nights and weekend work. |
| Only the best and brightest work here. | Someone is full of themselves. |
| It’s confidential. | It’s a test… Will I or won’t I tell someone? |
| Put your corporate hat on. | Suck it up… |
| Let’s bin that. | Ok, now that one is dead. |
| Take it off line. | Done listening or Shut the hell up! |
| That’s Steve being Steve. | Ignore him; he will eventually go away. |
| Not a good idea in this environment. | Didn’t think of it, so we are not going to do it. |
| You’re a solid team player. | You are not a leader. |
| Too foster better work/life balance involve teammates. | You’re too slow at this task. |
| You take a very direct approach. | You sometimes leave a trail of dead bodies. |
| You need to find a new outlet to support your career passion. | Your career desires don’t fit within this group. |
| One-way rotational | What the heck? (Trying to rotate me out?) |
| Is it done yet? | Moving a bit slow. |
| Sorry, I was on mute, what you say? | Not paying attention (mute your ears?) |
| Your Program or project is not strategic. | Time to update the resume. |
We all know there are more.. Please share…
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