Who understands what's unspoken?

Reading between the lines: Fact, fiction or foolhardiness?

We all read between the lines. It's human nature! In business, this can be a good thing or disaster. By reading between the lines, we can obtain additional non-verbal information to better manage our business.

Reading between the lines is really trusting your own instincts when someone is telling you information. For example, when an employee says they missed work due to illness, are they really sick or just sick of working an eight-hour day for minimum wage? It matters because the message between the lines could mean we have a problem that is not kicking us in the face, but is lingering there to pounce like a man-eating tiger.

If an employee is telling us two things at once, what do we do? Direct confrontation may be the first choice for the poorly trained or less experienced. However, it should be the last choice in most instances. Every instance of reading is tainted with our own preconceptions in regards to the person and we must apply filters to obtain the most useful information. We do not want to alienate an employee or customer by misinterpreting the hidden message they may be sending.

We are all human and must be careful about reading between the lines because it is like wearing tri-focals. If you look through the wrong section of the lens, you get a fuzzy, blurry and often misread message. I caution all to be extremely careful when reading between the lines and making business decisions.

That having been said, I continue to recommend utilizing this technique to help decipher mixed messages from people. When employees or customers come to you with an issue, listen to them carefully as what they are not saying may be as important as what they are saying. Body language is an important part of reading between the lines and remember, this goes both ways. Be sure yours is open and relaxed. A training on communication with an emphasis on non verbal communication will serve you well. If unable to schedule this, pick up a book on the subjects. You will be amazed by the amount of new information you obtain from this investment of time.

With customers or suppliers you have to take a slightly different approach than with employees as your knowledge of them is minimized by the difference in direct contact time on a regular basis, and interpersonal contact is necessary to better understand the person's motivation in regard to the non verbal messages they may wish to convey. Body language is important here also as well as the verbal usages of tone and volume during the conversation. A person using a loud harsh tone saying they are not upset or are beet red you had better read between the lines that they are nearing spontaneous combustion due to anger. You'd better get the fire extinguisher out now if you don't want to be charbroiled.

I located one book that seemed to deal directly with management and reading between the lines on Amazon.com and numerous books on non-verbal communication.

Take a look. Stop by your local book store and pick up one of these books to read. It will provide hours of entertainment and intrigue as you attempt to analyze what people are really saying.

Have fun. I do.