[Instructor Jang Han-byeol's Workplace Communication] Communication Skill...

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[Columnist Jang Han-byeol, Korea Lecturer News] Conflicts in the workplace often do not start with major incidents. Rather, they frequently begin with very short words or trivial expressions.

Please do this quickly.

This is a phrase you hear very commonly at work. From the speaker's perspective, it is merely a work request. It simply means that the work is urgent and needs to be handled quickly, without any special sentiment. However, the person hearing it may interpret it completely differently.

Are you saying I'm working slowly?

“Why are you making me do it alone? That’s annoying.”

Do you think I'm an easy target?

Even with the same sentence, a subtle gap arises between the speaker's intention and the listener's interpretation. Many instances where relationships become awkward in the workplace stem precisely from this gap.

An interesting point is that many people do not listen to others exactly as they are. When we hear someone, we interpret their words through the lens of our own experiences, emotions, and current circumstances. Therefore, if a statement is brief or ambiguous, we tend to fill in the blanks with our imagination. And that imagination is usually more likely to veer in a negative direction rather than a positive one.

Therefore, a significant portion of emotional misunderstandings in the workplace often stem not from the emotions themselves, but from a lack of clarity in communication. Because words were not sufficiently explained, they are interpreted differently by each other. The solution to this problem is simpler than you might think: explain your intention and context together when making work requests.

For example, try rephrasing it as, “We are currently in an urgent situation regarding customer service. Since you are the person who knows this task best, I am asking for your help. Can you handle this today?” The content itself hasn't changed much. It is still a request for a task. However, the impression conveyed is completely different.

While the sentence “Please do this quickly” may sound like an instruction, saying “We are currently in an urgent situation regarding customer service. You are the person who knows this task best, so I am asking for your help. Can you complete this today?” sounds like a request for cooperation.

What makes this difference is precisely intention and context. When the reason for the request and the current situation are explained, the words are accepted within a context of cooperation and understanding the situation, rather than being perceived as an attack or judgment.

Some people believe that speaking briefly is necessary for efficient communication at work. While there is certainly no need to speak at unnecessarily long, excessive brevity in a work setting can actually lead to misunderstandings. This is because speech lacking explanation forces the listener to interpret the meaning on their own. And that interpretation often ends up going in a completely different direction from the speaker's original intent.

Therefore, when it comes to work-related matters, it is important to convey information clearly rather than keeping it brief. The approach involves first stating your intent behind what you are saying, explaining the context of the current situation, and then delivering your specific request. When these three elements are conveyed together, the meaning becomes clear and unnecessary emotional interpretation is reduced.

If you look closely at the many conflicts that arise within an organization, it is not uncommon to find that they stem from issues of communication style rather than personality or attitude. Conflicts do not arise from mutual dislike, but rather from relationships going awry because words are interpreted with different meanings.

We often try to change people. However, sometimes changing the way we speak slightly can be much more effective than changing the person. This is because the atmosphere of a relationship changes depending on how the same content is explained.

When misunderstandings arise at work, we tend to suspect the other person's attitude first. However, it might be worth asking yourself this question at least once: "Could it be that I spoke too briefly?" Various misunderstandings in workplace relationships are actually not major issues and can be resolved with just a simple explanation. Many misunderstandings in the workplace stem not from the people involved, but from communication that lacks sufficient explanation.

Columnist Profile

Columnist Jang Han-byeol is the CEO of Pro Communication and the author of *Why on Earth Is My Life Like This?*, *The Miracle 7-Second Customer Service*, *Lecturer Trend Korea 2019·2020*, and *Lecture Trends 2025*. Currently, she is actively giving lectures on communication, interpersonal relationships, conflict management, emotion and stress management, business etiquette, and customer satisfaction service.

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