‘The greatest enemy of communication – is the illusion of it.’ This quote is attributed to Pierre Martineau. What does it mean? Simply this: There is potential danger in assuming (the illusion) that a message you have communicated to another person, has been received by the person as you had intended.
To guard against the illusion of communication I coach my sales presentation clients to paraphrase and ask questions as necessary to ensure, as much as possible, that there is agreed mutual understanding between themselves and the person(s) they’re interacting with.
Even when substantial effort has been expended in clarifying mutual understanding, there is still a potential for misunderstanding. Great communicators acknowledge this. They are attuned to the potential of misunderstanding in any message/interaction and always look for ways to promote agreed mutual understanding.