Now read the following passage. How many fs are there?
FEATURE FILMS ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC
STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARSThe expressions actually read “Once in a alifetime,” “Paris in
the thespring,” “A bird in the thehand.” We often distort what we
read and hear and see to fit in with our expectations. In the
passage there are six fs. How many did you count?
These simple exercises illustrate the sort of processes that occur
in our thinking every day. We delete, distort, and generalize
information so that it becomes disconnected from its deeper
meaning. We typically use an imprecise form of language in
speech, lazy language. This is at the heart of many business
problems often paraphrased as communication issues.
Do you have a “they” in your company? I have worked with
many different companies and have discovered that there is one
cause of all the problems: “they.”
❏ They don’t communicate effectively.
❏ They introduce changes without consultation.
❏ They don’t listen.
❏ They expect you to know what’s going on.
❏ They keep you in the dark.
They are very elusive. They are never in the same room as the
people who are talking about them. They are very often one or
two levels higher in the management structure, even when the
people referring to them in one case were the board of
directors themselves! Alternatively, they are an unknown
quantity outside of the organization, a group of people who
represent existing and future clients, suppliers, members of a
holding company, and so on.
The “they” syndrome illustrates our tendency to put the source
of problems (and therefore the possibility of change) outside of
ourselves. They are elusive and impossible to pin down, which
leads to our giving over responsibility and the possibility of
influence to circumstances and people outside of ourselves.
PRECISION QUESTIONS 93DELETIONS,
GENERALIZATIONS AND
DISTORTIONS
Do you have a “they” in your
company?