Lean Onboarding Series – Communicate for Understanding

Communication Is Not What You Said, It Is What They Understood

Here’s the deal. The purpose of communication is that someone else understands your message. It is not that we said it. It is not that we checked a box. It is not even that we did our due diligence. The only real measure of success is whether the receiver understood what we were trying to communicate, whether that message was spoken, written, drawn, or shown in any other way.

Why Completing the Task Is the Wrong Measure

Most of the communication habits on a project are measured by completion. Did we give the orientation. Did we hold the morning huddle. Did we fill out the pre-task plan. Those are all checkboxes, and every one of them can be completed perfectly while the people on the other end understood almost nothing.

That is how a project ends up with a signed stack of paperwork and a crew that still does not know what to do. The paper proves a process happened. It says nothing about whether a human being understood.

The better question is always about the receiver. Did the people in that orientation understand what we needed them to understand. Did the workers in that huddle walk away knowing what I wanted them to know. When the crew filled out the pre-task plan, did they actually understand what they need to know to do the task properly, according to the message that was given.

Watch for these signs your team is measuring communication by completion instead of by understanding.

• Success defined by whether the orientation was given or the huddle was held, rather than by whether the people understood what they needed to.
• Paperwork like a pre-task plan treated as finished the moment it is signed, with no check on whether the crew actually grasped the content.
• Frustration directed at the listener when a message does not land, rather than a question about how the message was delivered.

A Simple Method: Plan, Do, Check, Act

There is a straightforward way to build understanding into every message. Know what you are going to say. Communicate it in the way you believe people will understand best. Then run a simple PDCA cycle, plan, do, check, act.

You plan how to say it. You say it. You check whether it was understood the way you intended. And if it was not, you act, meaning you adjust and try again. The check step is the one most people skip, and it is the only step that tells you whether the first two worked. Skip it, and you are guessing.

Why Someone Who Seems Difficult May Simply Not Understand

People take in information in different ways. The common way to describe this is auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, hearing it, seeing it, or doing it, and in reality everyone uses a mixture of all three. The practical point is what happens when a message is not landing.

If someone on your crew is combative, confused, or completely on a different page, it may not be because they are stubborn, disobedient, or difficult. It may be that they legitimately do not understand. They are not stupid. They may well be smarter than you are. They may simply receive information differently than the way you are delivering it, and no amount of repeating the same words in the same way will fix that.

That is exactly when you change your approach. Switch the mode until something works.

• Start by explaining it verbally in plain, simple language.
• If that does not land, draw it out or show a picture or a sketch.
• If that still does not work, go to the place of work and do it hands-on together with the person.

Whatever it takes to get the message understood the way you intended, that is the measure of success. It is not the number of times you explained it. It is whether it landed.

Notice what this changes about your own role. If a message did not land, the first suspect is the delivery, not the listener. That one shift removes a huge amount of unnecessary conflict from a jobsite, because most arguments about “not following instructions” turn out to be arguments about instructions that were never actually understood.

Think about how many of us have been with a partner for ten, twenty, thirty, or forty years and still struggle to understand each other’s simple messages, even though we speak the same language. If it is that hard in our closest relationships, it makes sense that it takes deliberate effort on a jobsite with dozens of people from different backgrounds.

Why Asking Someone to Repeat It Back Is Respect, Not Condescension

Always verify understanding. Asking someone to repeat back what they heard is not disrespectful, and it is not treating them like a child. I will often say something like, “Can you please repeat back to me what you think you heard? I want to make sure I did a good job communicating.”

Framed that way, the question puts the responsibility where it belongs, on the person delivering the message. It is not a statement that the other person is too slow to get it. It is a statement that I respect them enough to make sure we are on the same page, and that I take my own responsibility as the communicator seriously. If I did not explain it well the first time, I want the chance to explain it a second time.

Where This Applies Across the Project

This principle runs through every communication touchpoint on a project. It applies in an orientation, where the measure of success is whether people understood, not whether the presentation happened. It applies in the morning worker huddle and in the crew preparation huddle. It applies to every written plan, every drawing, every email, and every instruction given across a tailgate.

Think of the cost of getting this wrong. A misunderstood instruction becomes rework, a misunderstood safety expectation becomes an injury risk, and a misunderstood plan becomes a trade standing around waiting. A few seconds of verification up front is cheap compared to any of those outcomes.

You do not have to use my exact method. Use your own approach however works for your team. The only non-negotiable is that you can verify the message that was given is the message that was understood.

Building This Into Your Own Team

None of this requires new software or a long training program. It requires a small change in habit, repeated until it becomes the normal way your team talks to each other. After you communicate something important, stop and check. Ask for a repeat back, ask what the next step is, or watch the first few minutes of the task to confirm it matches what you meant.

If your project needs superintendent coaching, project support, or leadership development, Elevate Construction can help your field teams stabilize, schedule, and flow.

So here is the challenge. Pick one important message you are going to communicate this week, an instruction, a safety expectation, or a change to the plan. Plan how you will say it, say it, and then verify understanding before you move on, noting what you learned about how that person or crew best receives information. If the repeat back is not what you intended, treat that as information about your delivery, not a problem with the person.

Jason Schroeder said it plainly: “The purpose of communication is that someone else understands your message.” Measure yourself by that standard, and a surprising number of “difficult” people turn out to be people who were never given a message they could understand.

On we go.

FAQ

Why does the article say completing a task like an orientation or a huddle is the wrong measure of success?

Because completion only proves the message was delivered, not that it was received. A huddle can be held, an orientation can be given, and a pre-task plan can be signed, all without the people involved understanding what they needed to. The real measure is whether the receiver understood.

What does PDCA add to everyday communication?

PDCA, plan, do, check, act, adds the check step that most people skip. You plan how to deliver the message, deliver it, check whether it landed as intended, and then adjust if it did not. Without the check, there is no way to know whether the message worked.

What should a leader do when a worker seems combative or confused?

Consider that the person may not understand rather than assuming they are being difficult. Try another way of delivering the message, such as drawing it, showing a picture, or going to the work area and doing it hands-on together, until the message is understood the way it was intended.

Is asking someone to repeat the message back disrespectful?

No. The article frames it as an act of respect. It puts the responsibility for clear communication on the person delivering the message and gives them a chance to explain it again if the first attempt did not land.