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Differences that change a conversation

Is everything clear?

No questions and shared understanding

Samuel takes silence as confirmation. Tom and Olek fill the gaps with two different assumptions.

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Samuel quickly finishes explaining a new task.
I think that is everything. Is it all clear?
Tom and Olek have different doubts but stay quiet.
Great. Let’s go.
Tom starts analysis while Olek builds a prototype.
We measure first.
We build first.
Samuel sees two incompatible results.
How did you understand this differently?
We didn’t check whether everyone understood the task the same way.
Samuel asks Olek to describe the first step.
Olek, in your own words: what is your first step?
Now I can see it is not what I thought.
Em, the Empatyzer coach
Samuel treats the absence of questions as proof of shared understanding. Tom and Olek do not want to hold up the group, so they stay quiet and fill the missing details in their own ways. One confirmation can then hide two different tasks. Instead of asking whether everything is clear, ask each person for a brief summary of the first step.