“I Thought You Understood”: The Silent Cost of Miscommunication at Work
One of the most expensive sentences inside an organisation may be:
“But I thought you understood.”
We hear variations of it everywhere.
A manager gives instructions.
The employee listens carefully.
The manager asks, “Understand?”
“Yes.”
Everyone walks away believing the communication has been completed.
Several days later, the work comes back.
And suddenly:
“This isn't what I asked for.”
The employee is equally surprised.
“But this is what I understood.”
This exact problem sits at the heart of an excellent article published in Utusan Malaysia by my friend, partner and mentor, Dr Ruzaimi Mat Rani, titled “Saya rasa awak dah salah faham…”
And it raises an important issue for every leader, manager, trainer and team.
Communication Is Not Transmission
We sometimes treat communication as though we are sending a WhatsApp message.
Send.
Delivered.
Done.
Human communication doesn't work that way.
The fact that I have spoken does not mean you have understood.
The fact that you heard my words does not mean you interpreted them the way I intended.
And perhaps most importantly:
The fact that you said “I understand” does not necessarily mean the picture in your mind is the same as the picture in mine.
This is where organisations can lose enormous amounts of time.
Mistakes happen.
Work has to be repeated.
Meetings multiply.
Managers become frustrated.
Employees feel unfairly blamed.
Decisions are delayed.
And sometimes relationships are damaged.
All because two people walked away from the same conversation carrying two different pictures.
Jangan Syok Sendiri
There is a Malaysian expression that captures this problem rather nicely:
Jangan syok sendiri.
In communication, we shouldn't assume that something is clear simply because we think we explained it clearly.
The responsibility of communication isn't simply to speak.
The responsibility is to create enough shared understanding for people to act correctly.
And that requires something incredibly important:
Feedback.
The communication loop must come back.
Instead of:
“Faham?”
Perhaps we need:
“Tell me what you understood.”
Instead of:
“Any questions?”
Perhaps:
“How are you going to approach this?”
Instead of simply giving instructions:
“Let's map this out quickly.”
These small changes allow misunderstandings to appear before somebody spends three days doing the wrong work.
Why Visual Communication Matters
This is where Dr Ruzaimi's work in visual communication becomes especially relevant.
Human beings don't always think in neat sentences.
We think in relationships.
Sequences.
Priorities.
People.
Places.
Timelines.
Comparisons.
Dependencies.
A simple visual allows us to put these relationships in front of us.
Boxes.
Arrows.
People.
A timeline.
A flow.
Nothing fancy.
But suddenly two people are no longer discussing only what they think the other person means.
They have something visible that both can examine.
“This comes first?”
“No, actually that happens afterwards.”
“Is this person responsible?”
“No, they only need to be informed.”
“So this is the final output?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
That is communication becoming visible.
And as highlighted in Dr Ruzaimi's article, the organisational benefits can be very practical: faster understanding, better decisions, fewer mistakes and less repeated work.
It Is Not About Drawing
This is something we continuously emphasise in the training programmes we deliver.
Visual communication is not about turning employees into artists.
Nobody receives extra marks because their stickman looks handsome.
The objective is much more practical.
Can you make an idea easier to understand?
Can you help another person see what you are thinking?
Can you expose confusion before it becomes a mistake?
Can your team align around the same picture?
That is where the value lies.
And it reflects something I strongly believe about learning itself: people should leave training clearer, more capable and able to apply what they learned, rather than merely knowing more theory.
Communication Matters Even More in the Age of AI
There is another reason this conversation matters today.
AI is becoming part of everyday work.
People are discovering that AI can write, summarise, analyse, generate ideas and produce content remarkably quickly.
But there is one problem.
AI cannot rescue unclear thinking every time.
A vague instruction to a human often creates misunderstanding.
A vague instruction to AI often produces a beautifully written misunderstanding — only much faster.
That is why I teach people to think before prompting and to make complex thinking visible before asking AI to produce the output. Visual PIDO, for example, uses the sequence Think → Draw → Prompt to make the structure, relationships and requirements clearer before AI begins generating.
Technology does not remove the need for communication.
In many ways, it makes clear communication even more important.
The Question Leaders Should Ask
So perhaps leaders should stop relying solely on:
“Do you understand?”
It is too easy to say yes.
Instead, try:
“Show me what you understood.”
Ask the person to explain it.
Sketch it.
Repeat the priorities.
Describe the expected output.
Walk through the process.
Give feedback.
Correct the misunderstanding while it is still cheap.
Because communication isn't successful when the message leaves our mouth.
It is successful when the right meaning reaches the other person — and we have enough feedback to know that it did.
One Final Thought
When something goes wrong inside an organisation, we often look immediately at the person.
Perhaps sometimes we need to look at the communication system.
Was the instruction clear?
Was the expected outcome visible?
Was there an opportunity to clarify?
Was feedback encouraged?
Did both sides actually share the same understanding?
Because sometimes the problem isn't that people are unwilling to do good work.
They may simply be working from a different picture.
And making that picture visible might be one of the simplest investments an organisation can make.
Think better. Communicate better. Work better.
—
Inspired by the Utusan Malaysia article “Saya rasa awak dah salah faham…” by Dr Ruzaimi Mat Rani.
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