Do you understand me ? - 4 pitfalls for clear communication

Do you recognise the feeling that you are saying something to a colleague and for some reason it seems he understands the completee opposite. It feels like you speak a different language. 

Mis-communication causes a lot of damage. It can cause conflicts, it could make the difference between closing and loosing a new business opportunity, it could cost time, ... There are plenty of reasons why we fail at communicating clearly. Underneath you find the top three reasons I often see in organizations : 

1. Vague vocabulary : our language provides us a wide vocabulary, unfortunately some words are more vague than others; over there (I don't find that place on any map), in a while (when ? in an hour, a week, a month, next year), a little bit, maybe, later on, perhaps, ... We should at least try to avoid this kind of language and realize we mean, but the person we are talking to might understand something completely different. 
2. Not listening : some people have the habit to interrupt people while they are talking. They finnish sentences, or pick up your story to tell something about themselves. But bottom line ; they were not listening to you, they were just looking for an opportunity to start talking themselves. This kind of behavior is very frustrating and definitely prevents anybody from having a good conversation.
3. Too smart : In my first job, I was communication manager at the engineering faculty of Brussels University. One day, one of our researchers wrote an article for high school students about digital image processing. I read the article and - honestly - I didn't understand anything about it, so I asked my dean (a professor in computer sciences) to translate some things for me. Unfortunately, he didn't understand it either. I went back to the researcher and asked him to translate it in normal language. He wasn't aware of his jargon, but after an hour or two, I understood everything about digital image processing. Many people who are doing a job for a long time, take too many things for granted, and have difficulties to explain it to others. Always stay aware of the fact that you are the expert. Details and small steps make your point much clearer. 
4. Different perceptions : Perception is reality. Our perception is created by how we perceive the world around us. Culture, education, age, ... all intensify the different perceptions. Unconsciously these perceptions give a different interpretation to the things we hear. Be aware the person you are talking to might have a different perception on the facts than you do. 

There are probably many more pitfalls in our communication. Try to avoid them, check if the person you are talking to understands the same. If necessary make a minutes in written to make things clearer.