Skip to workspace

Communication Lab 01

From Kickoff to
Day-to-Day Alignment

A new structure becomes useful only when people understand what it means for their everyday work. This Lab explored how to make responsibilities, expectations and next steps easier to understand across teams.

Communication focusClarity · Interpretation · Ownership · Alignment

About this Lab

We used a real organizational change as a starting point to explore how messages can change between intention and interpretation — and how a few communication habits can prevent unnecessary friction.

Your notes stay in this browser. Use the same file and browser to return to them; download a copy for safekeeping.

01

Two perspectives

Start with both sides.

My perspective / The other perspective

My perspective

The most important change is...

People need to understand...

Something that may still be unclear...

Something that could become difficult in practice...

The other perspective

What might another team see differently?

What might they need from us?

What might seem obvious to us but not to them?

Where do the two perspectives align — and where do they differ?

02

Friction finder

Where could communication break down?

Open the areas that matter in your current work. You can explore more than one.

Ownership

Who owns the decision or action?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Information

Who knows what — and when?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Timing

When does another team need to be involved?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Decisions

Who decides? Who contributes? Who needs to know?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Priorities

Are teams optimizing for the same outcome?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Expectations

Does success mean the same thing to everyone?

Where could this become difficult in your current work?

Choose one situation worth improving now:

03

Communication toolkit

Four moves for clearer alignment

Clarify

Make your intended meaning explicit.

What this means in practice is...
Just to make this explicit...
The key point from our side is...

Check

Find out what the other person actually understood.

How are you understanding this from your side?
Is that consistent with how your team sees it?
Can I check how you're interpreting this?

Align

Clarify ownership, expectations or responsibilities.

The way I understand the ownership is...
Who would be responsible for this on your side?
Can we align on who owns each part?

Close

Make the outcome of the conversation explicit.

So, just to confirm, the next step is...
Can we agree that X will happen before Y?
I'll take X, and you'll take Y. Does that work?

04

You said / They heard

Close the interpretation gap.

Clear communication is not only about what you say. It is also about what the other person can reasonably understand.

You saidWrite or paste the message you want to communicate.

They heardWhat might the other person understand from this?

GapWhat is missing, ambiguous or open to interpretation?

Improved versionRewrite the message so that the intended meaning is harder to misunderstand.

Your draft stays here when you return.

05

Same message, different listener

Keep the idea. Adapt the context.

Core messageWhat is the one idea that should remain consistent?

What do they need to understand?
What uncertainty should I remove?
What action do I need from them?

Adapted message

Adapt to the person’s role, context, information needs and relationship. Each listener has a separate saved draft.

06

Quick pre-meeting check

Before an important conversation

Is my main message clear?Have I made ownership explicit?Am I assuming something the other person may not know?Have I checked what they need from this conversation?Do we have a clear next step?

If three or more answers are unclear, spend two minutes preparing before the meeting.

Tick each question once you have considered it. This checklist starts fresh when you reload.

07

Take it back to work

My working principles

Three principles. One conversation. One habit.

1.

We should make __________ explicit.

2.

We should check __________ instead of assuming.

3.

We should always close important conversations with __________.

One conversation I want to handle differently

One communication habit I want to practice