Context, the key to Explaining Problems

Have you ever tried to understand someone who is explaining a problem for which you have not context?  It can be at the same time comical and tragic. 

One person knows exactly what they are explaining, while the other person isn't even in the same time zone in terms of understanding the problem.

Context! That is what is needed.

Too often we begin speaking without setting the scene and that is why sometimes the person who is being spoken to looks at us like two-headed monsters.

I heard a conversation in the hospital the other day between two people--one person was emphatically trying to get assistance for a problem and the healthcare professional was way behind in trying to render aid because there was no context.

Had it not been a medical issue, the scene would have been comical.

It is something I need to remember when I launch into a question or a discussion--maybe the person that I'm talking to doesn't understand because I didn't do a good enough job of setting the scene and giving them context. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD