It turned out to be the kind of conversation that left me stewing about it into the evening.
I realized that I made a mistake earlier that day with something I said in a meeting. The situation had some emotions attached to it and I became concerned that I would be misunderstood. Rats.
When emotions are running high, it is easy to make errors in communication. That doesn’t mean you have to live with them, but it does take courage to fix your mistakes.
There is (nearly) always time to fix it, to clarify what you meant, to educate, to set it straight. All that is required is that you go back to that person and reopen the dialog. One simple way to do that is to say, “To continue our conversation from yesterday: I want to clarify something, and make sure that you don’t think that…” Say your piece and then be prepared to listen.
