What's that you say?

People are horrible communicators.

One of my latest deliverables is to create a summary paper of a teleconference that happened a couple of months ago. Today and yesterday I have been reviewing and making notes. Keeping in mind that the people involved in the discussion are generally employed as communicators, I can't believe how much they suck at communication.

One of the primary problems is that they don't actually answer the questions asked of them. Far from being confined to politicians, I find this communication foible occurs in all walks of life, including the everyday situations I encounter. One question was very focused: what does your company do in regards to policies around daycare. Most people responded with some answer about the importance of family friendly practices. While related, it does not answer the specific question.

Second is the tendency to just be too abstract. Lots of talk about partnership, but little talk about what that term means and how it is put into place practically.

I've been present at arguments where people are acting vehemently opposed to each other when they are not even arguing about the same topic.

How much of our personal and societal problems are because we don't know how to communicate?