If the discussion that you need to have is one that you’re not looking forward to engaging in, here are a few more tips on how to have how to have a difficult conversation to help you navigate these tough conversations with ease. There are two types of clarifying questions: Open questions: They ask the speaker to elaborate on a certain part of their message. In sum, if your email exchanges are getting you nowhere, abandon the exchange of multiple emails that are leading to no solution and speak to the person directly instead. Then make the call once you are calmer and will be more likely to be able to engage in an honest, open discussion so you can truly get to the bottom of things. ' Sorry, what do you mean by that Im not sure what you mean by 'formal dress code.' Could you show me some examples 2. ' A slightly more polite version of this phrase is 'Im not sure what you mean by. Give yourself some time to cool down first. Sometimes, the best way to ask someone for clarification is to directly ask them, 'What do you mean by. Now, if, by chance, the email exchange is heated or leaves you feeling intensely frustrated (for instance, if you feel you’re being blamed for something, etc.), then my suggestion would be to not pick up the phone right away. In the end, that 5-minute phone call will end up saving you a lot of time and frustration. Pick up the phone and have a quick discussion. You’ll find resolution to your question of how to ask for clarification in an email much quicker if you simply don’t do it by e-mail. When your email attempts at clarification have failed, or when someone has written you about a sensitive topic that is difficult to discuss, simply know that email is not the best forum for the discussion. We wonder how to ask for clarification in an email.Īnd the solution is actually quite simple – pick up the phone! Other times, it can be profoundly confusing and frustrating. Sometimes, e-mail exchanges go very smoothly. The potential communication gaps are endless. And we have to try to figure out what the person means without the contextual cues. We’re simply left with the written words. We can’t tell whether someone is agreeing or disagreeing with us as we speak.
We can’t adjust how we are explaining, based on the other person’s response. We can’t infer when the other person hasn’t understood something we’ve said from their facial expressions. This opens the door to additional communication gaps in written communication. In other words, during verbal communication, both parties engage in the conversation at the same time, whereas they do not during written communication. This is very different than an in-person conversation, or a phone or videoconference call, where communication is synchronous. Written communication is asynchronous, which means that there is a time delay between each individual’s contribution to the exchange. We aren’t able to see their facial expressions. For instance, we can’t see the other person’s body language. With any form of written communication, we lose all of the supplemental non-verbal information that typically accompanies verbal messages.
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