I recently got myself into a little bit of trouble in misinterpreting instructions on a deadline. Now this is my fault because I tend to scan most of the information I consume online. But the instructions were not very clear and explicit either and I naturally assumed the most obvious interpretation to me. This is the problem with reading like this. Scanning favorizes assumptions and assumptions can lead to errors.
Different Meanings In How You Use The Word Deadline
My downfall came because people can use two ways of giving deadlines:
- Deadline December 23rd = meaning this is the last day for you to take action
- Deadline December 23rd = meaning you need to take action before this date. In this case your last day for taking action would be December 22nd.
And I navigate almost exclusively in circles where people use the first example with the deadline date given is the last day to take action. But there are people who give the date to mean the first day after you must take action. And this is what happened to me. I had left taking action to what I thought was the very last day, but I was already one day too late.
Different Ways Of Communication
Let’s look at some differences in language:
- By December 23rd
- Before December 23rd
What do these mean to you? I have actually met different people who use either of these examples with the two different meanings above.
This is why setting and interpreting deadlines is not as straightforward as it seems.
Clarify Your Deadlines
When you set deadlines for people who speak a different language, you usually make sure to communicate with extra clarity. But when setting deadlines for people who speak English too, it’s easy to lose that clarity and assume everyone uses your own communication style.
This was a reminder to always clarify deadline dates even within cultures where I expect easy communication.
An Inconvenient Outcome For Both Of Us
Fortunately I was able to get this resolved. But this incident was inconvenient to me for 3 reasons:
- It required 2 hours of my time to resolve this which I would happily have avoided
- It was not resolved properly and brought extra attention to myself
- I hate getting myself noticed like this and feel a small degree of resentment for this service provider’s sloppy instructions for putting me in this situation
The embarrassment and inconvenience was slight, but I will remember this incident in any other future miscommunication. And it’s a shame for this service provider to lose trust points through such a small lack of clarity.
As it turned out I was not the only one who had a different interpretation for deadline dates. The instructions were simply not clear enough.
More on Cross-Cultural Differences:
- A Comparison Of Words In Different Cultures
- Cultural Differences In Doing Things
- Culture Changes How Brains Work
- Different Countries = Different Rules
- Different Eye Tracking For Different Cultures
- Free Courses, Content And Culture Scams
- Music In Cultural Differences
- Why These Colors?
More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very to the point, even happens within one culture. I guess we have sub-cultures depending on our work environment; what an organization working on EU grants understands by “by Dec 23rd” may not be what the recipient community group they’re assisting understands.
I like when people say things like “by the end of the day on …” or “by 4pm on…”
Finola Prescott´s last blog ..Life is what you make it
Hi Finola, Yes, I appreciate ultra clarity too. What’s funny is that people often think what they say is very clear just because it’s clear to them. Sometimes this is a big block to overcome. It takes practice and effort to get into the habit of hearing things with other ears.