She thought I was joking.

“No, seriously, I’m not joking.”

“Yes you are – you’re pulling my leg.”

“No I’m not.  That’s really what I hear.”

My wife and I had been watching the national news.  A story came on about the latest internet sensation to capture social media across the country.  It’s the “Yanny or Laurel?” debate.

Someone had posted an audio recording with a simple question, “Yanny or Laurel?”  The recording is simply one name repeated over and over again.

Some people hear Yanny and others hear Laurel.  When the audio recording was played on the news my wife clearly heard Laurel repeatedly.  She looked at me with a quizzical look and said, “I don’t get it.  It’s clearly Laurel.”

That’s when I replied, “Ah, no – it’s clearly Yanny.”

The debate was not fully on.

I searched out the recording on YouTube and we both listened again – very intently.  Once again she heard Laurel and I heard Yanny.  Neither of us, no matter how hard we tried, could hear any semblance of what the other was hearing.

If you haven’t heard the recording please go search it out and listen, but you mustn’t do it alone.  Listen with other people and ask what they’re hearing.

I’m not going to attempt to explain the deep science behind it, but simply stated one name is comprised of primarily higher frequencies, and other primarily lower frequencies.  Supposedly our ears are tuned toward certain kinds of frequencies and, therefore, we hear those above the others.

Therefore, some will hear Yanny and others will hear Laurel.

This Yanny or Laurel exercise is a brilliant demonstration of the challenges that leaders, and indeed all human beings have, on an ongoing basis.  As a leader, have you ever given what you thought were very clear instructions to someone?  You even asked them if they understood your instructions, and they replied, “Yes”.

Then, when you followed up to monitor progress you were shocked to discover that they had it all wrong.  How did they get it so wrong?  Your instructions were so clear, and you even checked to ensure they had indeed understood you.

Clearly, they have a problem.

Or, have you ever said something to someone you love – perhaps your significant other – and it set them off somehow?  Shocked by their response you asked them what’s wrong, only to have them tell you what they just heard you say – but it wasn’t what you had said.

Clearly they have a problem.

Well, not really.  Both these situations are an example of Yanny or Laurel in real life.  You say Yanny and they hear Laurel.  How on earth does that happen?  Who knows, but it happens all the time.

So, I’m going to give you the key to preventing communication misunderstandings.  With this simple tool you can eliminate, or greatly reduce, Yanny or Laurel moments.

I call it “Rearticulation”.

After you have given a directive of some kind to someone within your leadership sphere, ask them a simple question:

“Can you please tell me what you heard me telling you so I can understand if I’ve communicated clearly?”

Did you catch the nuance?  Definitely do not say, “Tell me what you heard me telling you.”  That will only get people very defensive.

You want to ask them to help you understand if you have communicated clearly.  Good communication is the responsibility of the communicator, therefore, you simply want to find out if you have done a good job communicating.

You’re asking them to rearticulate what they’ve heard you saying.  If they reply, “Laurel”, when you were really saying, “Yanny”, don’t get upset with them.  Recognize that you simply have to come at your communication from another direction.  Don’t just repeat what you said louder and slower though, say it differently.

Who knows why some people hear Yanny and some hear Laurel?  Your job as a leader is to ensure communication is clear.  Become a master of Rearticulation and you’ll discover when clear communication hasn’t taken place and be able to fix it.

The burden of clear communication lies with the communicator.  Rearticulate and you can get Yanny and Laurel working together.