A new employee at a large company walked up to a large paper shredder and stood before it looking confused. “Need some help?”, asked the senior secretary.

“Yes, how does this thing work?” “Its simple,” she said as she took the thick report from her colleague’s hand and fed it into the shredder. “See?”

“Yes, I see,” he said, “but how many copies will it make?”

Sometimes communication starts with envisioning those who are to help us with a task. In this story, the secretary assumed she understood what the new hire wanted, but was tragically mistaken. If he had told her what he wanted to accomplish up front, then she could have helped him with his task. Envisioning others will help them help us. When a problem arises, they will then know how to fix that problem appropriately.

Tags: communication, humor