If you’ve ever waited for someone who was waiting for you in another location with the same name (“I’ll meet you at Starbucks”), you know how people use the same words without meaning the same thing.

The solve on that is creating feedback loops to ensure understanding:

“The Starbucks on King?”

“No, the one in the mall.”

“Oh. Glad I asked. Which mall?”

A few applications for learning partnerships…

• Ask follow-up questions—especially the sort of questions that don’t have question marks.
  • Tell me what you mean.
  • Say more about that.
  • Take that a step farther.
  • Give me an example.
  • Say that a different way.
  • Tell me how you learned that.
• Tell stories. When your partner asks how you learned something, don’t just cite the lecture where you first heard it or the book where you first read it; tell the story about how you came to act as if you truly believed it.
• Ask for honest feedback.
  • Does that make sense?
  • Am I being clear?
  • Is there something I’m missing?
  • Can you see why this is important to me?
  • Do I need to adjust my medication?
• Give honest feedback
  • That’s an interesting point.
  • I’m not ready to concede that, but go on.
  • Sorry, but I don’t get it.
  • It appears this is very important to you: tell me why.