Gyana and Vi-Gyana
Srikanth Iyer
Deputy Manager HR @ The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council | HR Tech & Employee Engagement
I came across the above two words in the book - My Gita - by Devdutt Pattnaik Sir and it gives a startling resemblance to the communication gap theories in Modern Day.
Gyana - Something that is Told. Vi-Gyana - Something that is Heard
The plot is in reference to Mahabharata - one of the greatest epics. Sanjaya narrates the entire episodes on the battlefield, thanks to his telepathic sight, to Dhritarashtra. Sanjaya may say whatever he listens, sees on the battlefield, without knowing the meaning behind the scenes, and may merely transmit it to Dhritarashtra literally as he doesn't have the need to understand it and may leave it to the judgement of Dhritarashtra. While the Arjuna who directly hears things from Krishna, may interpret it on a totally different note as he needs to understand and find a solution to his problem.
This leaves with an interesting scenario and business case regards to the communication in today's business set-up.
Top Level Management will have a VISION in their mind which is been discussed and decoded at Top Level. This is understandable only at Top Level. This communication has to be transmitted in forms of MISSION to the Middle Level Management. Further it get transmitted as OBJECTIVES / GOALS to the Lower Levels and later on as TASKS/ACTIVITIES to operational level workforce.
There might be great disconnect in understanding and disseminating the VISION of the Management to the lower level staff due to various reasons as under
- Lack of knowledge / understanding skills to understand the communication in whole
- Linguistic Barrier
- Lack of necessary education
- Lack of willingness by the authorities in command to provide information
- and many more.
It is very necessary to address the issue of communication with utmost importance as even a minor mis-assumption about the communication received or heard (Vi-Gyana) may render the purpose of Management who send the information, the source (Gyana) useless.
It is necessary to understand the reasons behind a communication before sending it forward. A communication needs to be clear, concise, complete, correct and courteous to understand it in full sense. This will help the Receiver to understand the information in full as sent by the Sender. Only then Gyana will be equal to Vi-Gyana.