While furniture shopping, my wife and I were looking for a chair with an ottoman. Our sales person was a Gen Y’er, and we discovered, studied interior design. She seemed to be very knowledgeable and was also very professional.

As we were describing what we wanted, my wife mentioned that when she came home from work she did not want to be “Rob Petrie” (referring to the opening of the old Dick Van Dyke Show when he tripped over the ottoman). I immediately knew what she meant, and also immediately knew our sales person DID NOT understand the reference. I probably should have clarified it, but I thought it would be a fun and harmless experiment.

For the next fifteen minutes we were shown very large pieces that simply would not fit our space. Then we CLARIFIED our need by providing more information versus an obscure old TV reference. We were then led directly to the perfect piece of furniture.

After we finalized our purchase I asked the sales person about the Rob Petrie reference and if she understood. She admitted she did not. I realized that since she had no point of reference, she could not even formulate a good follow up question in order to better clarify our needs. If we had been more specific she could have been more productive.

I left the store wondering how often I do that at work without even realizing it. Can I improve my communications so folks can be more productive? Without the proper frame of reference folks can not even ask good follow up questions.

There were two things I got from that furniture store….a very nice new ottoman, and a good lesson on communication.