Title: Module Information
Course: PIM: Tricky Communication: Intent vs. Impact

Watch the video and read the framing information below. You will need this information later in the module.

In addition to the Golden Rule, you may have heard the following one growing up:

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words shall never hurt me...

This rule may be helpful to children who have to navigate the bullies at recess, but it is not always useful in other contexts. Words can dash hopes and dreams, tear down self-esteem, and destroy relationships. They can do so without the speaker's or writer's intention. Yet the impact is the same: the person on the other end of the communication is negatively affected.

If you've ever been ghosted, ignored in a conversation, or avoided on the street for no apparent reason, then you also know that silence and body language, even when unconscious and not intended to harm, can be just as detrimental.

The person producing the words, the silence, and the body language may also be impacted if a relationship turns sour when that was not their intention.

Now watch the video below to consider how curiosity and assuming positive intent can serve as strategies when intent and impact don't align.