by Steve Adubato, PhD

Sometimes miscommunication can cost a lot of money—in this case, $200 million to the New Jersey state budget. This past week, the Star-Ledger ran a front page story about a “$200 million bombshell”, which involved a state legislative staffer uncovering the fact that New Jersey “budget crunchers” had somehow missed a New York state tax regulation involving New Jersey citizens working across the river.

According to the Star-Ledger, “He (the staffer) noticed a line on page 49 of a New York income tax instruction form, a big red flag in black and white. ‘Caution,’ it said, with an exclamation point inside a triangle sign. People making more than $100,000 should not use the tax tables as a guide because of new New York state tax increases.” What does all this have to do with communication or miscommunication? Everything!

Simply put, the relevant information was there, but the message sent was not received. This kind of communication screw up happens all the time. Important messages and information are not received for so many reasons. In this case, it was because the recipient (state budget crunchers) were on what I call communication “auto pilot”. This occurs when you take a “been there done that” mentality. The receiver of the information assumes that based on past history they understand what the message is, so they don’t read further, they stop listening, and they don’t stay engaged to fully understand what is being said. In this scenario, going on communication auto pilot produced a $200 million revenue miscalculation that now has to be adjusted for in the state budget.

Upon further examination, state government budget officials said all that had to be done to identify the “$200 million” was to ask questions of the right people—in this case, State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, who used to be the top guy in New York’s taxation department. According to the Ledger, Sidamon-Eristoff said he would have been able to warn the legislature’s fiscal team that its numbers were off. Said the state treasurer; “Had anybody asked me, or thought to ask me, I would have said, well, in the past it has been the practice in New York state.”

That’s what happens when you don’t take the extra step in the communication process. You assume too much and then act accordingly. In turn, you make decisions based on this faulty premise and then errors ensue. It happens in government, business, and in our every day lives. So, what can we do to avoid potentially costly miscommunication?

--Fight the urge to go on auto pilot. Even if you think you know what’s about to be said or communicated, stay in the moment. Keep an open mind. There is a good chance you are going to be surprised by what you find out.

--Ask the right questions of the right people. Simply put, we don’t ask enough questions. We take things at face value. This is lazy communication, which can obviously cost big bucks. Stop thinking you know all the answers and start asking more questions.

--Remember, the past is relevant, but it is not a predictor of the future. Because New York state budget procedures had been done one way, it was just assumed that no change had taken place. From a communication perspective, consider history, but realize things change all the time. Going on auto pilot can cause you to be oblivious to those changes. Smart communicators not only anticipate change and new information, but proactively seek it out.

In this particular case, the miscommunication cost a $200 million miscalculation. But the stakes don’t have to be that high in order to affect your bottom line.