It’s okay to ask a question even if it might reveal someone’s mistake. The idea is to get to the point. No one is going to think that you are trying to point out someone’s error. If you question whether or not information is correct or point out that information is not correct, people will not automatically believe that you want to find fault with someone else’s work. When dealing with complex systems and information, someone could make an error. People need to know when information is not accurate so that the mistake can be corrected and whatever information system you’re working with can be updated with correct information. The communication flow should be open, and you should feel comfortable communicating. It is important to communicate effectively and efficiently in order to ensure that information is accurate. Everyone can move on when they know that system information is accurate and up to date.
- Here are some opening sentences and sentence starters that can help you say what you need to say. Follow these sentences with whatever applies to your work. Change them as necessary in order to apply them to your work.
1) I noticed something is not matching. Can you, please, take a look at this and tell me what you think?
2) I think there might be an issue with these codes. Could you, please, take a look at them with me?
3) Could you, please, take a look at this? I’m not certain that this information is correct.
4) Do you know whether or not this has been updated?
5) I’m not certain that this information is current. Can you take a look at it, please?
6) Can you help me out here? Something doesn’t seem right about this.
7) Can you, please, take a look at this description? I thought it had been changed, but now it’s the same as it was before. 8) If you’re not too busy now, could you, please, take a look at this? Something about this doesn’t seem right.