This role-play required the final step of the Socratic toolkit: the skill of "Summarizing to Confirm Understanding."
This is the act of restating the other person's instructions or opinions in your own words and asking, "Is my understanding correct?"
This is an extremely important assertiveness skill, especially with a person like Jake, whose instructions are complex and who expects you to "guess" his true intentions, in order to prevent future rework and "he said/she said" troubles.
NG Script Example and Commentary
Jake: "...So that's the gist of it."
"This is for our most important client, Company A, so make it good."
"Later!"
Pip : "Y-yes!"
"Understood!"
"I'll do my best!"
Why is this NG?
At first glance, this seems like an obedient and good response, but as a form of assertive communication, it is insufficient.
It's "pretending to understand":
Even though Pip is confused by Jake's complex instructions, he replies, "Understood."
This gives Jake no indication of what parts were understood and what parts were unclear.
Jake will misunderstand that "everything was understood," which could lead to him later evaluating Pip poorly, thinking, "Why can't he do what I told him?"
It's abandoning responsibility:
This reply is the same as saying, "I'm giving up on the responsibility to understand the instructions correctly, and I'll just figure it out on my own."
If he creates the wrong report, Pip will have to bear all the responsibility.
It's "playing along" with the other person:
He ends up proceeding with the work by interpreting Jake's intentions on his own, thinking, "He probably means this."
This is a passive (non-assertive) response that plays right into manipulative Jake's hands and cannot be called healthy communication.
In addition to this empathetic and supportive voice like a friendly coach or a calm counselor, speaking clearly in a natural conversational style. The tone should be reassuring and easy to understand, not overly dramatic
This is OK Script Example and Commentary
Jake: "...So that's the gist of it."
"This is for our most important client, Company A, so make it good."
"Later!"
Pip : "Thank you, Jake."
"Sorry, could I just confirm one thing to be sure?"
"If I'm understanding correctly, the main points are: first, prioritize and emphasize the sales data; second, it's especially important that the latter half has a positive tone; and third, I should reuse the graph design from last month's report for Company B."
"Is that an accurate understanding?"
Why is this OK?
This response is a highly effective form of communication based on the principles of assertiveness.
It sincerely demonstrates one's understanding:
Pip breaks down Jake's instructions into three concrete points—"emphasize sales data," "positive tone," and "reuse graph design"—and restructures them in his own words.
This sincerely conveys to Jake how much he has been able to understand.
It gives the other person a chance to correct misunderstandings:
By clearly asking, "Is that an accurate understanding?" Jake can judge whether Pip's understanding is correct or not, and if it's wrong, he can correct it on the spot.
This dramatically reduces the risk of rework.
It shows a stance as an equal partner:
The posture of actively confirming instructions in order to execute them correctly shows that Pip is not just a "worker" but a "partner in making the work succeed."
This is the very essence of an assertive stance: respecting the other person while also fulfilling one's own responsibilities.
In addition to this, the following types of responses are also OK:
Using cushion words: like, "Sorry, could I just confirm one thing?" or “I don’t want to misunderstand. So let me just check.”
Soften the impression that you are interrupting them and allow for a smooth transition into the confirmation phase , "You gave me a lot of instructions, but is it correct that the most important point is XX?"