Shared Meaning To understand each other's perspectives well enough to accept them

Shared meaning is often assumed rather than examined. Words are treated as if they carry the same meaning for everyone, even though experience, context, and power shape how meaning is made. Shared meaning emerges through real conversation, sustained attention, and the ability to act together despite difference.

What is meant by meaning?

What about shared meaning?

When we talk about shared meaning, it is tempting to think of it as the successful transfer of ideas from one mind to another. As if meaning were a thing that could be packaged in words and delivered intact. But meaning does not reside in words alone.

Meaning arises in relationship, through interaction, context, and use. It is shaped not only by what is said, but by who is involved, what they are trying to do, what they bring with them, and what is happening around them. Shared meaning is, therefore, not something we possess. It is something that is formed, tested, and continually re-formed between people.

In practice, shared meaning is provisional and fragile. It can strengthen, weaken, or dissolve as situations change, relationships shift, and new experiences emerge.

There are two closely related dimensions to this.

We use the same language

We take for granted that our words convey exactly what we intend them to. This is a particularly misinformed assumption.

I have observed that upon deeper scrutiny, the words, let alone the concepts, tend not to be received in the way the messenger anticipates. …

How can we discuss or argue the virtues of something when we are speaking differing languages? …

Language only represents thoughts, beliefs and experiences, and should not be taken as a literal and objective fact.

Credit: Mel Schwartz

Whenever we have a conversation with someone, we express opinions and perspectives on the world using words, phrases, idioms, and metaphors whose meanings are often unclear, ambiguous, or taken for granted.

The interpretation of these words is always contextually dependent. The same word can mean different things to different people, or even other things to the same person at various times. Tone, timing, history, emotion, and situation all shape what is heard and what makes sense.

In a multicultural world, where we often communicate across cultures and frequently use English when it is not the native language of all participants, it is hardly surprising that misunderstandings arise.

So first, shared meaning involves the words and the concepts themselves, but it does not stop there.

Shared meaning means that the words we use mean the same to each of us, or that we understand how each of us uses words differently and consciously take that into account in our conversations. At a deeper level, it means that we recognise the distinct values, beliefs, assumptions, emotions, and lived experiences that each of us ascribes to those words.

This dimension is necessary but not sufficient. Clarifying language alone does not guarantee shared meaning. People can agree on definitions and still fail to work together effectively.

We understand each other’s perspectives

The second dimension goes deeper. To achieve shared meaning, we need not agree with one another. What matters is that we understand each other’s perspectives well enough to recognise them as legitimate.

This understanding is not purely intellectual. It involves appreciating why something matters to someone, what concerns or hopes sit behind their view, and how their perspective has been shaped by experience, role, and context.

Shared meaning begins to emerge when people can make sense of where others are coming from well enough to stay in relationship and continue the conversation, even when they see things differently.

Shared meaning does not mean that everyone in the conversation sees things in the same way.

Shared meaning means each stakeholder in the conversation shares what is meaningful to them as it pertains to creating the desired future those in the conversation are seeking to create.

Shared meaning occurs when people understand each other’s perspectives well enough to accept them as legitimate in the context of exploring and realizing a desired future.

Credit: Ken Homer

However, understanding perspectives is still not the whole story. People can understand one another clearly yet struggle to coordinate, act together, or move forward. Shared meaning ultimately manifests in what people can do together, in how their actions begin to align, even imperfectly.

This process is rarely neat. Language, emotion, power, history, and context are entangled. Shared meaning often flickers in and out. It is partial, provisional, and shaped by asymmetries of authority and influence. Some voices carry more weight than others. Some perspectives are easier to dismiss. These dynamics affect what meaning can be shared and whose meaning counts.

Shared meaning is something we have to work at. We slow down, check our assumptions, and pay attention to how others make sense of the situation. We stay in conversation long enough to test understanding in action, knowing that meaning is never fixed and always open to revision.

Resources

• Blog Post: Shared Meaning by Mel Schwartz
• Blog Post: Creating understanding – finding shared meaning by Ken Homer