How
the science is eclipsed by the art of communication...
We all love to communicate, it’s a part
of who we are as human beings and is more deeply inset into our success as a
species then we would think. Why? The answer is simple… we take it for granted.
After all, who really thinks about one of our greatest evolutionary gifts in
detail as we advance through childhood and onto adulthood launching a career or
multiple careers? The art of communication is developed as we go and only a few
think about the science that describes the process of communication, which we
engage in, on a daily basis.
BusinessDictionary.com describes
communication as “Two-way process of reaching mutual
understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information, news, ideas and feelings
but also create and share meaning.” The process can be set
out as follows:
Sender encodes transmission>>>Sender
transmits message>>>Receiver receives message>>>Receiver
decodes transmission.
This is true for all types
of messages over all types of mediums such as a face-to-face conversation, a
phone conversation, an email, a letter, a text, a social media post, a media
article, etc. In the definition of communication, its good to note that there
are two main types of communication that are in every message we send. They are
verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication is described as “The sharing of information between individuals by using speech.” Non-verbal communication is described as “Behavior and elements of speech aside from the words themselves that transmit meaning.”
In non verbal
communication, tone, posture, pitch, hand gestures, use of
capitals/bolds/italics/colours/pictures (in written communication mediums) is
all relevant to how the receiver receives, decodes and understands the entire
message, both verbal and non verbal in content/meaning. When we look at it this
way, we can see how even a blog article on communication has a two way
communicative characteristic by the way the article is written in content and
meaning to how the reader decodes the article. Do all readers get the same
meaning and content? I hope so…. but the wider the audience the more impacting
subtle inferences of non verbal communication are in the receiver’s decoding of
content and meaning. So folks, I guess I need to get this one right then!
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| Figure d) Communication Styles Chart |
As you can see, whilst we
are all unique, we do fall into some situational categories when it comes to what style to
adopt in our approach to people both in the workplace and in life. The need for
mutual understanding is critical in all
meaningful communication and thus I submit it should be a key metric in
measuring effective communication. If absent, then meaning is also forgone in
the message and a message without meaning is not an effective message at all.
In my professional
experience to date, I have experienced issues with communication, knowing when
to speak up, hold my silence, etc. There is so much more learnt by experience thus
I think it is fair to say that emotion is embedded in all communication driving
‘our communicative art’ over time. In a sustainable world, our ability to
recognise emotion for its ever present value and vice is an inherent part of
our success and/or failure given the subtle yet impacting influences it has on
our ability to communicate and perform on a daily basis.
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| Figure e) Emotional Communication Wheel |
I would offer the following
pointers on communication to further the cause of effective communication for all.
Small talk matters. Small talk in in the work place is like
walking on hot coals for some. Be that as it may, small talk has proven to be
key to group successes big and small, so the next time someone asks you about
your weekend, take two minutes at the water cooler to talk to them about theirs
and what’s going on in the office. Its small but can aggregate positively to
the overall level of group cohesion and performance/success potential within
the group.
Watch your body language. Non-verbal communication
is a bigger deliverer of meaning then the verbal content of any conversation. Body
language showing emotions like anger, joy, sadness, happiness, which contradict
your message’s content, inhibits the impact of the content and creates
confusion for the receiver whom is having trouble decoding meaning from your
message. Unify your message; encode
your body language to be consistent with your content, which increases the
efficacy of your message with the receiver. As a side, if your situation
becomes confrontational and your counter party is aggressive, ensure your body
language doesn’t naturally become aggressive in response… always respond to aggression with assertion!
Contextualise what you don’t understand. It is only human that you
receive a message you don’t understand at some point. When you do, try to not
make assumptions about the sender’s motives and meaning. If you don’t
understand, ask the sender for clarification as to message context and what was
meant by any content that you don’t understand. Albert Einstein once said, “If you cannot explain it simply, then you
don’t understand well enough”. He is right, so don’t be afraid to reach out
for clarification and contextualise the message ensuring mutual understanding
is reached which after-all is the goal of the message.
Communicate collaboratively even in conflict. Too many people think
conflict is an exercise leading to a ‘win-lose’ outcome. The fact is that this
is an outdated and to be frank inward view of conflict which needs to be
updated for companies and employees alike to suffer less as a result of it. A
company will have a company culture and set of business practices for conflict
but what has being proven in studies and experience going back over decades is
that the more collaboratively you
communicate in conflict, the better the chances of a successful outcome.
Try to lean on a ‘win-win’ approach and communicate collaboratively based on interest based negotiation principles where
you seek the goals and objectives of the other side, and explore ways to make
it happen whilst not compromising your goals and objectives. The compromise
comes on points of contention that arise in the process with mutually agreed
outcomes on a ‘win-win basis’.
Never dilute a strong point with a weak follow up. Did you ever make a great
point and wish you had just stopped talking at that point? I know I have done
so and thus always try to focus on how I am going to communicate in terms of
approach and content. What works for
me is flagging these points in my head before I enter the
conversation/negotiation. This allows me to keep them as content milestone
markers in my communication, thus the conversation stays relatively on track
and the milestone marker points deliver the essence of what I would have needed
to say.
A stitch in time saves nine! Communication is about
balance, when to act and when to not. The absence of communicative action is an
act of communication in itself. Too often in organisational settings, the
impulse to evaluate a possibly contentious situation using inward facing
rationale leads to one accommodating the individual whom may be loud, brash and
aggressive in their position on a point which you know is wrong but accommodate
it anyway. This presents an opportunity cost dilemma that may come back to
haunt the organisation in times to come. If you feel you need to speak up, then
speak up based on the facts, communicate clearly and keep emotive
responsiveness under control especially if the brash colleague decides to
challenge your points which is often done as a defensive measure. Try to ensure
the opportunity cost of assertion in a timely manner does not exceed the
opportunity cost of accommodation for the company over time.
We all wish we had more
time to take things back and redo them if we could, but the arrow of time does
not afford us such luxuries, thus leaving us with the tools and measure of our
experience by which to navigate one of the most critical and long serving
aspects of human existence which is communication. A sustainable world relies
on it… a bright future depends on it…
Source
Links/Credits:
Definitions;
a)
Communication
b) Verbal
Communication
c) Non verbal
communication
d)
Communication Styles Chart
e) Emotional
Communication Wheel
#Communication,
#Sustainable Capitalism, #Sustainable, #Organisational, #HR, #People, #Company
Culture, #Development
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