The illusion of communication…

“The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~ George Bernard Shaw (Irish playwright, essayist and 1925 Nobel Prize winner)

Most of us feel that once we have said our piece or sent the email or submitted the report that communication has occurred. Shaw is correct – most of us think we have communicated well and yet, I hate to tell you, we are wrong much of the time. Truly, we are kidding ourselves.

There are 4 main components to effective communication:

1. Preparing the message: Determining what you want to convey, selecting the words and crafting the message.  Most of us spend very little time here and wonder why we are so often misunderstood.
2. Sending the message: Delivering the message, whether through speech, email or any other media. This is the step that most of us focus on, whether we have thought about what we are going to say or not.
3. Receiving the message: This means ensuring that you have the undivided attention of your target audience (if via speech), ensuring that the email will be opened, etc.  Just because a message was delivered does not mean it was received by the intended audience.
4. Understanding the message: Our words – whether spoken or written – rarely convey the richness of our original thought or our full intent.  Thoughts run through our brains about 1000x faster than or ability to speak or write.  Think about how much of our thinking is not shared when we communicate.  This is why there is so much misunderstanding in the world. Just because a message was received by the intended audience does not mean it was understood.

And here is the really hard part – if you are the person communicating, you have the primary responsibility for all 4 components. Surprised? Hey, it is your message… So spend time on all 4 components – what you are going to say, how you will deliver the message, how you will ensure that the message was received and understood. You might be surprised how challenging effective communication  can be…

When you ensure that all the components are working effectively, your overall rate of communication success will improve. This is especially critical when you have something important that you need to share with others.

Communicating well is challenging.  Take some time to do it right; you’ll be pleased with the results.

catherine
The reviews are in and the award-winning book Talk about Anything with Your Kids is a hit! Buy the book today at: http://bit.ly/4WJhV.