If it were you, food for thought by Neogentrics.
Now, I remember last time I talked about your
personal appearance. And I did say that we were
going to start a whole new segment here, and
it's going to be basically on communication and
how to have basically good communication, not
only with your peers, but with people around
you, you and your community, and or your coworkers,
okay? But before I go more in -depth into this,
even though I've already covered how your personal
appearance can affect your communication, let's
stop and think about, what is communication?
A very simple question, yet with a not -so -very
-simple explanation. The definition, however,
is fairly simple, okay? First off, let's start
with this. Communication is simply the act of
transferring information from one place to another.
Doesn't matter if it's people, if it's a thing,
if it's school, if it's a paper. It's still communication.
Okay? And although this, like I said, is a simple
definition, you know, when we think about how
we communicate the subject... becomes a lot more
complex. There are various categories of communication,
and more than one may occur at any time or simultaneously.
The different categories of communication include,
but are not limited to, spoken or verbal communication.
This is basically being face -to -face via the
telephone, radio, television, or basically any
other kind of media. The second one is nonverbal
communication. This is typically noted by your
body language, gestures, how we dress or act.
Remember, I covered part of that. And even our
scent. Yes, the way you smell is also a form
of communication. As weird as that sounds. Next
would be the verbal communication. Sorry, the
written communication. Sorry, I already covered
verbal. that would basically be letters, emails,
books, magazines, the internet, other media,
this podcast. This, in a way, is still considered
written communication and even spoken or verbal
communication. This is one of those that counts
as both. Finally, the last one is visualizations.
That's basically graphs and charts, maps, logos,
and any other visualizations. that can be used
to communicate a message. This also includes
sign language for those who know how to use it.
I'm still trying to learn it, but at the moment
I'm not doing all too great. Okay. With that
being said, the desired outcome or goal of any
communication process is basically just understanding
what is being presented. Okay. The process of
interpersonal communication cannot be regarded
as a phenomena which simply happens, but should
be seen as a process which involves participants
basically negotiating their roles in this process,
whether consciously or even unconsciously. Senders
and receivers are, of course, vital in communication.
In face -to -face communication, the roles of
the sender and receiver are not distinct as both
parties communicate with each other. So even
if in very subtle ways, such as through eye contact
or lack thereof, and general body language, this
is usually the keen way as to how this... communication
works there are many other subtle ways that we
communicate perhaps even intentionally with others
for example the tone of our voice can give clues
to our mood or even our emotional state you know
whilst hand signs or gestures can add to a spoken
language like i mentioned before with the sign
language a spoken message i'm sorry in Written
communication, the sender and receiver are more
distinct, and until recent times, relatively
few writers and publishers were very powerful
when it came to communicating the written word.
So, with that being said, today, we can all write
and publish our own ideas online, which has led
to the explosion of information and communication
possibilities. There are endless possibilities.
Yeah, okay? So, with that being said, let's go
ahead and talk about the communication process.
Okay? A message or communication is basically
sent by the sender through a communication channel
to a receiver or to multiple receivers. Okay?
The sender must encode the message, the information
being conveyed. into a form that is appropriate
to the communication channel that he selected,
and the receivers then decode the messages to
understand its meaning and significance. The
telegraph being one of the first means of, I
guess you say, electrical communication back
when Samuel Morris created it, is one of those
examples of this. Misunderstandings can occur
at any stage of the communication process. Keep
this in mind. While the telegraph was very, very
useful, it wasn't exactly foolproof. Effective
communication involves minimizing potential misunderstandings
and overcoming any barriers to communication
at each stage in the communication process. One
of the things I'm going to talk about a little
bit later is going to be the barriers to effective
communication. But we'll get to that when we
reach there. Okay. An effective communicator
understands their audience, first off. And they
choose appropriate communication channels, hones
their message to these channels, and then encodes
the message to reduce misunderstanding by the
receivers. They will also seek out feedback from
the receivers as to how the message is understood
and then attempt to correct any misunderstandings
or confusions as soon as possible. Receivers
can use techniques such as clarification and
reflection as effective ways to ensure that the
message was sent and has been understood correctly.
Basically, the communication process works as
the following. The sender sends the message.
Encoding it through a channel to be decoded by
the recipient the recipient then sends feedback
through the same channel encoding it and then
it's Decoded by this original sender to be able
to determine what they said. That's basically
how it works Okay next would be communication
channels communication theory states that communication
involves a sender and a receiver or receivers
depending on how it's being conveyed, or to whom.
Like for me, to you guys. I'm not sending this
to one person, I'm sending this to everyone who
chooses to listen. And in doing this, it's conveying
information through a communication channel.
And in my case, it would be Anchor. Communication
channels, in the term, given to the way in which
we communicate, it's basically, how do I put
this? Let me back up a second here. First off,
there are multiple communication channels available
to us today, okay? And this is understood from
what I said previously. For example, like I said,
the face -to -face telephone calls, text messages,
email, internet, especially social media such
as Facebook, Twitter, the radio, TV, and even
written letters, though not as common, which
are still used. Others would be brochures or
reports, just to name a few. Now, choosing an
appropriate communication channel is vital for
effective communication, like I mentioned before,
as each communication channel has different strengths
and weaknesses. Let me give an example. Broadcasting
news of an upcoming event via a written letter
might convey the message clearly to one or two
individuals, but it will not be a time or cost
-effective way to broadcast the message to a
large number of people. But on the other hand...
Complain complex technical information is better
done via a printed document rather than via a
spoken message, since the receiver is able to
assimilate the information at their own pace
and then revisit the items that they do not fully
understand because it's all right there in front
of them. Okay, so keep this in mind. Written
communication is also useful as a way of recording
what has been said. For example, taking minutes
in a meeting is one of the main functions. One
of the things I'm going to definitely cover is
how note -taking is effective in communication,
as well as how to conduct a meeting as well.
And while these don't seem like they're all too
important, they are very, very vital to good
communication. Okay, so now that I've got that
out of the way. Let's go ahead and talk about
encoding messages. All messages must be encoded
into a form that can be conveyed by the communication
channel chosen for the message. This is understood.
We all do this every day when we're transferring
abstract thoughts into spoken words or written
form. However, other communication channels require
different forms of encoding, i .e. text writing
for a report will not. work well if broadcasted
via a radio program, and the short abbreviated
text used in text messages would be considered
inappropriate if sent via a letter, obviously.
And complex data may be best communicated using
a graph or chart or other visualizations. You
wouldn't exactly present that data in a written
text document, and if you did, I honestly doubt
anyone would read it, unless you're a technical
analysis person who needs all that data versus
an actual chart, which gives more detail. Effective
communicators encode their message with their
intended audience in mind, as well as the communication
channel. This involves an appropriate use of
language. Conveying the information simply and
clearly, anticipating and eliminating likely
causes of confusion and misunderstanding, and
knowing the receiver's experience in decoding
other similar communications. Successful encoding
of messages is a vital skill in effective communication.
With that being said, unfortunately, it seems
that, and I've had a request for this, I'm going
to have to cover a topic on the importance of
plain English. And it's not that it's something
that I assume that everyone should have. It's
just that the fact that we've gone so far away
from what we were originally taught and the way
things are in school now that this main topic
isn't being carried like it's supposed to. I
feel like I need to at least cover it for those
who don't know or haven't been taught, more so
than the ones who already know who just need
a refresher. So with that, next I want to talk
about the decoding of messages. Once received,
the receivers need to decode the message. Successfully
decoding is also a vital communication skill.
People will decode and understand messages in
different ways based on any barriers to communication.
which might be present their experience and understanding
of the context of the message, their psychological
state, and the time and place of receipt, as
well as many other potential factors. Understanding
how the message will be decoded and anticipating
as many of the potential sources of misunderstanding
as possible is the art of a successful communicator.
Okay? I want to make sure that's at least understood.
Now, Well, let me talk about feedback for a second.
Feedback is basically this. Receivers of a message
are likely to provide feedback on how they basically
have understood the message through both verbal
and nonverbal reactions. With this being said,
effective communicators pay close attention to
this feedback as it is the only way to assess
whether the message has been understood as intended
and it allows any confusions to basically be
corrected. Bear in mind, that the extent and
form of feedback will vary according to the communication
channel used. For example, feedback during a
face -to -face or telephone conversation will
be immediate and direct, whilst feedback to messages
conveyed via TV or radio will be indirect and
may be delayed or even conveyed through other
media such as the internet. With this, topics
such as reflection, clarification, and giving
and receiving feedback are stuff I'm going to
cover in the near future. And I want to go ahead
and stress how important they are now before
I actually reach them. Okay? So, in conclusion,
to everything that I basically covered, what
is communication? Being able to communicate effectively
is the most important of all life skills. You
can learn how to do a dozen different things,
especially a lot of the stuff that I've already
talked about before, and especially how to be
healthy. But if you can't communicate, it makes
it harder to go through life. Imagine trying
to talk to a person who only speaks Spanish,
but you only know English. There is a huge barrier
between the two. I'm sure there are still some
words between the two that are understood. As
I don't properly speak Spanish, but I can understand
it because I have studied it for a short period.
There is a slight barrier there. Okay. So with
that, I thank you for listening. We'll be picking
it back up with the next topic in my next podcast,
which may or may not be too far gone after this
one. We're going to cover interpersonal communication
skills next. And with that, have a great rest
of your day, and thank you for listening.