The Communication Playbook. Teri Kwal Gamble
used to communicate the messages that were sent and received (did you communicate face-to face, e-mail, phone, text, or via social media?), and the outcome of the exchange (what happened as a result of your communicating?).
Finally, and this is most important, evaluate your communication effectiveness in each interaction by rating it on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 represents extremely ineffective and 5 represents extremely effective, giving your reasons for each rating.
Person Context Channel Outcome Rating With Reasons
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After reviewing your self-evaluations, how would you replay any of the preceding interactions if given the opportunity? Be specific. For example, might you opt not to text while walking down a street with a friend? Would you decide not to answer your phone when dining with a coworker?
If it were up to you, would you opt to increase or decrease the number of online versus face-to-face interactions that you shared? Why?
Essentials of Communication
Whatever the nature or type of communication in which we are involved, the communication act itself is characterized by the interplay of seven elements. All communication interactions have these common elements that together help define the communication process. The better you understand these components, the easier it becomes for you to develop your own communicative abilities. Let’s begin by examining the essentials of communication, those elements present during every communication event.
People
Obviously, human communication involves people. Interpersonal, small-group, and public communication encounters take place between and among all types of senders (people who encode and send out messages) and receivers (people who take in messages and decode). Although it is easy to picture a communication experience beginning with a sender and ending with a receiver, it is important to understand that during communication the role of sender does not belong exclusively to one person and role of receiver to another. Instead, the processes of sending and receiving occur simultaneously. Even if only one person is speaking, others can communicate through facial expression, attentiveness, or raising a hand to ask a question.
Messages
A message is the content of a communicative act. During every communication act, we all send and receive verbal and nonverbal messages. What you talk about, the words you use to express your thoughts and feelings, the sounds you make, the way you sit and gesture, your facial expressions, and perhaps even your touch or your smell all communicate information.
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Some messages we send are private (a kiss accompanied by “I love you”); others are public and may be directed at hundreds or thousands of people. We send some messages purposefully (“I want you to know. . .”) and others accidentally (“I had no clue you were watching . . . or ‘lurking’”).
Everything a sender or receiver does or says is a potential message as long as someone is there to interpret it.
Channels
Channels are the media we use to carry messages. We classify channels according to which of our senses carries or receives the message, whether the message is being delivered verbally, nonverbally, or both, and the primary means of communication we use to deliver the message, that is, whether we use face-to-face interaction, text messaging, or a mass medium such as television or a podcast.
We are multichanneled communicators. We receive sound messages (we hear noises from the street), sight messages (we size up how someone looks), taste messages (we enjoy the flavor of a particular food), smell messages (we like the scent of a friend’s perfume), and touch messages (we feel the roughness of a fabric).
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Which channel are you most attuned to? To what extent do you rely on one or more channels while excluding or ignoring others? Effective communicators are adept channel switchers. They recognize that communication is a multichannel experience. The following dialogue between a husband and wife illustrates the multichannel nature of communication:
Wife: Jim, you’re late again. Is that a drink I smell on your breath? Now, we’ll never get to the Adams’ on time.
Husband: No, I didn’t stop for a drink. You must be smelling what’s left of my cologne. I tried my best to be on time (places a consoling hand on her shoulder).
Wife: (Sarcastically) Sure, you tried your best. (Drawing away and shaking her finger) I’m not going to put up with this much longer. My job is every bit as demanding as yours, you know.
Husband: (Lowering his voice) Ok. Ok. I know you work hard, too. I don’t question that. Listen, I really did get stuck in a conference. (Smiles at her) Let’s not blow this up. I’ll tell you about it on the way to Bill and Ellen’s.
What message is the wife (the initial source-encoder) sending to her husband (the receiver-decoder)? She is letting him know with her words, her voice, and her physical actions that she is upset and angry. Her husband responds in kind, using words, vocal cues, and gestures in an effort to explain his behavior. Both are affected by the nature of the situation (they are late for an appointment), by their attitudes (how they feel about what’s happened), and by their past experiences.
Noise
In the context of communication, noise is anything that interferes with or distorts our ability to send or receive messages. Although we are accustomed to thinking of noise as particular sound or group of sounds, noise can have both internal and external causes. Internal noise is attributed to a communicator’s psychological makeup, intellectual ability, or physical condition. External noise is attributed to the environment. Thus, noise includes distractions such as a loud siren, a disturbing odor, and a hot room; personal factors such as prejudices, daydreaming, and feelings of inadequacy; and semantic factors such as uncertainty about what another person’s words are supposed to mean.
Context
Communication always takes place in a context, or setting. Sometimes a context is so natural that we barely notice it. At other times, however, the context exerts considerable control over our behavior. Would your behavior be the same at a friend’s 21st birthday party and at a baby shower? Both are parties, but the context is different. Consider how your present environment affects the way you act toward others. Also, consider the extent to which certain environments might cause you to alter your posture, manner of speaking, attire, or means of interacting.
Feedback
Whenever we communicate, we receive feedback in return. The verbal and nonverbal cues that we perceive in reaction to our communication function as feedback. Feedback tells us how we are coming across. A smile, a frown, a chuckle, a sarcastic remark, a muttered thought, or simply silence in response to something we do or say can cause us to change, continue, or end a communication exchange.
Feedback that encourages us to continue behaving as we are is positive feedback; it enhances behavior in progress. In contrast, negative feedback extinguishes a behavior; it serves a corrective rather than a reinforcing function. Note that the terms positive and negative should