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SCORED 47 ON QUIZ  ( RESULTS BELOW) You’re a capable communicator, but you sometimes experience communication problems. Take the time to think about your approach to communication, and focus on receiving messages effectively, as much as sending them. Whenever you communicate with someone else, you and the other person follow the steps of the communication process shown below. Here, the person who is the source of the communication encodes it into a message, and transmits it through a channel. The receiver decodes the message, and, in one way or another, feeds back understanding or a lack of understanding to the source. By understanding the steps in the process, you can become more aware of your role in it, recognize what you need to do to communicate effectively, anticipate problems before they happen, and improve your overall ability to communicate effectively. The sections below help you do this, and help you improve the way you communicate at each stage of the process. (Questions 2, 11) Before you start communicating, take a moment to figure out what you want to say, and why. Don’t waste your time conveying information that isn’t necessary – and don’t waste the listener or reader’s time either. Too often, people just keep talking or keep writing – because they think that by saying more, they’ll surely cover all the points. Often, however, all they do is confuse the people they’re talking to. To : When you do this, you’ll be able to craft a message that will be received positively by your audience. Good communicators use the (“Keep It Simple and Straightforward”) principle. They know that less is often more, and that good communication should be efficient as well as effective. (Questions 1, 5, 8, 10, 15) When you know what you want to say, decide exactly how you’ll say it. You’re responsible for sending a message that’s clear and concise. To achieve this, you need to consider not only what you’ll say, but also how you think the recipient will perceive it. We often focus on the message that we want to send, and the way in which we’ll send it. But if our message is delivered without considering the other person’s perspective, it’s likely that part of that message will be lost. To communicate more effectively: With , make sure that what you write will be perceived the way you intend. Words on a page generally have no emotion – they don’t “smile” or “frown” at you while you’re reading them (unless you’re a very talented writer, of course!) When writing, take time to do the following: Another important consideration is to use pictures, charts, and diagrams wherever possible. As the saying goes, “a picture speaks a thousand words.” Our article on has some great tips that help you to use these to communicate clearly. Also, whether you speak or write your message, consi

der the . If there’s potential for miscommunication or misunderstanding due to cultural or language barriers, address these issues in advance. Consult with people who are familiar with these, and do your research so that you’re aware of problems you may face. See our article on for more help. (Questions 7, 11, 13) Along with encoding the message, you need to choose the best communication channel to use to send it. You want to be efficient, and yet make the most of your communication opportunity. Using email to send simple directions is practical. However, if you want to delegate a complex task, an email will probably just lead to more questions, so it may be best to arrange a time to speak in person. And if your communication has any negative emotional content, stay well away from email! Make sure that you communicate face to face or by phone, so that you can judge the impact of your words and adjust these appropriately. When you determine the best way to send a message, consider the following: (Questions 3, 6, 12, 14) It can be easy to focus on speaking; we want to get our points out there, because we usually have lots to say. However, to be a great communicator, you also need to step back, let the other person talk, and just listen. This doesn’t mean that you should be passive. Listening is hard work, which is why effective listening is called . To listen actively, give your undivided attention to the speaker: also helps you decode a message accurately. To understand a message fully, you have to understand the emotions and underlying feelings the speaker is expressing. This is where an understanding of can be useful. (Questions 4, 9) You need feedback, because without it, you can’t be sure that people have understood your message. Sometimes feedback is verbal, and sometimes it’s not. We’ve looked at the importance of asking questions and listening carefully. However, feedback through is perhaps the most important source of clues to the effectiveness of your communication. By watching the facial expressions, gestures, and posture of the person you’re communicating with, you can spot: As a speaker, understanding your listener’s body language can give you an opportunity to adjust your message and make it more understandable, appealing, or interesting. As a listener, body language can show you more about what the other person is saying. You can then ask questions to ensure that you have, indeed, understood each other. In both situations, you can better avoid miscommunication if it happens. Feedback can also be formal. If you’re communicating something really important, it can often be worth asking questions of the person you’re talking to to make sure that they’ve understood fully. And if you’re receiving this sort of communication, repeat it in your own words to check your understanding.