The
communications process
Communication
is the transmission of information.
Let’s
just think for a moment or two of how the communication process
kicks into action.
Firstly,
a person has some thoughts that they want to communicate.
They
then put all of these thoughts into a logical sequence.
Then,
these thoughts and representations are put into words and then they
are then spoken.
Easy
hey!
Ok, so let’s think of the person who is receiving the information.
The
words are heard from the second person and then are interpreted
to make some sense.
The
sense of the words are now understood by the other persons view
of the world and the filters that they use to understand information
and then these understandings are then expressed as thoughts.
So,
if communication is so easy how come confusion, misunderstandings
and miscommunication happy all too often?
If
we look at the two diagrams once more, we can see that there are
two “THOUGHTS” processes – one at the beginning of the cycle with
the communicator and one at the end of the cycle with the receiver
of the communication.
EVERYTHING
INBETWEEN THESE TWO PROCESSES ARE INDEED PROCESSED
IN DIFFERENT WAYS BY EVERY PERSON
AND
THIS IS WHERE MISCOMMUNICATION COMES FROM!
Let’s
have a look to see how this is done.
When
someone communicates information to us (through one of the senses),
this information has to pass through an internal filter system,
which is basically how we see the world. (There is a detailed section
on this later)
We
then REPRESENT this information based upon our filters.
The
way that we are feeling at the time, i.e. are we Motivated? Energised?
Depressed? Pleased? Will have a coupling effect with the representation
that we have just made to create an emotional state.
This
state, whether good, bad or indifferent will determine our reaction
to others and the event. This ultimately leads to the behaviour
that others see when we communicate back whether it is through verbal
or non-verbal methods.
Communicating effectively is all
about understanding this process.
Once you know some of the communicating
strategies of the other person and you adopt your style to compliment
their strategies you will find that you will communicate so much
more effectively.
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