As we mentioned before, information comes in through our sensory input channels.

There are 5 in all but in the context of communication the 3 main channels are:

Visual

This is what we see and the body language and physiology of others

Auditory

These are the sounds we hear, the words spoken and the way that these are spoken

Kinaesthetic

These are split into Internal and external feelings. External feelings include touching someone or something, what it feels like - texture, pressure etc.
Internal feelings include feelings like hunger, stress, tension, comfort, pleasure etc

The other 2, which are less significant when it comes to communication, are:

Olfactory

The sense of smell

Gustatory

The sense of taste

Information In - Information Out

When information comes in through one of the senses we then process this information as described in the previous chapter - we modify it as we relate it to our view and understanding of the world.

This understanding is based upon our filters.

The are 6 main filters:

INFORMATION IN

INFORMATION OUT

Language

We interpret words depending on whether we understand them in the first place and our previous experience of using them.

For some people, let's say, the term "Outstanding" could mean the same as another persons "Good".

Ask 100 people in a room what "Competitive Advantage" means and you're likely to get 30-40 different answers depending on the persons personal experience with that word and their understanding of what it means.

Meta programmes

Meta programmes are at the hub of your personality and these describe the ways that you analyse a situation and information.

When you know a persons meta programmes you will then be able to predict their behaviour and actions a lot better.

There are no right or wrong meta programmes it's just the way we handle information.

As these are so important to effective communications I have included a special chapter to learn these in greater detail.

Values

The third filter is values.

This is your standards or evaluation filter.

Values are our attractions or repulsion's in life. They are all about what is important and what is good or bad for us. Because values are about things that are important to us, they have a great impact on our motivation.

Beliefs

A belief is a feeling of certainty of what something means to us.

All human behaviour is belief driven.

Beliefs are the presuppositions that we have about the way the world is.

Depending upon what they are can either create or destroy our own personal power to do something.

Beliefs are essentially our on/off switch for our ability to do anything in the world.

There's an old saying that "Whether you believe you can or your cannot, you're absolutely right"

When communicating to someone it is important to elicit their beliefs of WHY they have done what they have done. On the flip side, when motivating someone, you might also want to find out the disempowering beliefs that have stopped him or her from doing what they want to do.

Memories

This filter is all about our recollection of past events.

If someone is saying something to us and we have done it in the past we are going to make a connection.

And if that same something resulted in a negative experience, we may have built up a negative belief that it will happen again!

Decisions

The final filter is linked closely to memories and is about the decisions that we have made in the past.

If we have made some good, bad or indifferent decisions in the past we may have created some empowering or disempowering beliefs either about the decision itself or the outcome.

Information Out

Once the information has been filtered through, the information is then either deleted, distorted or generalised.

We delete certain pieces of information when we only pay attention to certain aspects of our experiences and not others.

We distort information when we make misrepresentations of reality.

I'm sure we have all seen a ghost's face on the bedroom wall in the middle of the night. Or because the bushes in the garden are rustling, there must be burglars down there!

We generalise information when we draw broad conclusions about what something means.

For example, if a woman has had a particularly bad relationship with a man she may say that "All men are the same" and never want to get into a relationship for a long time.

She has therefore taken one experience and made a generalisation out of it.