What is Communication?

Communicating is something we do everyday.  If we were to ask people to define communication they might say, “We communicate by talking”.  But talking is only a small piece of communication.  It represents only 7% of the communication process.  This means that the other 93% of communication takes place without words.  

Talking is easy, but communicating is hard work.  It’s hard because many things need to happen for it to be successful.  The goal of communication is to achieve understanding.  The sender wants to be understood and the listener wants to understand.  If understanding is not reached, then communication has not been successful.  

To figure out the communication process, we need to start at the beginning.  

• A sender or speaker begins by creating the message. 
• The message should have only one main idea or thought. 
• Trying to send too many different thoughts at one time makes the process difficult. 
• Try to keep it simple. 
• The sender must consider the right time to send the message.    
• The message must be created taking the listener’s skills into consideration.    
• The sender must also consider the place or room where the message will be delivered. 
• It is important for the sender to understand his or her own feelings before trying to communicate.    
• Remember that there is no rush to begin the communication process, especially when you think you might make a mistake. 
• Finally, the sender should practice the volume, speed, and body positioning that will be used in sending the message. 
• The role of the listener is to hear the message.  The listener should not plan a response or think of other things. 
• Once the message has been delivered, the listener should tell the sender what they heard. 
• Then the roles switch.  The listener becomes the sender and the sender becomes the listener.  

The communication process continues until understanding has been reached.  Good communication requires an articulate speaker with a clear message given at the right time and with the right manner.  It also needs an active, attentive listener.  Communication takes a minimum of two people that want to understand.  Without this, it will fail.