MHC Communicating More Effectively

For starters, we may be better served to withhold judgment on whether we have communicated effectively or certainly not take it for granted. Let’s examine the basic communication model:
Step 1:	Need to have someone who is willing to organize what they are thinking and feeling and do so in an effective way. Problems come up when the person is not clear themselves on what they are thinking or feeling or unsure of what they are wanting to express. At still other times, the person may try to communicate far more than the listener can process.

Step 2:	Need to have a way to effectively transfer the information. Verbal communication has its strengths and weaknesses. So too does written communication. Trying to express the communication with background noise or when several other activities are going on at the same time increases the risk that the communication is not effectively expressed. In another article we will expand on this and talk more about the parts of communications that can be emphasized to increase the possibility of effective communication.

Step 3:	Need to have another person who is prepared to actively listen. Active listening involves the skills of being actively receptive to the whole message being sent by the other person.

Step 4:	Need to get some feedback. The person who is doing the communicating needs to check out what was heard and confirm the message between the parties involved. The listener helps with this by responding in a way that provides this information.

Effective communication occurs when the party expressing the communication is able to send and receive confirmation that the words and their message were received by the listener. When any one of these four steps has a problem, then you can anticipate that there is an increased risk that the communication is not effective. Several future articles are scheduled on the topic of communication. Watch our web site for an upcoming article on better understanding the various parts to communication: non-verbal, para-verbal and verbal parts to our messages. Another future article will focus on enhancing listening skills.

Communicating More Effectively	Top of Page
We often take communication for granted—we just assume that we have communicated effectively with the other person. Well, have we? This article serves to summarize some basic points that go into improving communication.