Stages to Effective Communication

There are several nuggets, guidelines or principles to ensuring effective communication. However, we would be mentioning here, part of the responsibilities of a good communicator in the attempt to ensure effective communication.

Communication is a process and it has a pre-stage, the actual stage and post-stage. All these stages are geared towards preparing the sender (or receiver) to engage in an effective and successful communication.

The American Management Association has formulated the following commandments below for effective communication. These steps fall into the stages mentioned above:

1. Clarifying ideas before communication

2. Knowing purpose of communication  

3. Understanding physical and human environments of communication

4. Consulting others in planning communication

5. Contents and overtones of communication

6. Value of communication to the receiver

7. Importance of communication

8. Actions congruent with communication

9. Good listening

10. Follow up action

We would now attempt to throw more light into these steps in the respective stages. We would be considering instances from the social and business environment for emphasis.

Clarifying Ideas Before Communication

This is a Pre – Stage of the communication activity.  A communicator is expected to think before s/he should talk. Clear your mind! In the thinking process, we plan what to say and clarify the point for or against the idea and how best the idea can be understood and presented.

In the office setting, agendas are sent out before a meeting to enable participants prepare their ideas adequately for the meeting. It is also an effective communication method to tell someone what you wish to talk about before commencing the discussion. In effect, the receiver gathers his/her thoughts towards that area of discussion.

Knowing Purpose of Communication 

Part of the activities in the pre – stage of communication requires knowing the purpose of communication. We are expected to thoroughly think of what we wish to say and why we have to say it. This identifies the kind of goal one wishes to achieve with the communication process.

Every speech has a purpose and the communicator is to work towards achieving that. The speech you are expected to give at the opening of a Children’s Ward in the hospital would be different if the opening ceremony is also an opportunity to raise funds for the centre. The purpose is the why of the message: the brain/reason of the message.

Understanding Physical and Human Environments of Communication

This is another Pre – stage of the Communication activity: In understanding the why of the message, we put into consideration as well, the environment in which communication would take place: The human environment as well as the physical environment. The human environment affects the kind of language expected and the method of delivery. If you are going to prepare for a presentation, you must consider the category of persons you are to address, and the number of persons.

The physical space, time and location where the presentation would be made accounts for the physical environment. The location gives an idea of the kind of barriers or noise to expect, prepare for or plan to eliminate. Using a Public Address system may be that great difference in your delivery. This stage covers the “who”, “where” and “when” of the message.

Consulting Others in Planning Communication

To ensure that your message attains correctness you may require the effort of others to gather appropriate and accurate statistics and information for the audience. Your decision to go online to do a search is a form of depending on others in the pre-stage of the communication activity. All forms of research is a form of consulting.

On the other hand, where a communication process (such as a meeting presentation) would require ICT / audio-visual or any other form of technology, like a video/audio teleconferencing, one may consult an expert to ensure there are no distractions (barriers to communication) during the communication.

Contents and Overtones of Communication

A good communicator must ensure that the content of the communication meets the 7 Cs and 4 Ss of communication.  The content / message is the crux of the process of communication. It must articulate what the sender intends without unclear overtones.

All the proverbs, idiomatic expressions, or examples laden in the content must meet the target audience with the same clarity, weight and sincerity of purpose. The content is the spine of the message; it is the “What” of the communication.

Value of Communication to the Receiver

It is the responsibility of the sender to make the message valuable to the receiver. Hence, one must prepare the “what” of the message to be appealing to the audience. It is the responsibility of the communicator to identify the need of the audience and tailor the message to be of value to meeting the need of the audience.

People easily show interest in a communication process if they either have respect for the sender or expect something of value from the sender. To communicate effectively, create value that the receiver is willing to receive from the message.

Importance of Communication

Here the communicator, at the point of preparation or delivery of the message, must call to mind the importance of communication. Some persons get carried away listening to themselves and employ flowery of language or some elevated language. Except the intention of the communication is to excite the audience or create a prestigious personae around self, the importance of communication is to simply get a message across.

Where the importance of communication is to create an impact and solicit an emotional response, the choice of words during communication must evoke the needed response. In the importance of communication, the sender focuses on “why”; the need to communicate and then “how” to communicate effectively.

Actions Congruent with Communication

This is revealed during the actual communication stage. The actions congruent with communication flow from our non-verbal communication cues. Our body languages have a way of revealing our thoughts or buttressing our words. The act of nodding or shaking one’s head may justify a yes or no.

In my part of the world, Nigeria, nodding one’s head signals a “Yes”. So, someone can nod the head while saying; “Oh, I see, I now understand your point.” You would also notice that when you point the way to aid someone’s direction. If the hand does not correlate with the instruction, the listener gets confused. For instance, you can’t tell someone to go right while you are pointing left.

Another way to explain how communication can be more effective when we apply actions congruent with our message. If you have a presentation, the tempo, modulation and pitch of your voice are expressive of the message. A message at a burial ceremony and at a club launch would require different facial expressions, voice tempo/ pitch, and actions to correlate with the message.

Good Listening

One of the most beautiful part of communication is the listening. To communicate effectively one must learn to have good listening skills. There is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is the function of the ears; while listening is the function of the mind in order to perceive correctly and understand what is said and unsaid.

Communication is a two-way process, while transmitting a message the sender listens to the expressions and body language of the receiver to be sure that the message is well taken. In a similar way, the receiver also listens to the message delivered by the sender for all the necessary verbal and non-verbal messages. Good listening is at the heart of every successful communication. Where good listening is not employed, there would be needless repetitions, clarifications and disagreements.

Follow-up Action

The follow-up action from the listener or interlocutor determines, to some extent, how successful we have been in the communication process. The communication process was intended for a course of action, and that action determines how effective your communication skill is.

This is actually a point or personal assessment (and a scorecard). Ask yourself, how often do you get the required feedback when you communicate. If you frequently get the wrong feedback, it may be the quality of the message, the choice of your language, tone of your voice, the need to show courtesy or diplomacy, the volume (pitch) of your voice, to mention a few.

If you have to repeat yourself every time you give a message, then you must work on your voice tempo, modulation, pitch and learn to speak up.  You may be speaking too fast or your voice maybe too low. Always look out for the follow-up action after the message has been conveyed.

In conclusion, the goal of a communication is to first pass the message; clearly and succinctly. Whether the message would be accepted or agreed to is a function of meeting the needs of the interlocutor. Hence, to ensure that one’s message is received and given the appropriate response, it is important to prepare for the communication process with more dexterity and intent. We have looked into a few points above to help shape our communication process better. Remember the how, why, where, who and when of the message for an effective communication.

Speechless was here!