PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION Communication is a two-way process of giving and receiving information through any number of channels.

Whether one is speaking informally to a colleague, addressing a conference or meeting, writing a newsletter article or formal report, the following basic principles apply: y y y y y y y y y y y Know your audience. Know your purpose. Know your topic. Anticipate objections. Present a rounded picture. Achieve credibility with your audience. Follow through on what you say. Communicate a little at a time. Present information in several ways. Develop a practical, useful way to get feedback. Use multiple communication techniques.

Communication is complex. When listening to or reading someone else's message, we often filter what's being said through a screen of our own opinions. One of the major barriers to communication is our own ideas and opinions. There's an old communications game, telegraph, that's played in a circle. A message is whispered around from person to person. What the exercise usually proves is how profoundly the message changes as it passes through the distortion of each person's inner "filter." Principles of Effective Persuasion Whether making a formal presentation at a meeting or writing a report or fact sheet, the following principles hold. y y y y y y y y Do not oversell or overstate your case. Make effective use of understatement. Outline the topic you are trying to cover into two parts. The first part should give broad background information, while the second part provides a detailed summary. Persuasion depends on clarity and simplicity. Avoid the use of jargon and buzz words. Be prepared to back up claims or facts immediately. Incorporate major anticipated objections into your program or presentation. Address all relevant aspects of a topic, especially those that may affect the functioning of an organization. Use graphics and audiovisuals appropriately. Consider ways to get meaningful input from people. Find out what they think about the innovation or change.

Selling New Ideas Creating Isn't Selling Often the creators of an innovation feel that convincing others of the idea's value is somehow superfluous to their activities. To them, conceiving the idea is enough. This combines with their inner conviction that their idea will "sell itself." Change agents provide a link between creators of new techniques and users. Ideas Need Selling Someone must recognize when an idea is good. It is important that when an idea is good it is sold to those who can act on it--those who have the power to evaluate and adopt it. Understanding users is an important activity for any change agent. People must be convinced that a particular idea or innovation has enough merit to warrant adoption. Selling Ideas Takes Effort Selling innovations requires preparation, initiative, patience, and resourcefulness. It may take

more effort than originating the idea. In an age of technical complexity and information overload, new ideas seldom stand out. Information on new ideas must be targeted to the appropriate users and relate to their needs and motivations. Once is Not Enough A new idea has to be suggested many times before it will "catch on." Initial failures at promoting a new idea are to be expected, so don't get discouraged if you don't get the results you want the first time. Some ideas take years to catch on. However, first exposures are crucial to future prospects. Do it right the first time Feedback (Listening) Getting and giving feedback is one of the most crucial parts of good communication. Like any other activity, there are specific skills that can enhance feedback. Listening is a key part of getting feedback: Listen to the Complete Message. Be patient. This is especially important when listening to a topic that provokes strong opinions or radically different points-of-view. In these situations, it's important not to prejudge the incoming message. Learn not to get too excited about a communication until you are certain of the message. Work at Listening Skills. Listening is hard work. Good listeners demonstrate interest and alertness. They indicate through their eye contact, posture and facial expression that the occasion and the speaker's efforts are a matter of concern to them. Most good listeners provide speakers with clear and unambiguous feedback. Judge the Content, Not the Form of the Message. Such things as the speaker's mode of dress, quality of voice, delivery mannerisms and physical characteristics are often used as excuses for not listening. Direct your attention to the message--what is being said--and away from the distracting elements. Weigh Emotionally Charged Language. Emotionally charged language often stands in the way of effective listening. Filter out "red flag" words (like "liberal" and "conservative," for instance) and the emotions they call up. Specific suggestions for dealing with emotionally charged words include y y y Take time to identify those words that affect you emotionally. Attempt to analyze why the words affect you the way they do. Work at trying to reduce the impact of these words on you.

Eliminate Distractions. Physical distractions and complications seriously impair listening. These distractions may take many forms: loud noises, stuffy rooms, overcrowded conditions, uncomfortable temperature, bad lighting, etc. Good listeners speak up if the room is too warm, too noisy, or too dark. There are also internal distractions: worries about deadlines or problems of any type may make listening difficult. If you're distracted, make an effort to clear your head. If you can't manage it, arrange to communicate at some other time. Think Efficiently and Critically. On the average, we speak at a rate of 100 to 200 words per minute. However, we think at a much faster rate, anywhere from 400 to 600 words per minute. What do we do with this excess thinking time while listening to someone speak? One technique is to apply this spare time to analyzing what is being said. They critically review the material by asking the following kinds of questions: y y y y y y What is being said to support the speaker's point of view? (Evidence) What assumptions are being made by the speaker and the listener? (Assumptions) How does this information affect me? (Effect) Can this material be organized more efficiently? (Structure) Are there examples that would better illustrate what is being said? (Example) What are the main points of the message? (Summary)

Sending Messages Messages should be clear and accurate, and sent in a way that encourages retention, not rejection. y Use Verbal Feedback Even If Nonverbal Is Positive And Frequent. Everyone needs reassurance that they are reading nonverbal communication correctly, whether a smile means "You're doing great," "You're doing better than most beginners," or "You'll catch on eventually." Focus Feedback on Behavior Rather Than On Personality. It's better to comment on specific behavior than to characterize a pattern of behavior. For example, instead of calling a colleague inefficient, specify your complaint: "You don't return phone calls; this causes problems both in and outside your office." Focus Feedback on Description Rather Than Judgment. Description tells what happened. Judgment evaluates what happened. For example, in evaluating a report doesnt say, "This is a lousy report!!" Instead, try: "The report doesn't focus on the information that I think needs emphasis," or "This report seems to have a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes." Make Feedback Specific Rather Than General. If feedback is specific, the receiver knows what activity to continue or change. When feedback is general, the receiver doesn't know what to do differently. For example, in an office situation, instead of saying "These folders are not arranged correctly," it's better feedback to say, "These should be arranged chronologically instead of alphabetically." In Giving Feedback, Consider the Needs and Abilities of the Receiver. Give the amount of information the receiver can use and focus feedback on activities the receiver has control over. It's fruitless to criticize the level of activity, if the decision to grant the necessary monies for materials, personnel or technology is made at a different level. Check to See if the Receiver Heard What You Meant to Say. If the information is important enough to send, make sure the person understands it. One way of doing this is to say, "I'm wondering if I said that clearly enough. What did you understand me to say?" or "This is what I hear you saying. Is that right?"

Selecting the Best Communication Method In communicating with decision makers, use the most appropriate communications method. One way to do this is to ask yourself the following questions. y y y y y y y What is the purpose of your message? Do you plan to tell them something new? Inform? Do you plan to change their view? Persuade? What facts must be presented to achieve your desired effect? What action, if any, do you expect decision makers to take? What general ideas, opinions and conclusions must be stressed? Are you thoroughly familiar with all the important information on the innovation? What resources and constraints affect adoption of the innovation? How much time is available? How much money is available Which method, or combination of methods, will work most effectively for this situation? Personal contact--requires scheduling, time and interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal communication is inescapable We can't not communicate. The very attempt not to communicate communicates something. Through not only words, but through tone of voice and through gesture, posture, facial expression, etc., we constantly communicate to those around us. Through these channels, we constantly receive communication from others. Even when you sleep, you communicate.

Remember a basic principle of communication in general: people are not mind readers. Another way to put this is: people judge you by your behavior, not your intent. Interpersonal communication is irreversible You can't really take back something once it has been said. The effect must inevitably remain. Despite the instructions from a judge to a jury to "disregard that last statement the witness made," the lawyer knows that it can't help but make an impression on the jury. A Russian proverb says, "Once a word goes out of your mouth, you can never swallow it again." Interpersonal communication is complicated No form of communication is simple. Because of the number of variables involved, even simple requests are extremely complex. Theorists note that whenever we communicate there are really at least six "people" involved: 1) who you think you are; 2) who you think the other person is; 30 who you think the other person thinks you are; 4) who the other person thinks /she is; 5) who the other person thinks you are; and 6) who the other person thinks you think s/he is. We don't actually swap ideas, we swap symbols that stand for ideas. This also complicates communication. Words (symbols) do not have inherent meaning; we simply use them in certain ways, and no two people use the same word exactly alike. Osmo Wiio gives us some communication maxims similar to Murphy's law (Osmo Wiio, Wiio's Laws--and Some Others (Espoo, Finland: Welin-Goos, 1978): y y y y If communication can fail, it will. If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm. There is always somebody who knows better than you what you meant by your message. The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed.

Interpersonal communication is contextual In other words, communication does not happen in isolation. There is: y Psychological context, which is who you are and what you bring to the interaction. Your needs, desires, values, personality, etc., all form the psychological context. ("You" here refers to both participants in the interaction.) Relational context, which concerns your reactions to the other person--the "mix." Situational context deals with the psycho-social "where" you are communicating. An interaction that takes place in a classroom will be very different from one that takes place in a bar. Environmental context deals with the physical "where" you are communicating. Furniture, location, noise level, temperature, season, time of day, all are examples of factors in the environmental context. Cultural context includes all the learned behaviors and rules that affect the interaction. If you come from a culture (foreign or within your own country) where it is considered rude to make long, direct eye contact, you will out of politeness avoid eye contact. If the other person comes from a culture where long, direct eye contact signals trustworthiness, then we have in the cultural context a basis for misunderstanding.

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Communication Misconceptions A fellow toastmaster once said that in order for us to understand what something IS, it helps if we also understand what it IS NOT.

Every time I conduct my STAND UP! SPEAK OUT! Workshop, I notice that many participants were struggling because of their wrong notions about communication. These misconceptions limit their professional and personal effectiveness. Lets discuss these misconceptions. MEANINGS ARE NOT IN WORDS. I still remember how our teachers forced us to memorized English Words. One teacher made us look for five new words everyday, list all the definitions, and use them in sentences. One thousand words and five thousand sentences in a yeardid not make us better communicators! No, I am NOT against learning new words or new language. However, we cannot rely on words alone when it comes to communication. Meanings are not in words. Your perception about the world is not the same as mine. Our experiences give colors and hues, life and meanings to words. And because your perception determines the meanings you attribute to words, in communication the message SENT is not necessarily the message RECEIVED. And for your listeners, real communication is the communication they received. When I was still a young teacher, I taught in the manner I learned from my teachersthrough words. When I asked my students, Do you understand?, they all nodded their heads in affirmation. Examination results, however, told another story. If you want to become a better communicator, examine if you are a master of your words or a slave to them. MORE COMMUNICATION IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER. Too much talking is dangerous to your communication health. There are people who believe talking more is better. I observed that some speakers have too much love for the sound of their voices that they glued the mike to their hands and rooted them on the podium. I also meet this kind of people even in a very disciplined club of Toastmasters. Some, after my evaluation, confessed that they have so much to say the audience needs to hear them all to understand their message. However, the audience got bored, irritated, and I believe received another messagethe speaker does not know how to manage his time, the content of his message, and himself. Yes, more communication is not always better. Sometimes, more communication (or talking) makes matter worst. Observe where most people find themselves when they just keep talking about their problems. Greater problems, right? Sometimes, it is much better to stop talking. Over talking is noise. Be silent. Listen. NO SINGLE PERSON OR EVENT CAUSES ANOTHER REACTION. Observe how many reactions you will get from people by saying the following words: I LOVE YOU. I guess, the reaction will vary from one recipient to another. Just like the first misconception above, some people believe that the words they say, or their actions, cause another persons reaction. Whatever we do, or say, simply contribute to how other people react. Since communication is transactionala two-way traffic we cannot claim that we are the stimulus to anothers reaction. When you say something that hurts them, you cannot say that you hurt them. The persons receiving your message, as I said in the first misconception above, have big control over the meaning of your message. COMMUNICATION WILL NOT SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS. Mag-usap kayo (Talk to each other). I always hear this advice in solving problems between people. I agree that communication helps in solving problem. However, it is best to bear in mind that communication will not solve all problems. Problems of people are not only caused by miscommunication. I was once asked by a teacher why one student failed in my class (Algebra). I explained to her all the reasons: zero in assignment, incomplete quizzes, and failed exams. I reminded her also that we had been consulting the students parents and I had been talking to the student to

refrain from cutting classes. The teacher appealed for my generosity. Then she appealed to the Principal, then to the Dean of the school. Both invited me to their offices and made me explain. Both appealed for my generosity. The parents are generous to the school. Communication will not solve all problems. World peace could have been attained if it were so. COMMUNICATION IS NOT A NATURAL ABILITY Yes; no one is born a natural communicator. Though it is natural for man to speak, to relate with one another, the ability to do so is a product of experience and training. I learned that many participants in STAND UP! SPEAK OUT! Workshop thought that some great speakers are natural. They are outgoing and intelligent. On the contrary, various researches have shown that many great speakers/communicators are introverts, and that intelligence grows with the ability to communicate.