It’s a good idea to occasionally review the fundamentals of the communication process.  Here it is in a nutshell:

The sender transmits message though a channel to the receiver.

Steps

• Sender develops an idea
• Sender encodes idea into a message
• Sender transmits the message through a channel
• Receiver decodes the message
• Receiver interprets message and receives the meaning
• The process repeats when the receiver provides feedback to the sender

Acknowledge the Speaker

• Feedback acknowledges the speaker
• Say yes or “uh-huh”
• Nod your head
• Ask questions for content
• Ask questions for feelings
• Summarize your understanding
• Don’t get defensive
• Don’t use absolutes (always, never, etc.)
• Use body language

Tags: Communication, Communication basics

This entry was posted on August 18, 2010 at 10:38 am and is filed under Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.