A Little Noise Can Destroy Your Life
How communication noise can be managed and eliminated
BUT I DIDN’T SAY WHAT YOU THINK I SAID
In this article in a series of three, (Part 1, Part 2), you’ll discover why communication fails.
Either subconsciously or consciously, we know communication often does not include actual understanding! You might walk away believing the other person understood what you communicated, but he or she might have gotten a completely different idea. I recall an education class where, as instructors, we were reminded that asking the students if they understand does not mean they do: They understand what they think they are supposed to understand. Only clarification and inquiry can discover whether what one communicates is decoded by the receiver as the sender intended.
So, more communication is not always better. Better communication is better.
If you are communicating with one person, you only have the dyad (Part 1) to consider. But what if you are giving a speech or chairing a meeting? You must consider each receiver in the audience individually. Of course, that complicates things: Every dyad is susceptible to ambiguity, differences in punctuation, differing contexts and relationships… Scary, huh? Well… it’s about to get worse! (But will clear up every argument, misunderstanding, and…
