Elements of Communication

Written By Colēgia

Given that we live in an inherently social world, being able to understand some of the finer elements of communication can help you be more mindful. Today we want to cover some of these elements and how to properly master them.

Know Your Source

Two very important things to consider when it comes to communication are knowing who is the source and what is the message being conveyed? The source is the person or people that the message is coming from. This is important to know because we need to consider someone’s background before taking their word as fact. This can prompt us to think critically about whether or not the information coming from someone is valuable or to steer us in a different direction. A good example of this would be trusting a teacher with advice about a topic because they are more knowledgeable about it than us. It's good to use this line of thinking in a healthy manner because there may be different areas where we may encounter someone we perceive as more knowledgeable and we may have to apply healthy skepticism.

“Two very important things to consider when it comes to communication are knowing who is the source and what is the message being conveyed?”

Understand The Message

After we identify who the source is, we need to dive deeply into what the message is. This is essentially the combination of words and meaning associated with what the source is saying. Meaning is something that can have elements of both subjectivity and objectivity. Objectivity relates to specific facts or concrete logic that is within the message such as mentioning the current time of day within a message. Subjectivity relates to things that can be seen from multiple perspectives such as mentioning whether today is a good or difficult day. This is different depending on the person experiencing it and what is true for one person may not be quite the same for another. Being able to properly distinguish which of these is being presented as fact versus perspective is crucial because it can help you analyze information more accurately. A good communicator knows that they need to be mindful of the information and use it to find out what is true.

“After we identify who the source is, we need to dive deeply into what the message is.”

Use Feedback

One of the last core elements of communication is feedback. Feedback is valuable because it can give you another point of view with how effective your own form of communication is along with being able to express how you feel about someone else. A great example of feedback would be a suggestion box within a classroom which can help a teacher improve or tweak things. Feedback allows for an open dialogue between everyone involved and is commonly seen in leadership areas. Being a good communicator is closely related to leadership because both involve interacting with people on a personal level. When we are talking to people one on one, something as simple as asking “how do you feel about this?” demonstrates that you care about them along with providing value to their thoughts and emotions. It also signifies that you're willing to tweak things if it means being able to work together better.

Colēgia

Colēgia

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