The Art of Effective Communication

 

image copyright: https://neuroleadership.com/your-brain-at-work/three-steps-for-communicating-better-according-to-neuroscience


 As social creatures, we rely heavily on communication, both verbal and nonverbal. These methods carry significant weight in how our messages are conveyed. When we communicate, it's crucial to be mindful of our body language, tone, speed of speech, and eye contact. These subtle cues play a pivotal role in conveying important information (Stolovitch, n.d).

During week 3, we were presented with a media piece, 'The Art of Effective Communication.' This piece demonstrated how the same message can be delivered in three different formats, each significantly altering the context and understanding of the message. This highlights the importance of adapting our communication methods to suit the situation. 



The first method was via email. Reading the email, the message seemed as if there was a sense of urgency. While she recognized that he may have had a meeting, she also urgently needed his portion of a project so that she could work on her portion. She was even willing to accept a summary. This sense of urgency is outlined in another article relating to communication. "There are three strategies one can use to communicate urgency: establish why the time to act is now, explain what happens when the action happens, and describe what happens when the action doesn't take place "(Nieuwhof, 2024).

Reviewing the email, the creator used all these methods to establish the urgency.





The second method was via voicemail. Using our voices can convey many things and add context to our message. Since the voice is the main method by which we communicate, things like tone, inflection, tone, and accent can reflect our present mood, thoughts, and feelings about the topic we are communicating (Tiwari, 2012).

Again, the voicemail conveys a sense of urgency regarding the work that needs to be completed. It sounds professional and straightforward, maybe a touch exasperated at the fact that the work hasn't already been completed. 




Face-to-face conversation fosters a sense of purposeful focus. It's easy to overlook an email or a phone call, but it's much more challenging to ignore a colleague who is physically present. In this shared space, we can't help but notice all the nuances: the gestures, muscle twitches, eye focus, and the tone and inflection of the voice.  This heightened awareness makes it more difficult to become distracted, enhancing the quality of our communication (Hooijberg, 2021).


While we watched the communication being shared, we can interpret in both the verbal and non-verbal methods that the co-worker was not happy. She looked and sounded annoyed and anxious. She kept things professional, but the message was very clear.



Resources

Walden University, LLC. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Communicating with stakeholders [Video file]. Retrieved from https://waldenu.instructure.com


http://cdn-media.waldenu.edu/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6145/03/mm/aoc/index.html
https://careynieuwhof.com/three-ways-to-create-a-sense-of-urgency-when-you-communicate/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3361774/
https://hbr.org/2021/01/when-do-we-really-need-face-to-face-interactions




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