Communication Basics

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this lesson we'll explore communication in general, discussing the familiar.
• 00:09 So that we can better understand and
• 00:11 demystify why any kind of communication is a challenge, whether we realize it or not.
• 00:17 Humans love to communicate.
• 00:19 We like knowing what others think.
• 00:21 And we like transferring our own ideas to others, letting them know our wants and
• 00:26 our feelings.
• 00:28 That begins as early as infancy.
• 00:30 So there is a tendency to think that communication comes naturally.
• 00:34 After all, babies do cry to say they're hungry, wet or tired.
• 00:39 The problem is that sometimes babies aren't very effective in communicating
• 00:44 exactly what the problem is, because they aren't yet
• 00:47 speaking the same language as their parents.
• 00:50 So parents know something's wrong, but figuring it out,
• 00:53 it's kind of trial and error.
• 00:56 Well, what does this have to do with business writing?
• 00:59 To understand business writing, we have to understand communication in general.
• 01:05 In every type of communication,
• 01:07 someone is trying to get a message across to someone else.
• 01:13 Over the years, researchers have used different models or
• 01:16 ideas to try to explain the process of communication.
• 01:20 Three of the most popular are the transmission model,
• 01:24 the interaction model and the transaction model.
• 01:29 None of these fully capture everything that goes on when
• 01:32 people exchange information, but they're all useful.
• 01:36 What we can learn from these models is that there's usually a sender or
• 01:40 communicator who wants to get an idea or thought from themselves to one or
• 01:45 more people.
• 01:48 The communicator often decides how to turn that thought into a message.
• 01:52 But sometimes there are factors that alter the interpretation of the message as
• 01:56 intended.
• 01:58 So these communication models acknowledge that unintended communication
• 02:03 sometimes takes place because of special contexts or situations.
• 02:08 Let's look at a relatable example.
• 02:11 Maybe this is a parent-teenager text exchange.
• 02:20 The teenager uses the omw abbreviation to mean on my way.
• 02:25 But what if the parent assumes this means, my word?
• 02:30 Then she interprets his exclamation mark as yelling, and she's not a happy camper.
• 02:36 Meanwhile, he reads her response and he's confused.
• 02:40 Because didn't he just say he'd explain, why is his mom being so unreasonable?
• 02:46 This simple example illustrates what we sometimes call getting lost
• 02:50 in translation.
• 02:52 It's just one example of communication noise.
• 02:56 In this case, the noise is semantic, because the communicators aren't
• 03:00 on the same page about what a certain code, in this case, omw means.
• 03:05 But noise could also be environmental or physical noise that makes it
• 03:10 difficult to hear what's being said, like static on a phone line.
• 03:15 Noise could be psychological, like someone's emotional state.
• 03:20 It could be physiological, maybe someone's speaking too fast and
• 03:23 you can't decode what they're saying.
• 03:27 And of course we just looked at semantic noise.
• 03:29 In fact, noise is really anything that interferes with the communication process.
• 03:34 It could be hunger, tiredness, language, jargon, personal bias, and so on.
• 03:41 Of course, we don't usually think about these things on a daily basis,
• 03:45 not consciously anyway.
• 03:46 But we do subconsciously make an effort to break down barriers to communication.
• 03:52 For instance, if we're studying or reading,
• 03:55 we try to reduce distractions like outside sounds and
• 03:59 sights, because we want to decode what the author wants to say.
• 04:04 This is something we learn over time and which we use to different degrees based on
• 04:09 how well we understand the challenges in each situation.
• 04:13 So let's say we're setting up job interviews.
• 04:15 We try to make applicants feel comfortable, to reduce their anxiety and
• 04:19 their physical discomfort, so that they can communicate effectively with us.
• 04:24 And there will be less barriers or noise to the exchange of thoughts.
• 04:29 The extent to which we understand this process is directly related to how well
• 04:33 we'll be able to get our messages across to others, even in writing.
• 04:38 And it's also the key to how well we'll decode the ideas of others.
• 04:43 Essentially, this is why some people are better at communicating than others.
• 04:48 Whether they're aware of it or not, they're able to choose a method of
• 04:52 encoding that the receiver will be able to decode easily.
• 04:56 And a channel with as little noise or interference as possible,
• 05:00 based on the message and situation.
• 05:04 So while the desire to communicate is natural, the skill, art and
• 05:09 science of communication are learned.

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