THE PARADIGM OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Have you ever tried to pass a message across to someone and they got confused? Did you get stuck trying to figure out if the fault was from your end or theirs, perhaps they did not listen attentively?
Math tells us that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Aside math, we see a similar trend in communication; two communicators on either end of the line, how “straight” can they get it?
By communication, I simply mean the delivering of an information. “…the delivering of an information” however does not always mean that the information is well received. And this is where “effective communication” comes to play. Effective communication means that the relayed message is received and understood by your audience. This of course means, that the communicator (firstly), understands the message they are trying to pass and are able to relay this message effectively to the recipient in a way that they can also understand.
In the words of Albert Einstein, “If you don’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”. The proof of effective communication is that the recipient can correctly relay the same message to a third party.
Why is this important? Effective communication ensures both communicators are happy and satisfied. You may not realize this, but ineffective communication wastes time, leads to drained emotions and most frequently, misunderstandings.
In light of this, effective communicating does not need extra stories, words or even gestures which often leads to over-emotionalizing. Communication happens through various ways; body language, voicing, writing, and in the recent decade, the social media, which has given conversations an upscale. Whatever the medium, a great communicator understands the need to connect to their audience with energy, clarity and empathy. These three ingredients form the foundation of effective communication.
Another tool for effective communication is listening. Listening is the other half of the communication pie. Listening means being able to accurately receive and interpret messages in the communication process. Listening is key to all effective communication. Because, ineffective listening renders communication useless, futile and unproductive.
We communicate every day and our words have the power to either make or mar the listener. Therefore, effective communication should not just be the goal. There is a need to be intentional about communicating contents that edify others.
