COMMUNICATION 1.3: INTERFERENCES (Part 2)
In the first part of this article, I have explained two major interferences that hinder the efficiency of communication:
1. The time chosen to deliver the message
2. The general emotional disposition (receptivity) of the interlocutor
Let's continue this line of thinking by bringing around the aspect of what I would call "the communication corridor" in which we can find all kinds of interferences. What I mean by the COMMUNICATION CORRIDOR, it is the immediate environment surrounding the time at which we chose to deliver the message. In this we can find the content and all its implications; are they positive or negative? Should I deliver the message in private or in public? What are the external elements possible to control at the time when I deliver the message? Can I reduce the ambiant noise (telephone, nearby conversations, external construction, and so on)?
Let's take an example:
Twocents learns that the mother of Billions is dying and is asking for him at her side. Every one is looking for Billions and nobody knows where he is. But Twocents knows that Billions is giving a big party in one of the big hotels downtown.Once he gets there, Twocents notices the huge crownd, dancing and having conversations at the sound of loud and invading music. After long minutes of searching, Twocents finally finds Billions, who is surrounded by beautiful women and his friends, around a table at one end of the room. People are laughing a lot and it is obvious that all have already made a deep incursion in the artificial paradise of Baudelaire and Poe.
How will Twocents bring the news to Billions? Should he try to do this by raising his voice louder than those around him? Or should he take Billions aside and make him understand that he must hurry?
Naturally, we are enclined to choose the second option. Why? Simply because we take into account the content and its implications that we have to deliver and compare it with the general ambiance that surrounds us when we do it. If Twocents had to tell Billions that he had won a considerable fortune at the lottery, he could have very well sceamed out loud in order to deliver the news. The circumstances would have been appropriate, to say the least.
If you have to hold an important business meeting, it is possible to control some surrounding elements in order to maximize the attention and understanding of the participants.
For example, at the entrance door, you can put a table, a basket or even offer a "cloakroom" so that people can leave their cell phones or other electronic devices that can cause an interruption during the meeting. You can also make sure that no call be put through for the time of the meeting, no matter how long it lasts. Also think of putting in place a "watchdog". What I mean is someone who will filter all the requests that could be put to you during the time of the meeting, which will prevent any unsollicited disturbance.
Envision your COMMUNICATION CORRIDOR. What are the elements you can control? You will quickly realize that by controlling small details you will increase your communication efficiency and will make sure that it reaches the desired objectives.
This being said for the COMMUNICATION CORRIDOR, let's talk now about the COMMUNICATION CHANNEL.
The COMMUNICATION CHANNEL is the MEANS used to deliver the message. Either it is verbal or written, we always use some sort of channel to transmit our message. I already explained in another article, different means we can use as channels; it can be the telephone (cell or other), an email or a sheet of paper. The channel is probably the environment where it is the easiest to control the inteferences.
For example, if we decide to transmit our message verbally, and that there is a bad communication, we can always try again some other time. If we want to write or tell something, we have the possibility to choose our words carefully in order to make the message as clear as possible. But we have to keep in mind that a channel is always preferable to another depending on the environment and the content of the message, in other words, it depends on the COMUNICATION CORRIDOR.
Some people have told me that it was very difficult to control the interferences from the communication channel and that it is impossible, for example, to foresee a postal delay or failure. I agree but then again, maybe people should have sent the letter through electronic mail instead of regular postal services. It is rather the choice of channel that could be reviewed. Today, to send a letter, duly signed, in a PDF format with a reception confirmation has as much legal value as a registered letter. Furthermore, it is much less expensive.
There are many examples representing a bad choice of communication channel to transmit a message. Today, in 2018, we have reached an unequaled level of communication in the history of mankind. In this case, why is it that a situation that would have taken a few minutes to resolve twenty years ago is multiplied by an X factor of time today?
Here is an example:
Marmelade has noticed a mistake in the annual financial report of the company. She has to contact Jam who works in the head offices to ask her to verify the numbers for the third quarter. She then chooses to write her an email, early in the morning, requesting the authorization to modify the report. At lunch time, Marmelade checks her emails but she still has not received any reply from Jam. With all the important work on her desk, Marmelade decides to wait at the end of day, Finally, around two-thirty in the afternoon, she receives the reply from Jam in which she reads that, unfortunately, it is not going to be possible today to get the authorization because the president, M. P. Butter, left the office in mid-morning and will not be back before tomorrow, sometime in the afternoon.
If, instead of sending an email, Marmelade had called Jam on the telephone, she could have obtained the authorization from P. Butter before he had left, correct the mistake and then present the report to her suprior, Mr. Jelly. Marmelade could then have moved on to something else.
You will tell me that this is just a trivial example and that the delay is insignificant. I beg to defer. It is exactly because the example is trivial/insignificant that its importance is uppermost. It should be quickly settled because if all the small, insignificant or trivial things are postponed/carried forward and we add to this the daily work that is there, piling up day in day out, we will quickly reach a saturation point in which we will always have the impression of facing a montain of work that will eventually affect our efficiency. Considering this, it is not surprising these days to hear so much about burnout. By managing adequately our communication channels we can considerably improve our efficiency and make our life easier.
What is to be kept in mind about all this is to consider carefully our COMMUNICATION CORRIDOR so we can choose adequaltely our COMMUNICATION CHANNEL. A good combinaison of these two elements can bring a singnificant improvement in all the spheres of our lives, either on the personnal or professional level.
And, well, like all good things must come to a end, I will stop here. Next article: The ENCODING and DECODING of a message.
See you soon,
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Louis Carle
Director,
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