Communication Basics

PGPM - Session 1

PLANNING YOUR MESSAGES

What is Successful Communication?

There are several definitions of communication and effective communication.

The one I find best:

Effective communication is a process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, knowledge and information

such that the purpose or intention is fulfilled in the best possible manner. In simple words, it is
nothing but the presentation of views by the sender in a way best understood by the receiver.

Going slightly beyond, we can say communication has been successful when:

-The receiver thinks/feels/does what the sender wants him/her to think/feel/do

-on time

-without jeopardizing/worsening the existing relationship between the sender and the receiver.

In managerial communication situations, one often has the luxury of planning one’s message.

Here are some concepts one can use when planning a message…
 Communication Basics
PGPM - Session 1

ELEMENTS THAT IMPACT AND INFLUENCE

COMMUNICATION
Environment

The global, macro aspects of environment need to be taken into account to ensure a
communication message is effective. In a business context, it might help to carry out a
PESTLE and a SWOT analysis.

Situation

The situation in which the communication is taking place also influences the way a message
is constructed, delivered and received. A communication situation is the specific time, place,
activity and people involved in a dialogue, which make it unique.

Relation

The relationship between the sender of the message and the receiver of the message
impacts the effectiveness of communication, and hence has to be considered and factored
in before a message is constructed. Relationship could include factors like hierarchy, earlier
knowledge, whether internal or external to the organization, the history, and several such
aspects.
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PGPM - Session 1

Purpose

The is reason for the communication critical to the way a message will be constructed, and
clarity of purpose always assists in creating a clear and crisp message that is concise.

Objectives/Expected Outcomes

What do we want the receiver of our message to do after they have received the message?
The answer to this question would be the objective of the communication.

Audience

The effectiveness of communication is determined by how well your audience has received
the message, but the responsibility for making this happen lies with you, the sender of the
communication!

This means that it is important to do a thorough audience analysis – who is your audience,
why should they listen to you, how much do they already know, are they likely to be friendly
or impartial or hostile or indifferent… it’s a long list!!

Verbal Aspects

This refers to the words and the language used to construct the message.

Vocal Aspects

Also referred to as the paraverbal aspects of communication, this refers to the messages
that we transmit through the tone, pitch, and pacing of our voices. It is how we say
something, not what we say.

Visual Aspects

This refers to what the receiver of a message sees, and includes nonverbal aspects of
communication, layout and white spaces used in written communication, and also visual
aids used in presentations or
meetings.
 Communication Basics
PGPM - Session 1

THE TELL TO JOIN CONTINUUM

 Communication Basics
PGPM - Session 1

9 MESSAGE CATEGORIES
Seeking Ideas Used whenever someone invites others to contribute ideas, suggestions or
proposals. Typical examples are “Has anyone got any ideas on this one?”,
“Peter, have you any suggestions?” and the like.

Proposing This category is used to cover contributions which contain a possible course
of action provided (and this is in contrast to the next category). It is put as a
statement, announcement or instruction. Examples are “I propose that we
do so and so”, “We will do the following”, “I’ve got an idea! Let’s do so and
so”, I suggest that you do so and so” or “Go and fetch it now, please”.

Suggesting Still used to cover contributions which contain possible courses of action but
this time they are expressed as a question. Softer and more tentative than
proposing. Examples are “Shall we do so and so?”, “How about doing so and
so” or “Should we do this or that?”

Building Still basically a contribution that contains a possible course of action and
therefore similar to the proposing and suggesting categories. Building is,
however, a special kind of proposing or suggesting in that it is used
whenever someone adds to, or develops, someone else’s suggestion or
proposal. Meaningful examples are hard to give out of context but if
someone put the question “Suppose we travel to the meeting together in
the same car?” and someone else then said “Yes, and if we pick up Ted en
route we could prime him for the meeting too”, that would be an example
of building. The original course of action has been enhanced by the building
behaviour.

Supporting Covers all the various ways of agreeing or giving back to other’s
contributions. The most obvious ways of doing this are to say things such as
“I agree”, “Yes, I support your idea”. More obscure ways of supporting are
more verbose, however, when, for example, someone backs someone else’s
suggestion by explaining its merits but not by actually adding to the
suggestion in any way.

Seeking Information/Clarification

The category used whenever someone asks for a recap, checks whether he
has understood something as it was intended, or asks “Just let me check
that I’ve understood what you’ve said. Your idea is that we do so and so?”,
“So you think it would be possible to do so and so?”, “What is the time?”,
“How old are you” or “How many items are in stock?”.

Giving Information/Clarification

The category used whenever someone provides information (“it is 12

o’clock”, “We have 10,000 stock items”), clarification (“I should explain that
the engine requires a mixture of petrol and oil”).
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PGPM - Session 1

Difficulty Stating The category used to cover contributions where someone points out the
snags, problems and difficulties they see in relation to someone else’s
contribution. Classic examples are “The snag with that would be……..”, “We
wouldn’t be able to do that because…” or “The problem with that is….”. This
category is used to cover difficulty stating the context of the interaction. So
remarks like “This is an absolute shambles”. “We aren’t getting anywhere”,
“We are running out of time again” and “I can’t understand a word you are
saying” are all included in this difficulty stating category. Difficulty stating
contributions do not actually contain a disagreement. If a contribution does
contain both disagreement and a difficult statement, we classify it as
disagreeing.

Disagreeing The category used to cover all the various ways in which people disagree.
Obvious examples are “I disagree”, “No, I’m sorry I can’t agree with that
because…”. The category covers flat disagreements as well as those where
some reasons or explanations for the disagreement are given.