by Hill.Mandy

Created on: June 13, 2009

Underlying human communication are five principles that provide the foundation for all effective communication, whether we are communicating with others one on one, in groups, or by presenting a public speech to an audience. These five principles operate together rather than independently to form the basis of the fundamental processes that enhance communication effectiveness. These five principles are also basic common sense to communicate.

~Be aware of your communication with yourself and others. Being aware of your communication includes being conscious not only of the present moment, but also of who you are, yourself-concept, your self-worth, and your perceptions of yourself and others. Being aware of your typical communication style is also part of this foundation principle. For example, some people realize that their communication style when interacting with others is emotional, others may be shy.

~Effectively use and interpret verbal messages. Verbal messages are created with language. Language is a system of symbols structured by rules that make it possible for people to understand one another. A symbol is a word, sound, gesture, or other visual signal that represents a thought, concept, object, or experience. Effective communicators use appropriate symbols to create accurate meaning. The effective communicator both encodes and decodes messages accurately; he or she selects appropriate symbols to form a message and interprets carefully the message of others.

~Effectively use and interpret nonverbal messages. Nonverbal communication is communication by means other than written or spoken language that creates meaning for someone. Nonverbal messages can communicate powerful ideas or express emotions with greater impact than mere words alone. One of the most important reasons our unspoken messages are significant is that they are the primary way we communicate feelings and attitude toward others.

~Listen and respond thoughtfully to others. Because communication is a transactional process-both senders and receivers are mutually and usually simultaneously expressing and responding to symbols-listening to words with sensitivity and listening between the lines to nonverbal messages join our list of fundamental principles.

~Appropriately adapt messages to others. It is not enough to be sensitive and to accurately understand others; you must use information you gather to modify the messages you construct. It is important to adapt your response appropriately to your listener. When you adapt a message, you adjust both what is communicated and how the message is communicated to make choices about how best to formulate a message and respond to others to achieve your communication goals.

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