GEN 402: Communication

Communication Strategies and Theory

In her powerful poem "Praise Song for Day," American poet Elizabeth Alexander (right) highlights how important the act of communication is in a world where "all about us is noise." We go about our business, but when we choose to communicate, we come together: "We encounter each other in words."

Renowned Jewish philosopher Martin Buber would probably agree. In his famous work on inter subjectivity, I and Thou, Buber eloquently urges us to remember that "All real living is meeting." In other words, we are most alive when relation happens. And for relation, there must be communication.

Once you consider that everything in life is about relationships—community, work, familial, business, personal, or otherwise—and that these relationships are either limited or empowered by the quality of communication that supports them, it becomes clear how powerful and important communication is! In fact, research about "quality of life" often identifies the underlying quality of communication as a key indicator of happiness and health.

Likewise, the health of a business is also determined by the quality of their communication! In fact, everything about how well (or poorly) a business runs is based in communication. Communication affects things such as the business culture and employee moral/productivity, marketing and customer acquisition, brand perceptions, and so much more!

You can apply these same concepts to groups and organizations too. How quickly would the service in a hospital break down with poor communication? How long would a non-profit last without bringing on new supporters and donors each year? How would the morale of the local Boy Scout troop be affected if no one in the community found out about and attended their annual pinewood derby?

Consider the following playful exploration, from designer Xiaoying Liang, of how slippery it can be to define the term "graphic communication design" across languages. Liang's video shows how communication is a critical component of design by showing how we have to communicate to reach agreement on what "design" even means!

As you can see, effective communication is vital. So let's help you gain a phenomenal understanding of communication that will empower you to excel in every aspect of your life.

But First... What is Communication?

Before we dive into theories and models, let's begin by zooming out and defining communication in a precise and useful way.

The textbook definition of "communication" is "the process of transmitting and sharing ideas, opinions, facts, and values from one person to another or one organization to another." OK, this makes sense! But as we all know from our adventures in communication, that "process" does not always go smoothly. Not all communication, after all, is effective. So what makes the difference between "effective communication" and communication that people are indifferent to?

A good place to start is with the rhetorical triangle. In this concept, three "legs" of communication have equal weight and depend on each other to form a sound communication structure:

Communication professor Stephen Klien's video lecture on the rhetorical triangle cleverly illustrates how the triangle can help you avoid communication mishaps.

How can we break this down?

The rhetorical triangle provides a basic structure for communication, but breaking down the communication process even further helps us be aware of exactly what's going on when we send (or receive!) communication. Here are the typical steps in the communication process, presented as a graphic (my medium or format for the communication!):

What's especially important to notice in this graphic is the addition of three components: encoding/decoding, feedback, and noise.

Considering the rhetorical triangle and the steps of communication invites us to ask ourselves important questions that will help the effectiveness of our communication, questions such as:

Thankfully, we're at a point in human history where we are definitely not the first folks to ask ourselves these questions! People have been organizing good ideas about communication for a long time, and delving into these insights is our next step to more effective communication.

Communication Theory and Models

There are many different communication models, theories, and strategies. We will look at the most well-known to help you establish an overarching understanding of the foundations of communication and how you can use them to enhance your own communication.

What is the difference between a communication theory and a model? Well, theories attempt to provide frameworks that can hold most questions we might have about how communication works, founded on principles of how information is used and distributed. A model, meanwhile, is more specific. Instead of sketching the whole universe of communication, a model tries to narrow things down to a few actionable pieces.

Think of a communication theory as a cookbook and models as a recipe (or, more accurately, a recipe template).

For an example of how you can break communication down into theories and models, check out this fun TEDx Talk by actor and communication consultant Mickaël Dufourneaud. Dufourneaud explains his "process" model of communication, which depends heavily on identifying the personalities of people you're communicating with.

Check out the first three minutes of the video for an overview of this personality identification process and its importance for communication, and then watch the rest if you would like to see more details about each personality type that Dufourneaud identifies.

A Few Popular Communication Theories

Now let's explore a few popular communication theories and models. As you read about these, consider what situations and contexts in your work and personal life might fit best for which models and theories.

Exploring the many types of theories that can be used as a framework for distributing information, and changing attitudes and behaviors, is fascinating! Especially when you consider this this is often done on a level that reaches the masses and dramatically alters our societal views.

Popular Communication Models

As we mentioned earlier, communication models are like recipes: They provide actionable plans on how to communicate with an audience. Let's consider three important ones:

When you research communication models, you will discover that many will fall under the "recipe category" of the three models discussed above.

The Right What for the Right Who

As Dufourneaud demonstrates in his talk, choosing the right theories and models is all about understanding the interplay between your audience, yourself, and your message.

For example, if you wanted to influence the general population of a high school about the importance of not being tardy, you might choose to use the agenda setting theory. You probably would not choose the Barnlund communication model, which is circular and designed around feedback and adjustment of the message based on listening to the receiver's feedback. This would be inefficient, and you would risk not achieving the agenda. Since being late or not late is pretty much a binary, there isn't a lot to adjust!

Instead, you might choose the Berlos model, which enables you to encode your message into many different elements of the students' daily school life. This model would likely have a better chance of leading to students adopting the agenda—arriving to class on time—in an ambient way that students may never really even need to consciously think about.

In her essay "Telling is Listening", Ursula K. Le Guin urges us to think beyond "mechanical" models of communication and toward more mutually transformative models.

Now that you are familiar with the different types of theories and models you are able to research, select, and apply them for the greatest communication impact in your own work!

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Using Communication Skills and Principles to Enhance Your Speaking Ability

If we've been waving and smiling and calling out for as long as we can remember, we might consider the basic act of communication to be pretty simple. But nothing could be further from the truth! There are many factors that go into the coding and decoding of information as it is passed from the sender to the receiver. Even the smallest shifts in communication style can have a huge impact on your results. When you understand the dynamics of communication, you unlock a huge amount of potential for your communication skills.

Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication

Although we are all practiced at verbal communication, the highly skilled communicator will use other forms of communication to enhance and encode their message. And that starts with the body.

A highly skilled communicator will tune their message to the mood and body language of the receiver. They might confirm understanding before moving forward with their message. In fact, they might have even put in communication work far before the actual moment of communication, by choosing the format and location of their dialogue to enhance the reception of their message!

This illustration by Salvador Dalí from Alice in Wonderland both shows and is itself an example of multiple forms of communication. What do you see communicated here? A tense standoff? A battle of wits? How does the verbal communication of hierarchy (queen vs. jack) change the scene?

We communicate, or "encode," both verbally and non-verbally. Verbal communication includes the use of spoken and written words. Non-verbal encoding includes things such as tone of voice, body language, eye contact, rate of speech, posture, gestures, touch, articulation of words, and proximity to receiver. In fact, research shows that in some instances, our non-verbal cues can far outweigh or even contradict the words that we are using.

We experience verbal and non-verbal communication at the same time. This is a passive process that most people don't even stop to think about when acting as either as the communicator or the receiver. However, a simple awareness of the coding and decoding process can greatly enhance your communication skills both as a writer/speaker and as a listener!

How would you like to be perceived as a more approachable, liked, and respected person before you even open your mouth? How would you like to avoid the automatic trap of being placed in the "indifferent" category that most new people you meet will put you into?

Check out this excerpt from a TEDx talk by body language expert Mark Bowden to learn how. You only need to watch about six minutes of this section, but you're welcome to watch the whole video if you have time! After you do (no peeking—watch the video first!) read the note below about how I have just used my communication skills to influence you.

Fascinating stuff, right? Now you know how to use your non-verbal skills to increase your chances of being perceived as a trusted friend to new people you meet! Now, let's take a closer look at the paragraph above and how I convinced you to watch that video using verbal skills.

WOW! I did all of this with just 61 little well-chosen words. Pretty crafty, right? You can do this too! Not only that, but I also chose to present this explanation in the form of a numbered list with bold headlines to make it easier to decode and feel more approachable!

Communication Principles

At this point I could type up all of the principles of communication for you but that might come off as the written equivalent of "blah blah blah." And you might feel indifferent about that, right? So let's try a new form of communication and reverse engineer some examples of the principles of communication at work.

First, take a look at these two examples of "before" and "after" parking signage from Los Angeles, California.

Interaction Design Foundation

Do you think the "after" signage is more effective communication? When I consider the signage's audience (parkers in L.A.), sender (the city of L.A.), and medium (a sign on a pole in a street), here are some things I notice:

But simplicity and unity aren't the only important communication principles. Humans have feelings, and we care about more than just clarity. That's why the quality of communication is greatly influenced by human characteristics such as empathy and confidence.

We can learn a lot about communication from disciplines where effective communication is of life-or-death importance, such as with lifeguarding (Image from Wikipedia).

Let's look at two examples of a lifeguard communicating the same message: "walk, don't run."

Both are being sent by the same sender (the lifeguard) to the same recipient (Johnny, the pool guest, who is rushing to the concession stand). Here are the two choices:

Which would be more effective and why? What factors would influence the sending and decoding of this message?

Now, let's assume Johnny explains to the lifeguard that he gets so excited when he hears the announcement that the concession stand is open, that he just can't seem to remember to slow down and walk. That's feedback! Maybe this feedback can be used to enhance the pool communication? Perhaps a reminder can be added to the concession announcement: "The concession stand is now open. For your safety, please remember to walk to the stand."

In these possible scenarios (or others that you can think of!), how do you see some of the following principles of communication at play?

Once again, we see how powerful even the briefest communication can be. The first example is not only focused and effective, it's also compassionate and likely to foster future compliance. The second example is filled with "noise" that interrupts the decoding of the intended message "walk, don't run" and would likely foster continued points of "noise" between the lifeguard and pool guests.

You might be tempted to think this is a personality issue between the first and second lifeguard but it's not—it's still a communication issue! The pool could easily train (another form of communication!) the second lifeguard on effective ways to communicate safety issues to pool guests. This example illustrates how breakdowns in communication can propagate, and it also shows the contextual and cultural elements of communication.

Communication Principles for Effective Public Speaking

In our last topic we learned that verbal communication can be synchronous (real-time between two or more people) or asynchronous (time lag or delay between communications). When communicating with groups or public speaking, you have the added element of real-time interaction and feedback, which brings many more layers of communication into play. Understanding the dynamic of group and public communication empowers you to communicate more effectively.

Small Group Communication

Almost everything we do in life involves small group communication. We live in families, socialize among groups of friends, and work in teams and organizations. You are communicating in small groups all of the time! Group communication is not about just presenting information, it involves dialog, creating meaning, and action being taken. It often occurs to serve a specific purpose of mutual interest to the parties involved. Finally, group communication is transactional, meaning that we send and receive messages simultaneously.

Take a look at this clip from the comedy Bridesmaids. The breakdown in communication makes for some great laughs, as it's clear that despite clearly stated goals and desires, the transactional nature of the communication and the lack of shared meanings and mutual interests bungles the dialogue for everyone.

Now that you've watched an example of bad small group communication, let's outline some of the elements at play in group communication so your next efforts might go a little better!

As you think about recent small group communications that you have participated in, how could your awareness of these principles empower you to enhance the quality of communication in those groups?

These are all skills that you can easily learn and adopt. But skill is only one piece of the puzzle. Research indicates that the three most important competencies for communication include not only skill but also motivation and knowledge. When you are motivated to excel at communication, you are able to weather conflict and hiccups and will continually seek out the most effective path to evolve the communication.

Knowledge, meanwhile, is your competency in the topic being explored.

And skill, as we've discussed, is your ability to consistently act appropriately to continue moving the communication forward. You are learning such skills in this course, and the more you practice, the more skilled you will become. Skill is really just muscle memory and subconscious, habitual behavior. Just as you can ride your bike without stopping to think about the mechanics of the process, you will soon be able to speak confidently in groups both small and large!

Skills for Public Speaking

Where small group communication involves transactional communication between multiple members of the group, public speaking tends to be focused on one person delivering a core idea to a larger, live audience.

Though many people claim to have a "fear of public speaking," it's actually a skill that can be learned and mastered by anyone. And it's a critical skill because the spoken word can be much more powerful than written communications. A master public speaker can influence, educate, and motivate people, creating a huge impact in their business, community, or organization.

Before we begin, take a look at this video by Growth Through the Middle Years highlighting both good and bad techniques in public speaking, using some famous recent speeches as examples.

Now it's time to start loading up your communication tool box! Strong public speaking begins in the planning stage but also evolves synergistically as feedback is received. Practice using these communication skills and then also reflecting on the process and debriefing to continually evolve your own mastery of communication.

These tips are only the beginning, and public speaking is an arena of communication where the message is almost less important than the style of delivery. We've all seen different types of speakers delivering what is essentially the same message, yet one speaker is able to really grab our attention, motivate, and compel us where others can't. Why is that? What are they doing that the others aren't?

No doubt you are familiar with speeches from famous speakers like Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King. It turns out that their speeches and all great speeches follow the same basic pattern. When you understand this pattern and how it works you can then apply it to your own public speaking. To learn this secret structure and how to apply it to your own talks, watch this explanation from presentation expert Nancy Duarte.

In the excerpt between about 6:20 and 8:45, Duarte introduces this structure. In the rest of the video, she contextualizes and analyzes examples. Focus on the excerpt, but definitely watch the rest if you have time!

As Duarte explains, the secret to all great speeches is storytelling, and specifically the dramatic arc of a good story. Simply put, you have to take your listeners for a ride. You need consistent rising action and falling action, a sense of suspense and satisfaction, of "what is" vs. "what could be." If you can't map the rhythm of your speech to the structures Duarte explains, you might need to go back to the planning stage!

If you want to take your public speaking skills to the next level, check out Toastmasters. Toastmasters is, as their website explains, "a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs." You can join a local chapter to get hands-on experience growing your public speaking skills and also learn more online with their wealth of resources and tips on all types of public speaking.

Different Forms of Communication

The ever-evolving landscape of media and technology has a huge influence over our communication abilities. Imagine the difference between an informal interview in the back office of a local business and a formal Zoom interview with multiple company executives. Imagine the difference between grassroots living room conversations on a heated current topic versus a media blitz, blanketing multiple media outlets, that is carried out with the input of dozens of experts. This dynamic world of communication that we live in requires us to be focused, agile, and knowledgeable.

Interviews

Chances are you have "been on an interview" at some point in your life. We often think of this in terms of a job interview, but there are many other types of communication that fall under the category of interviews.

If you've ever been on a first date, you've been on an interview. If you've ever hired someone to do work for you, you've been on an interview. If you've ever explained your symptoms to a doctor, you've been on an interview.

The definition of an interview is "a meeting of people face to face for a specific purpose." Interviews are most often conducted live and either face to face, over the phone, or virtually. They usually involve asking and responding to questions. Another hallmark of an interview is that it seeks to determine if the two parties are well suited to continued exchange and communication.

In this fun talk for TEDxBethesdaWomen, presentation/pitch couch Sam Horn drills down into the key component of all interviews: creating a connection. Whatever the specific goals of an interview might be, the underlying goal (if you're being interviewed!) is to show yourself as memorable, interesting, and worthy of connection.

We've set up the video below to start at the 4:52 mark, where Horn introduces her thesis and gives some concrete examples. Feel free to watch the beginning for a story about why this is so important!

As Horn details, connections can happen anywhere, and interviews can take place in a variety of ways. There are one to one interviews, one to many interviews, knowledge and skill assessment interviews, and behavioral interviews. Even an internship is a long-term interview to assess the candidate's suitability to become a full-time hire.

One of the best ways to prepare for either conducting an interview yourself or preparing for an interview is to know more about what types of questions are typically used.

With these in mind, notice how important interviewing skills are. A great interview involves careful listening, planning, and redirecting questions to keep the focus on the suitability of the match between the two parties. The person conducting the interview will be both looking for and using non-verbal cues.

In fact, facial expressions alone can make or break the interview. According to Daniel McNeill, author of The Face—which is a "natural history" of the idea of the human face— there is one key reason we tend to trust facial expressions: "most of them are automatic and involuntary." In other words, we subconsciously pick up on facial expressions and use them to form opinions without even thinking about it.

Take a look at the infographic below from SmartRecruiters, which draws from a survey of 2000 bosses to rank the most common mistakes job seekers make at interviews. It's no accident this cartoon person's face is the biggest part of the picture! The face is where the mistakes tend to happen because the face is where the connection happens.

Mass Media

Much of what we have covered so far is considered interpersonal communication. This is where one person or a small group communicates directly with others in a live, interactive format. Mass media works very differently, using technology to facilitate indirect communication to many. These technologies are always evolving, and our communication abilities and style evolve right along with them.

Here's a short (and musically busy) history by Jo Marchianne Pigar of how mass media technologies have evolved over time, from tablets to... well... tablets!

As you can see, humans have been refining and expanding mass media tools for as long as we've been around! Arguably, the printing press brought the first major shift in communication. Suddenly the written word could be mass produced and distributed. Along with this came increases in literacy and reliance on the printed word for mass communication. Once more audio/visual mediums such as radio and TV emerged, mass media became all about watching and listening. Then the internet and digital media put mass media first on everyone's desktop and then in their pockets.

We are all consumers of mass media. Very few people live lives in which they are not exposed to mass media on a daily basis. But the shift that has occurred in the last few decades is that now the everyday person can create and share content on mass media too. We are all more capable than ever before of leveraging mass media for our communication. Wow! It's a scary and exciting time to be communicating, and understanding how mass media functions in a very different way than interpersonal communications is key to effectively using it.

There are many fascinating theories on how mass media shapes us, and I encourage you to explore them! For our purposes though, we are going to focus on understanding the form and function of mass media so you can work with it in a productive way.

With people having more mass media choices than ever before, being relevant is key to getting and holding people's attention. Whether you are creating a webinar, YouTube video, a TV or radio show, or web content, your first job is to make it relevant to the consumer. To create relevant content, you must first clearly understand your target market or ideal user/viewer. What does the information you are communicating mean to them? Does it matter to them? Does it impact their lives in any meaningful way? Can they use it?

To connect this idea of relevance back to the world of communications design, Criteo offers five examples of "hyper relevance" in online advertising. One of their most striking examples is of IKEA's Place App, which allows customers to take a photo of their home and realistically insert IKEA products into the photo, helping the customer to imagine exactly what that piece of furniture would look like. It can't get much more relevant than your living room!

Think about all of the mass media you have engaged with today: whether it was on billboards, TV, or the internet. What was the deciding factor in whether or not you paid attention and how much attention you paid? Relevance! The more relevant media is to us, the more attention we will give it. However, many people and organizations make the mistake of watering down one message for everyone and focusing on only one medium of delivery.

This three-step process will help to ensure that you are using mass media in a way that delivers the right content to the right people at the right time—relevance!

When you understand your audience, their needs, and their point of view, you become able to get and keep their attention.

Trends and New Technologies

The technologies that drive communication and even the ways in which we use them is changing more rapidly than ever before. One of the biggest shifts in the last few decades has been with both devices and communication forms moving from mass to micro. Where old media was very impersonal and broad, new media has evolved to be micro focused on topics and interests. With old media, we used larger, less mobile devices such as televisions, whereas now we can carry around every type of media available on one little device in our pocket. Likewise, our attention spans and communication styles have become smaller as well.

For a great example of new media analysis that uses new media techniques, check out Growth.Design's case study of the psychology behind hot new social media platform TikTok. Packed with great insights into TikTok's new media techniques, Growth.Design's interactive case study also uses a new media delivery platform—an interactive comic book style experience—to engage your attention and help you retain the information.

Understanding trends in how people prefer to use and interact with communication enables you to enhance their engagement with your content. With our attention spans getting shorter and shorter, one way to keep audiences engaged is with variety. You will notice that the shorter and shorter content that you are seeing also includes elements of storytelling, visual aids, and the use of audio, music, and vocal variations to keep a viewer's attention.

Paragraphs are becoming shorter and often only include three to four sentences. Headlines and subheadings are used to facilitate skimming and browsing. Short videos have replaced long written texts.

These are all just a few examples. In the end, it's the content creator's responsibility to adjust according to shifting trends in media consumption.

To illustrate how dramatically engagement and attention habits have changed, check out these two movie trailer clips. The first one is from the 1948 classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and the second one is from Spider-Man: Far From Home, 2019.

Both are about the same length, so why does the Spider-Man trailer feel so much faster and shorter to us? Notice how many jump cuts and shifts in sound and music happen in the Spider-Man trailer. Notice, as well, how much less reading you have to do! These are both communication choices made to adapt to today's audiences with our contemporary attention spans and styles.

To expand the lifespan of your communications you also want to be aware of emerging trends. A fairly recent trend has been the shift to digital media for formats that used to be exclusively found on television, such as news and entertainment. This is what enabled guys like Rhett & Link of Good Mythical Morning to become famous entertainers on YouTube and even coin the term "Internetainers" meaning internet entertainers. Twenty years ago they would have had to work their way up in the entertainment industry, get a producer and financial backers, and be accepted into a broadcast line up. Now they can just set up a camera and go live!

Another trend has been the huge shift away from PCs and toward almost exclusive mobile device use, requiring the need for communications to be formatted for mobile use. The next wave of shifts are occurring around mobile augmented reality/virtual reality, OTT video (over-the-top streaming media, such as Hulu and Netflix, which bypasses traditional cable networks to serve content directly to consumers), and intelligent AI communications.

An interesting example of a consumer driven shift is around privacy, data collection, and trust of brands and formats. With people being increasingly concerned about privacy and pulling their attention and dollars away from brands and formats they do not trust, changing gears to win that trust back is essential for keeping your audience.

This Harvard Business Review article from 2015 shows how important it is to design and communicate in a way that builds trust with your audience. Consumers aren't idiots. For example, we know that our data is being collected, and we are increasingly more insistent on honesty from companies about how much data they're collecting and what they're using it for.

As this infographic from Harvard Business Review shows, different populations have different ideas about the value of certain personal data.

As you hone your communication skills and ethically grow your audiences, it's important to not get too attached to any one style or format. Research developing trends and stay on the cutting edge of implementing them. For example, with virtual reality quickly emerging, how might communication formats that you are using today be translated into the VR environment? There are so many exciting new frontiers on the communications horizon, so be ready to embrace them!

How Communication is Influenced by Perceptions and Biases

Recall the last time you met someone new. Maybe you were at a social function or work event, or maybe you were just meeting a new neighbor on the street. What was your very first impression of that person, and what created that impression? Did your impression of the person change over time as you got to know them better?

Research shows that during first impressions people develop a whole range of ideas about us before we even open our mouths. This includes things such as our level of intelligence, trustworthiness, status, date-ability, and more. This all happens through the process of perception, and every person might have a different perception based on their background and experiences in life. So every person that you create a first impression with might actually have a very different impression of you!

Perception and Coding/Decoding of Communication

Have you ever heard someone say "What were they thinking?" We often wonder why people have the ideas they have or why they have attached a particular meaning to something. Once you understand how this process works, it will no longer be a mystery to you. You can further use your understanding of this process to become a master communicator in all aspects of your life.

The important thing to understand about the decoding process is that it takes place in three smaller processes: selection, organization, and interpretation.

Here are some of the factors at play:

The way in which we perceive and decode communication is deeply influenced by our cultural influences. Our gender, sexual orientation, race, and cultural background will all create the schemata through which we will select, organize, and interpret incoming data.

For example, if you instantly like someone because you have a similar interest and you can relate to them, you will be more likely to interpret future negative behavior in a more positive way in order to maintain that connection and positive impression. Conversely, if someone rubbed you the wrong way on your first encounter by saying something you deem inappropriate, the chance of you misinterpreting future positive behavior as negative is very high. This is what we know as bias.

For an example of how bias seeps into every aspect of our life, watch the following short video from Emtrain on an example of unconscious racial bias.

We all have bias throughout the whole coding and decoding process. With so many biases distorting the clarity of communication, it's no wonder communication often breaks down and heated conflicts can arise. In the next topic, you will learn strategies to communicate effectively and mitigate conflict.

Self-Presentation and Communication

In addition to bias, our perception is also influenced by our own sense of self. Our desire to maintain and enhance self-esteem and self-image drives how we code and decode communication. Of course, our self-image is also influenced by culture, media, society, peer, and family groups. You can see how deeply layered and dynamic these communication influences become!

We've talked about body language in general, but let's look more specifically at you. Yes, you! Self-presentation is the process of deliberately revealing or concealing information about yourself in order to influence other's perceptions of you.

We all want to "make a good impression" and put our best foot forward, but at the same time, self-presentation is functional and plays a role in meeting our own needs. The ways in which we manipulate our self-presentation will affect how our message is interpreted.

For example, a speaker might imply they are an expert in the content when really, they are not. They might speak in an authoritative tone and stand in a confident manner to foster the audience's belief in their expertise. The reverse could also be true. A knowledgeable expert may fail to gain an audience because of a self-presentation style that does not garner interest and attention from their audience.

This short video from Psych2Go delves into the psychology and behaviors of self-presentation. As you watch, consider which of the self-presentation behaviors resonate with your own habits.

Being aware that self-presentation is taking place is your first step in ensuring that it is supporting and not conflicting with your communication goals. This includes being able to self-monitor. You want to be authentic while also being aware of what self-presentation tactics may be influencing your communication goals.

There are two types of self-presentation strategies: pro-social and self-serving. With a pro-social approach, you might adjust your self-presentation in an effort to benefit the group or others. An example might to adopt a behavior to model and uphold high standards of behavior for your group or organization. An example of a self-serving presentation might be to falsely present your behavior for the purpose of influencing others' opinions of you. A third element of this is to participate in self-improvement for the purpose of both enhancing yourself and to influence the perception and behavior of others.

Understanding Your Audience and Communication

While many people may approach speaking and communicating from the perspective of themselves, how they feel, what they want to communicate and so on, the best practice is actually to approach the communication experience by getting to know your audience.

What are their backgrounds and experiences? What do they care about and want to accomplish? How can you best communicate with them while still being your authentic self? As you have just learned, the perceptions and decoding process varies by individual. This hold just as true for speaking to a single co-worker as for speaking to a large audience.

Audiences will be interested in topics that relate to their needs and goals and can fit into or expand upon their existing schemata. They will be more likely to take interest in the types of verbal and non-verbal cues that they identify with. Considering and researching the backgrounds and existing schemata of your audience will better empower you to communicate in a way that will grab their attention and resonate with them.

For example, let's assume you are an expert in the health benefits of eating whole foods. How would you communicate this to a group of college athletes? How might you communicate this to elementary school children in a struggling inner-city community? How about a conference for high end restaurant owners and chefs? What about a weight management group for women?

In each of these cases you can research your audience. Find out about their existing schemata, their cultural context, their demographics and goals. This insight will guide your choices in terminology, context, examples, your body language, speaking style, how you frame your content, and more. Your awareness of the audience's unique qualities will also empower you to be aware of how they might perceive you and what you can do create a pro-social self-presentation strategy.

Designbackward's campaign with One Organic Foods is an example of a design process where thorough audience research worked to great effect. For example, Designbackward realized that One Organic Foods' target audience wanted to believe in the wholesome, authentic nature of their product, so they made the small but crucial (and communicative!) step of adding transparent "windows" to product packaging so consumers could instantly see what they were getting. In a way, we can think of this as part of this quick oats package's "self presentation." These oats are saying: "Here I am, just oats, nothing to hide."

Strategies for Balancing Self-Presentation and Audience Consideration

So how do you become like the oats? How do you balance your self-presentation with your understanding of your audience? There are a few important awareness steps to align these factors and strengthen your communication.

Of course, we can't expect ourselves to remember and implement all of these strategies in the midst of communication. We're not perfect! And we can't plan toward the expectation of perfection. That's why one of our key strategies to consistently improve our communication lies is the reflection and adjustment process.

When you "debrief" after a real communication experience, the "Monday morning quarterback" can easily see the places and reasons where communication was either enhanced or it broke down. These learning experiences are your greatest growth tool! Use them to reverse engineer new ways to enhance your own communication moving forward.

Take a look at the image below. One of these men is a respected business man and public speaker, while the other is serving a 24-year-prison sentence. Which one do you think is the speaker and which one has been convicted of a crime?

Sources: https://twitter.com/kenspeaksdotcom and Bloomberg.

The man on the left is Ken Schmidt, public speaker, former Director of Communications at Harley-Davidson Motor Company and author. The man on the right is Jeffrey Skilling, the President, COO, and CEO of Enron charged with a prison sentence after his role in the company's financial downfall.

Now reflect back on the decoding assumptions that you made. What did you base them on? How were your assumptions based in your own schemata and life experiences? What role did prejudice or stereotypes play? How did the body language and context/environment of each image effect your perception process? How did my choices in images and editing of the question possibly influence you?

Best Practices for Negotiations and Addressing Conflict

Biases and differences in perception exist because people are so different. As you have already learned, each person is fundamentally unique with their own backgrounds and experiences. With each of us having our own schemata through which we filter the coding and decoding process, it's inevitable that different points of view will call for negotiation and conflict resolution.

Communication is About Relationships

Some communication theories assert that people communicate on two levels, the content dimension and the relational dimension. The content dimension is simply about the actual nature of what you are seeking to communicate. The relational dimension is made up of the subtle cues and feelings at play based on whether or not you like or dislike one another.

Chances are you have had people in your life with whom you have had both rewarding and challenging communication experiences. Think of a partner or spouse. When you are both happy, how does that communication differ from when you argue? In both cases, your communication is certainly happening on much more than just a content level. Now that you are aware that this is part of the dynamic, you will begin to see it at play in all of your communications. This is one of your greatest tools in fostering positive relational communication.

You have probably seen this diagram of Maslow's hierarchy of needs before:

This diagram illustrates our universal human needs and proposes a "hierarchy" or ranking system. of needs. According to Maslow, moving "up" the scale of needs empowers us both as individuals and as a society.

As human beings, we are all always communicating from one of these levels of needs. Becoming aware of where you are and where your audience is enables you to speak at the appropriate level.

For example, if you are speaking to a group of employees in a company that is downsizing, their conversational mindset is very likely to be in the lower two levels. Speaking to them at the self-actualization level with something like "one day you'll look back and realize this was the best thing that ever happened to you" would not do much to foster positive communication.

Consider the communication happening in the following short video explanation of Maslow's hierarchy of needs from Ducere Global Business School. Who is the audience? How might this explanation reach some audiences better than others? To make it even more meta, at what level of Maslow's hierarchy do you think this explanation is explaining Maslow's hierarchy?

There was likely a process of feedback that went into refining this video for its audience. This step is critical! You might have a hunch of what level your audience is on, but a better way to find out is simply to ask questions. Find out how your audience is feeling, what their needs and concerns are. Practice active listening to ensure the communication is two-way and moves in a positive direction.

Through this process, you can move the communication further up the scale of needs. When people feel heard and see that their concerns and input matters, they feel more of a sense of love and belonging, and the nature of the relational communication will shift upward.

Understanding Conflict

Of course, not everything bends toward love and belonging. Although the word conflict may cause you to cringe, conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether working in pairs, groups or larger organizations and communities, people are going to have diverse points of view and input. Learning to successfully bridge and leverage those differences can lead to stronger outcomes. When conflict arises non-verbal and relational communication elements are often your first indicator that you need to shift into a conflict resolution strategy.

 

Recognizing a communication breakdown is your first step in getting it back on track. Communication breakdowns can be caused by several factors:

Managing Conflict

The Japanese art of Kintsugi involves repairing broken pottery with gold. The repaired pottery is considered far more valuable than its perfect and unbroken counterpart. Likewise, growing and enhancing communication during times of conflict creates much stronger relationships and communication moving forward.

Image by Austin Kleon

Here are some strategies for weaving gold into your broken communication pottery!

Listening Skills

Listening is perhaps the most important art of communication. Yes, that's right: listening is more important to effective communication than speaking! When we feel that we are not being listened to, we lose the ability to receive the message from the sender. And that's when communication is lost.

Here is a breakdown of four critical listening skills:

Communication during times of conflict or disagreement requires more focused attention and a higher output of energy. When you routinely use these conflict and negotiation communication skills, they become automatic. As a result you can sometimes avoid conflicts altogether and certainly help to ensure that when conflict does arise, it leads to enhanced understanding and improved relationships.

Negotiations

The idea of negotiation might make your jaw a little steely. After all, "negative" is hiding right there at the beginning of the word! But negotiation never needs to evolve into conflict. Ideally, negotiations strive to reach compromises while avoiding arguments and disputes. While both parties do enter into negotiations to achieve the best outcome for themselves, never forget: a win/win is the primary objective.

Not all situations call for the same approach to negotiation. Recognize that there are different types of negotiation strategies and know when to use them.

The attitude with which you approach the negotiation process will have an impact on the outcome. Again, every situation is different. Negotiating the price of a new car may require that you go in confident and set on your ideal outcome, while negotiating a co-parenting schedule may call for a softer approach. Understanding the nuances of the situation and how to choose the appropriate approach helps to ensure more successful negotiations.

Stages of Negotiation

Generally speaking, all negotiations will follow these five stages:

Image credit: Watershed Associates, Inc.

Understanding each stage better prepares you for effective negotiations, so let's finish off with a closer look at each stage:

Now that you understand the main steps in the negotiation process, you will recognize when dialogues begin to turn into or call for negotiations and be prepared to implement them. Remember that strong negotiations are fluid and collaborative. When done properly, they build and strengthen relationships.