Many people speak of communication, but few rarely get to the point of what communication means, or more importantly, what they mean when they say "communication". Are there rules for effective communication? Are the rules set in stone? Do the rules change with societal environments, corporate environments, audience environments? The answers seem easy, but are more deceptive then they would first appear.
There are rules for effective communication. These rules, for the most part, are not stationary. The rules change based on who you are communicating to, what you are communicating, and the environment in which you are communicating. You may be able to have effective communication when you are hanging out with your friends watching the game, but you would not present the information in the same way were you communicating to a CEO at your company, even if the information remained the same.
"Whether you"re dealing with prospects, clients, vendors or co-workers, quality communication will make your meetings more productive" (Kohn & Kohn, 2001). They go on to state that there are four rules that do not change in the drive to create and implement effective communication, the first being a commitment to commitment. This enables you to build trust, whether it is with a vendor, co-worker or client. .
The second unbreakable rule of effective communication is to communicate your standards. If you do not communicate your standards, no one can live up to them. Do not give vague standards such as "creative" or "stylish" as these cannot be readily defined or measured; therefore they do not lend themselves to an effective communication environment.
The third solid rule of effective communication, according to Kohn & Kohn is respect. Communicate respect, show respect, live respect. Communicating respect seems like an obvious answer to the communication question that prevails in most corporate environments, but it is not so easily implemented.
