By iCVCC China Office
Communication is the exchange of ideas, emotions, knowledge and information between people. Communication occurs when one person transmits information and their understanding to another. Therefore, communication is a bridge to convey information and meaning. The Modern Chinese Dictionary defines communication as "enabling communication between two parties." In the American management scientist James O 'Rourke's "Management Communication", the definition of communication is: "the transformation of meaning." Whatever the definition, communication includes the following elements: communication agent, medium, information, feedback, etc.
I. Characteristics of communication:
1. Strong orientation of communication
Human communication is a transmission of value orientation, it is a tool and bridge, the content of communication carries the specific value orientation of the information sender, it is purposeful. For example, when talking about the same story of saving people with his disciples, why did Confucius criticize Zi Gong and praise Zi Lu? We can obviously feel that Confucius, as a great thinker and educator, has taken great care to educate us ordinary people. Through the interpretation of philosophers, we can understand that Zi Gong redeeming people not to receive state subsidies is a bad thing that most people find difficult to learn and a win-win situation, while Zi Lu accepting cows as a reward for saving people is a good thing that people can operate and learn and a win-win situation is a win-win situation. The greatness of Confucius lies in the visualization and concretization of the lofty and abstract moral code, which makes it easy for everyone to accept and learn.
2. Deep interactivity of communication
Communication, in form or process, is a constantly changing and evolving process of interaction: you speak and I listen, you express my feelings and send feedback, one message produces another message, one experience complements another. Communication never stops. Even when you hang up the phone, you're sending a message, even if you have nothing to say, like silence, which may in fact be one of the stronger forms of communication. In short, you can't not communicate. Your transmission of meaning provokes his contemplation, decision, and action. Communication is rarely completely one-way. Each of us takes information from the outside world, determines its meaning, and then reacts to it. What we call a loop is that the receiver of the feedback becomes the sender of the information, and so on. When we stop talking and pay attention to listen, we enter the feedback loop. Famous fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana (Dolce & Gabbana) in the 2018 fashion show brand promotion event, all parties come and go, and express their opinions on the event, based on their own direct feedback, or based on current understanding, or based on public opinion to decide how to take their own actions next. It typically reflects the interactive nature of communication.
3. Complete irreversibility of communication
Some things happen sequentially, but the process is reversible, for example, we can cool water to make it freeze, and then let the ice melt back into water. But communication can't do that. We may wish we could take back what we said, but we can't. All we can do is understand, apologize, say more, but there is nothing we can do to take back what was said.
The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Heraclitus once said, "No one can step into the same river twice." What he means is that if you want to repeat an experience, the experience will be different because the circumstances around you will change and therefore you will change. The same goes for communication, even if we repeat what was said before to the same audience in exactly the same way. The same message delivered to two different audiences means two different messages, and the same message delivered at different times can have completely different effects.
It is this irreversible characteristic of communication that makes us think and face up to the fact that our language cannot be expressed at will, and language should conform to various factors such as ethics, morality, culture, situation and object. You should think twice before you say something that hurts your image. No matter how many times you apologize, you can't fix the bad image that your bad language creates in the eyes of others.
4. The psychological complexity of communication
Every communication we have is carried out in a specific cultural, social, historical, economic and other different situations, and even the communication under the same background is carried out between different individuals with great differences, not only because the communication process involves many elements and principles, but also because the communication involves people. Each person's educational background and experience are different, and their understanding of words, reactions to things and behaviors will be different. The way people communicate with each other is not simple or entirely straightforward.
The two sides of the communication are not on the same channel and have completely different psychological states. Sometimes it is difficult to find intersection, you have your purpose, I have my desire, there is no one greatest common divisor. Therefore, in the workplace or other public places, do not only reflect and indulge their own selfish desires. Eastern society is a very face and human environment, some high-sounding words can take care of the face of others, so our expression can not be random.
2. The role of communication
Communication plays a vital role in our daily lives. We rely on it to stimulate our bodies and encourage our minds. We use it to share our interesting ideas, make rich connections, and provide diverse information, resources, and perspectives. If there is no communication, there will be all kinds of misunderstandings, misunderstandings and even hostility, no matter in the career or life scene, communication has an irreplaceable role. That's why it's one of the main factors of success in everyone's career, in the growth story of every organization. Psychologist Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" can also be understood in terms of communication. The five levels of needs - physical needs, safety needs, emotional and belonging needs, respect needs, and self-actualization needs - must be fulfilled through communication. If our relationship with others is not communicated and satisfied with these five corresponding levels of needs, it is difficult to achieve our communication goals.
Communication plays a vital role in our life and career scenarios as follows:
1. Channel your emotions and meet your physical needs
The loneliness caused by lack of interpersonal communication has great harm. It can make our individuals lose themselves, will let negative and negative emotions surround themselves, people become depressed, in the face of the need to make decisions in the situation of indecision and worry too much, affecting the normal thinking and decision-making ability. At the same time, loneliness will make people's thoughts out of control, and have fear of interpersonal communication, social ability decline, will have fear of many things, pressure will increase, no communication, individuals not only have psychological adverse reactions, but also have physical discomfort.
In the famous "sensory deprivation experiment" in the psychological field, participants are in an environment with no stimulation, no feeling and no communication, which effectively blocks the free communication between individuals and others, the satisfaction of the soul is not effectively released, and people will not only produce new understanding, but also prevent the free communication between individuals and others. And they can't even maintain normal mental functioning.
2. Eliminate barriers and improve social relationships
Good communication not only improves the relationship between individuals, but also promotes the relationship between organizations and even countries. Throughout history, we can easily find examples of this. During the Warring States period, each vassal state fought for the best opportunities and resources. The pundits of the time believed that war would result in a great loss of life and property, and that the same effect could be achieved by replacing military diplomacy and weapons with communication and negotiation. Gongsun Yan, Zhang Yi, Su Qin and others lobbied in various countries. At that time, the vertical can be aligned, but also to the Qin; Lianyuan can be linked to Qin, but also can be linked to Chu, this is the so-called "Qin changes." Later, as the power of Qin grew stronger and stronger, it became a common threat to the six eastern states, so the six states joined forces to resist the strong Qin, while the six states joined forces with Qin to seek peace. The purpose of Qin's lianyuan activities is to destroy the alliance between the six states in order to isolate and destroy each country. Nowadays, the diplomatic envoys of various countries play such a role of communication.
3. Build consensus and get others to understand
Effective communication helps us reach agreement with those who have different views and positions. In order to reach consensus, we actively listen to what the other person has to say and strive to understand the other person's position and their underlying needs, concerns, and emotions. If you don't already understand, you can try to work towards your goal by being upfront and honest about your ideas and why, rather than presumptively presenting the reasons you think are most likely to convince others. Give the other person space to express themselves, take the time to consider their point of view, and put yourself in their shoes. At the same time, explain your own position as clearly as possible, clearly state the stakes, and provide options for the other person to think about and make decisions.
4. Get information to help make effective decisions
People do not exist in isolation, and effective communication allows us to pick up verbal information, non-verbal information, and other environmental cues from the process. As infants, all we need to do is cry, and our desires for food, clean diapers, or affection are satisfied because our parents understand certain information from our cries and form and determine nurturing behavior. As we enter adulthood, we can no longer count on others to explain our cries. We must communicate our needs through our experience, patience, understanding, compassion, wisdom, compassion and tact, and others can use this information to reach the communication decisions to be completed. In the workplace, I can obtain information that we are not familiar with or good at by conducting questionnaires and soliciting opinions from target groups, so as to form effective decisions.
There's a telling combination of situations that human resource managers often use to measure leadership: communication, information acquisition, and decision making. This is also a common narrative in our workplaces.
