Understanding communication means being able to understand its components. There are times when we do our absolute best to communicate what we mean. We have all the words, every single example and evidence we can find, and the people to hear us. But the feeling of disappointment is followed by anger when we realize that people have no clue what we are talking about. Communication issues are common even when we use out native language to speak with people of the same mother tongue as ours. This problem may rise more often if we have to speak in another language in a rather formal setting, such as using English (as a non-native) in a meeting or for a presentation. Imagine possible complications when people of different nationalities come together to talk about business. The components of communication can make it easy to understand where the problem lies and how to resolve it.
Communication Components
Like any other phenomenon, communication also consists of several components. When they work effectively together, they lead to successful communication. Every communication consists of three main components. Without each of these components, there is no communication. These are the sender, the receiver, and the message. If there is a sender who wants to convey a message, but there are no audience, communication does not happen. Similarly, if there is a sender, but no message, there is no communication. And more importantly, if there are no receivers for a message intended by the sender, it is unlikely that communication may occur.
Let me clarify the meaning of the existence of main components first. When I say that without each of the elements, there is no communication, I am not referring to their physical existence. What I consider crucial to communication is the quality of their existence in the communication process. Let us see how the quality of the existence of each component affects the entire communication.
To do this, I elaborate on each of the main components in three separate posts. The first post is about the sender, the second about the message, and in the third one I will provide details about the receiver of the message. By the end of the last post, you will have learned about different factors affecting communication and you can reevaluate your performance by focusing on each component. Then, you can consciously use your strengths and work on making improvements where needed.
