So exactly what do we mean by communication? Communication is the act of conveying information, understanding and meanings from one person or group to another. Communication is important both within an outside, the business. Effective communication can help foster a good working relationship between you and your staff, which can in turn improve morale and efficiency. It is also crucial to communicate effectively with customers, vendors and other external parties to ensure you achieve your goals. Communication is important everything supervisors do, but especially for linking plans and actions to one another. You may have a great set of plans in a fine staff, but unless you can tell the staff what they need to know in a manner that they understand, you will accomplish nothing. Without communication, there can be no leadership or motivation, and because of that no action, communication initiates and keeps the plan in motion. The communication process consists of the steps we take to transmit an idea so that it is understood and acted on by another person. It is how we convey our thoughts and feelings, verbally or non-verbally, and is essential to all human relationships. Components of the communication process include a sender, encoding a message, selecting a channel of communication, receipt at the message and decoding of the message by the receiver. A communication channel is the method with which we choose to communicate face to face, email, phone texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Your choice of communication can say a lot about what you were trying to say, how you were saying it, and to whom you're communicating. To be effective, a supervisor needs to establish repor with employees. Be sensitive to how others perceive ideas and information and minimize noise. Noise is anything that interferes with the communication process. They also need above average skill in speaking, writing, and sending receiving nonverbal signals. Lastly, it must be equally good at receiving communications from others as they are in transmitting their own. In other words, they need to be good listeners, welcome feedback from others and answer questions intelligently. Interpersonal communications fall into two broad categories, spoken and written. Neither is best for all situations. Several factors determine which is appropriate, including the specific task at hand and your objectives. If the task is lengthy, highly technical, or requires a permanent record or written forms best. However, the spoken word is far better if your aim is a personal impact. Think of it this way. Did President Kennedy write a memo about going to the moon, or did he give a speech? Obviously he gave a speech and the rest is history. The audience is another factor. Are you communicating with a single employee or a large Group. One on one conversations allow you to control information flow, have a greater impact to protect privacy. But speaking to an entire department invites employee participation and builds commitment. The same goes for written communications. At the end of the day, supervisors must be able books to choose the best communication method for the situation and use it effective. We'll talk a lot more about written and spoken communication a little later in this course. When we talk about three-dimensional communication, what does that mean? It is a simple fact that no organization can function smoothly is communication is a one way stream. It must occur in three ways. First, supervisors communicate downward to employees, providing information, giving orders and assignments, making requests, etc. Intern employees communicate their ideas, thoughts, hopes, questions, requests and so forth upward to the supervisor. This is called Up/Down communication. Second, to promote interdepartmental cooperation, supervisors must communicate horizontally with each other. We call this Left/Right communication. Third, supervisors often need to exchange information with outside sources, like vendors, customers and regulatory agencies. This creates a challenging three-dimensional communication process. In each dimension, requesting transmitting understanding and receiving feedback are essential.
