Communication is a quintessential part of the daily interactions, but at times, the message that one needs to get across is misinterpreted, misunderstood, or not heard. Samovar et al. (2017) define communication as the transference of information for greater comprehension. Recently, I had an experience where I was unable to communicate with my colleagues during a group discussion. Utilizing the principles of effective communication, I can now see what was wrong with the interaction. For instance, Henderson & Mathew Byrne (2016) emphasize active listening, whereby one makes sure that others feel heard. That was not the case in the discussion as, based on the feedback, most of the group members felt disengaged. Some of the elements of active listening that I missed included maintaining appropriate eye contact, nodding and agreeing to their contributions, and high engagement. Contrastingly, the discussion was one-sided, with most of the contributions coming from my side. The other principle is the simplification of information where Henderson and Mathew Byrne (2016) insist on concise and straightforward messages so that everyone can comprehend the concepts. Such messages should break down complex material into smaller portions that cover the important concepts. In the discussion, however, several assumptions were made. To begin with, I assumed that based on the level of education, the group members were familiar with any more concepts, and this ruled out the need for offering explanations. Additionally, I assumed that English was the primary language for all the group members, which meant that they would comprehend all the concepts. The last assumption was that since all the members are accustomed to handling complex concepts and exams, there was no need for presenting the ideas in small portions. For this reason, the discussion was unsuccessful, and most of the concepts were not understood. This is because I focused more on the technical areas and did not consider incorporating supporting materials such as graphics, analogies, and stories to serve as examples for explanations.
The discussion had several communication gaps, namely, knowledge, relevancy, and preconception gaps. According to Seroka (2020), knowledge gaps occur when the two parties involved in a discussion possess different levels of knowledge and understanding of the topic. As a leader in the group discussion, I had more comprehension of the topic than the others due to previous research. Consequently, this presented a niche that was to be filled through effective communication. When it comes to the relevancy gap, it results from the assumption about the background of the audience. As noted above, I made several assumptions about the group members' comprehension capabilities based on the level of education. The discussion ended up being insignificant because the assumptions presented a relevancy gap that I was unable to fill. For this reason, most of the contents of the discussion were not understood. Preconception gaps occur because every individual perceives information differently (Seroka, 2020). Therefore, such a gap was already present before the discussion. Nonetheless, had the discussion been conducted in the proper way that included every member's contribution, the preconception gap would have been insignificant. Based on the shortcomings of the discussion, there are a few areas that need improvement. The first one is understanding the audience. Most of the failures resulted from making assumptions, which is why a better understanding is necessary. Some of the areas that training is needed include learning the audience's natural tendencies, goals, motivations, and challenges. Additionally, more focus on audience needs and perceptions is needed. In the same way, I could learn the art of active listening as this will build a good rapport and trust in the audience. Some of the active listening concepts to train include maintaining eye contact, non-verbal cues, and body language. Future discussions and interactions will be made easier and better by a firm grasp of such useful concepts.
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References
Henderson, K., & Mathew Byrne, J. (2016). Developing Communication and Interviewing Skills. Skills for Social Work Practice , 1-22.
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., Mcdaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2017). Communication Between Cultures . Nelson Education.
Seroka, L. (2020). Strange “Shamy”: Analyzing Communication Theory of Identity and Identity Gaps Using the Big Bang Theory. Communication Teacher , 34 (1), 8-13.
