Understanding is essential

Lifestyle

It is often said, "Communication begins with understanding."

How true! A message may have been sent and received and the receiver may have attended to the message; yet, there has been no effective communication.

How do we know it is effective?

Effective communication depends on understanding; that is, effective communication does not take place until the receiver understands the message.

Let’s use an E-mail analogy. Suppose I received an E-mail message, “opened” it, and read it. Has effective communication occurred? Not necessarily. Even though I read every word of your message, I may not have understood what you meant.

There are several possible reasons for the misunderstanding. Perhaps I expected the message to say something that it didn’t say; my understanding of it may therefore be more in line with my own expectations than what it actually said. We often hear or read what we expect rather than what was actually said or written.

This is one of the skills that is required to be an effective listener - Understanding.

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