Facilitating Communication

The following general guidelines included facilitate communication.
1. Have a positive attitude about communication. Defensiveness interferes with communication.
2. Work at improving communication skills. It takes knowledge and work. The communication model and discussion of barriers to communication provide thenecessary knowledge. This increased awareness of the potential for improving communication is the first step to better communication.
3. Include communication as a skill to be evaluated along with all the other skills in each person's job description. Help other people improve their communication skills by helping them understand their communication problems.
4. Make communication goal oriented. Relational goals come first and pave the way forother goals. When the sender and receiver have a good relationship, they are much more likely to accomplish their communication goals.
5. Approach communication as a creative process rather than simply part of the chore of working with people. Experiment with communication alternatives. What works withone person may not work well with another person. Vary channels, listening techniques,and feedback techniques.
6. Accept the reality of miscommunication. The best communicators fail to have perfect communication. They accept miscommunication and work to minimize its negativeimpacts.