The Paradoxes of Communication
- The more we communicate the less we communicate. Most organizations OVERcommunicate believing everybody should be in on everything.
- When all lines of communication are open for participants to talk to all members of a group – the problem-solving ability of the group diminishes markedly and becomes virtually paralyzed.
- In all of life, the metamessage tends to be more powerful than the message itself. Too often we become so concerned about the content of what we say or write that we often forget the form. Yet the feelings, the rituals, the arrangements, the social and physical design – all that is implied by the way we organize a communicate an experience – are crucially important. When they are taken into account, it is possible to send a metamessage that reinforces the intended message rather than undermines it.
- Listening can be a disturbing experience. It requires a level of self-awareness, even self-criticism, that is not often easy to endure. It’s more of an attitude than a skill. It comes not from technique, but from being genuinely interested in what really matters to the other person.
Taken from Kem Meyer’s blog, after she borrowed it from this book