One of the most important interpersonal skills is communicating with others.  As we are growing up we receive formal training for reading and writing.  What about spoken communication?

Our parents or guardians begin the process of guiding us through how to interact with others.  This is largely experiential .  We learn by observing.

Basic Concepts of Communicating

It is dissapointing to me that we do not yet provide formal education in the basic concepts of communication starting from a young age.  That is, incorporating them into our elementary school curriculums.

Principles of Communicating

There is always a sender and a receiver.  Information passes from the sender to the receiver.

The transmission can be full duplex (senders can communicate simultaneously) or half duplex ( the information transmission is uni-directional and the receiver must wait for the information transnission to complete before sending)

Both the sender and receiver have filters and a bias through which the information is interpreted.  That is, the way the sender formulates their transmission is subject to their bias.  The way the reciever interprets the information is subject to their bias.

Using the principles to Communicate more effectively

A solid understanding of these basic principles is a great tool toward improving communication with others.  Understanding the mechanics of communication is key to being able to improve the quality of your interactions.

This is a similar principle to self awareness, the more you understand whats going on around you (ie, how communications work at a basic level) the better you are able to modify and improve your communications.