Communication Cycle
A Layman's Look At The Communication Cycle
The communication cycle is something we are quite often involved in, yet seldom if ever think about. We don't think about breathing most of the time, but need to be doing it constantly. It's the same way with the communication cycle. If we are going to communicate effectively, and get a point across, the elements of the communication cycle have to be active, like breathing, even though we're not aware of them.
However Many Steps You Want - The communication cycle is in some way a pretty simple concept. Ironically in trying to explain this concept, the explanation can become complicated and hard to follow. Communicating how communication works isn't always done well. How the communications cycle is explained depends largely upon the background and experience of the person doing the explaining. A psychiatrist, a businessman, and social worker may each give a perfectly good explanation, using completely different words or terminology, or defining the process in 3 different numbers of steps. One can find the communications cycle explained as a 4-step process, a 6-step process, a 12-step process, and if you look long and hard enough, maybe a 20-step process, complete with footnotes.
So just what is the "cycle"? It is a process we need to follow to convey a thought or idea to someone else so that they understand it, and so that we know that they understood it. When the communication cycle is not completed properly, poor or incomplete communication is said to be the result. Something hasn't been communicated fully or correctly or omitted altogether. Or, the thought was correctly communicated to he other person, but the other person either wasn't listening, or didn't understand what was said. Same result.
Computers Got It Right - When one first becomes familiar with some of the technical aspects in the computing world, particularly the digital communications world, the terms "handshake' and "protocol" soon pop up. For two (or more) computers to communicate, certain protocols must be followed to ensure a message that is being sent has been received. There are "handshakes" to acknowledge that this in deed is happening. In the human world, the communication protocols can be more complex than we realize, as the "handshakes" can be anywhere from a verbal response, to a nod of the head, or a look of disapproval.
Without worrying too much about how many steps are involved in the human communication cycle, the protocol goes something like this:
A Look At The Cycle - If I want to communicate something to you, the first thing I have to do is know what it is I want to communicate, why, and possibly when. Then I need to get you to agree to listen to what I have to say, in other words, be a party to the communication. If I don't get that, I might as well be talking to a brick wall.
If you do agree to listen, I'll have my say. Your listening is of course part of the cycle. If you interrupt me, it doesn't mean the cycle has been broken, only that it has become more complex, another "loop" in the cycle has been added, because now I have to listen to you. When I'm done speaking I need an acknowledgement, a "handshake” of sorts, acknowledging you've heard what I said. I may want an additional acknowledgement telling me that you understood what I said. I may even want you to repeat what I said or explain what it means to you. We are still in the communications cycle of action and reaction, or protocol and handshakes, but the cycle can become very complex. It's fairly easy to see the importance of an acknowledgement however. A communication cycle can never be completed without one.
Lectures We Never Understood - A good example of an incomplete communication cycle would be a lecture given by a university professor, who talks for an hour, seems to explain everything beautifully, and then leaves the room without taking questions. Many of us have experienced that. In a one hour lecture we may retain 40% of what was said, but soon begin to forget bits and pieces we thought made perfect sense at the time. If a week later the professor would question us, some of what he said is going to have dropped through the cracks, completely forgotten. Those items are called residuals. Residuals mean the communications cycle has been broken. It is not complete.
Of course a lecture of that type is usually not given with the idea that every word be remembered. Often just remembering the outline of what was said will suffice, in which case the communications cycle could be said to be complete. A complete communication cycle needs to contain specific items or actions, but a diagram any two cycles will seldom look the same.