Communication is Key

One of the most vital parts of our existence is communication. Whether you live in the urban (city) or rural (villages) area, or in developed and third world countries, information sharing is the pillar for living. Nothing exists without communication. From infancy to adulthood, you see communication taking place. Once we wake up in the morning, the process begins and until we retire to sleep, it does not end.

It is safe to generally say that communication happens in a cycle. It commences when information is packaged to be sent out in various means. This packaging can occur in the instance of spoken words, letters, emails, chats, presentation slides, audio and video recordings, and so on. Until the packaged information gets to the intended recipients, communication cannot be said to have taken place.

I am currently studying for an MBA degree at Lagos Business School (LBS) and even though we have a host of courses on the school curriculum, we have to ensure that it all ties back to effective communication. When considering the various reports generated by professionals in the Corporate Financial Accounting industry, or Economists as well as Strategy Consultants who help in solving business challenges, they all rely on information and the ability to transmit data effectively to function in their various fields. Without communication, all the other fields in the world cannot exist.

In this article, I will attempt to break down the core concepts of communication which involve the following: a sender, a message, a receiver, and feedback.

1. Sender: First, when we look at the concept of A sender, this is the person that intends for the other party to get information. This person can otherwise be referred to as an originator of the information. A sender commences the creation process of information or retransmission of originally created information. The sender is the one primarily responsible for the successful conveyance of information from one party to another.

• The message: this is the piece of information that is intended to reach the recipient, be it an individual or group of people. The message is usually packaged in the form of text, audio, video, or even action. Whatever the case is, one must recognize a message when it is received in order to make maximal use of it.

• The receiver: This is the individual or group of individuals for which the original message was intended. The message is completely irrelevant if there are no receivers of the information that we pass across from time to time. Our receiver can be an individual or a group of people. And it is important in the core concept of communication to consider the receiver in an attempt to get communication right.

• Feedback: This is the token of receipt that we obtain from the receiver every time we complete the communication cycle. There must be a test to ascertain how much information has been sent and received by the sender(s) and receiver(s) respectively.

One additional thing that we fail to recognize in the concept of communication is the context. This is the core of communication that most people miss out on when establishing the concept of communication between a sender and a receiver. The context subject must be considered for the effective sending and receiving of information to take place.