A Day of Communication
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 12.18.2017
Have you ever conscientiously observed how much you communicate in a typical day? Where? How? And with whom?
Many people think of communication as giving a talk in front of a group of people, and they become stressed about that. Giving a speech, although visible, is only a small portion of our daily communications. We share our experiences with family, discuss ideas with colleagues, chat with friends, and report to our bosses. We communicate face to face, via email, by phone, and with social media. We communicate all the time, every day, everywhere, and in every way.
Communication is such an essential part of our lives, yet we often fail to observe, reflect, and assess the quality of these communications. Do we make others feel happy, sad, bored, mad, informed, inspired, persuaded, entertained, or connected?
There are many good instructional books and workshops that help us become better communicators. But the most important first step is to just be aware of how we are communicating in a multi-dimensional way. The many different types of communication are listed in the accompanying chart. We not only communicate with other people, we also need to communicate with ourselves and with our surroundings. It is sad to see so many people bury their heads over their phones, oblivious to the people and events around them. They have cut off other ways of communicating — with expression, voice, gestures, empathy and feeling — and become ineffective communicators.
If you will, please spend a day deliberately observing and reflecting on all your interactions with others throughout the day. Jot down the purpose, the details, and the effects of such encounters. More importantly, try to assess how you have made others feel through these communications. You might be surprised to find out how much time and energy you have wasted due to the wrong way of communicating.
Awareness is the first step to improving communication. In a future blog, we’ll explore how to be an effective communicator. Warm wishes!!
一整天的溝通
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
你是否曾認真地檢視過自己在一天中”溝通”了多少？在何處溝通？如何溝通？跟誰溝通？
很多人以為，溝通就是在一群人面前演講，而且是一件很可怕的事。演講雖然是一種溝通，但只是我們日常生活中與別人溝通的一小部分而已。我們還會與家人分享經驗、與同事討論想法、與朋友聊天、甚至是跟長官報告。我們的溝通有许多方式；透過面對面、email、電話以及社交媒体，可以說是無時無刻、隨時隨地、以各種型態在跟別人進行溝通。
溝通是生活中不可缺的，但我們往往忽略去觀察、反省和評估這些溝通的品質。在這些溝通之後，我們是否讓別人高興、傷心、無趣、生氣、知悉、有靈感、受啟發、被說服、感到娛樂、或是覺得有緣聊得來？
有很多很好的教學書籍以及工作坊可以幫助大家成為一個更好的溝通者。但最重要的第一步，是要知道我們如何用多元的方式進行溝通。附圖中列出了許多不同類型的溝通。我們不只要和別人溝通、還要和自己溝通、跟周遭的環境溝通。看到時下有很多人埋首在手機裡，完全不去意識周遭的人事物，看了真是令人覺得可惜。他們切斷了表情、聲音、手勢、同理心及情感等各種溝通的方式，逐漸變成了一個不懂溝通的遜咖。
如果可能的話，請花些時間觀察並且反思自己一整天下來與他人的所有互動。記下目標、細節、以及所發生的影響。更重要的是，你可以嘗試去評估自己在透過這些交流後，讓別人的感覺如何。也許你會訝異，因為錯誤的溝通方式，讓你浪費了许多時間和精力。認知就是改善溝通的第一步！在之後的Blog中，我們再來討論如何成為一個有效率的溝通者。祝福你們！
