Criteria for Effective Organizational Communication

When I returned to college after a longgggggg hiatus, I thought "communication" was primarily through discussion:  one person talks, the other listens.  As time and classes came and went, I realized "communication" was much more.  There are such things as "communication skills":  creative insight (ask the tough questions), sensitivity (the Golden Rule), vision (imagine the future), shared meaning (how you engage others), and integrity (trust and confidence in relationships).  Somewhere in there is "encoding" and "decoding".  Disrupting the process is "noise".  What the heck???

In a basic sense, I feel like these "communication skills" are just simple processes meant to complicate the definition of "communication" in the first place.  I still think "communication" is talking and listening.  But as time went on and as I took more classes for my Communications major, I realized that it also involved body language, email, commercials, billboards, the internet, magazines, advertisements....the list is long.

When I think of  identifying criteria needed for effective organizational communication, the first thing that comes to mind is honesty.  When I am talking to someone I know well, I trust what they are saying to me is the truth, or at least, what that person believes to be the truth.  When I am talking to someone I do not know well, I may have skepticism when deciding what the person is telling me is the truth.

Why is this?

I think this is because I have worked for many years as a journalist and have grown accustomed to verifying facts and ensuring accuracy.  Additionally, I have been burned a time or two by so-called subject matter experts who told me one thing and the truth ended up being another.   Because of those few bad experiences, I am hesitant to believe what I see, hear, or read until I can verify that information myself with quick research...usually Google through my iPhone.  

Being as skeptical as I am can cause problems.  For instance, there have been times when I was engaged in conversation with my husband and he stated something he heard on the news or read online earlier in the day.  With time permitting, I have pulled up Google on my phone and double-check the information.  It's not because I do not trust my husband, it is more because I am interested in learning further information on the subject.  However, this practice of mine has caused an irritated comment or two from my spouse.

This skepticism of mine can be positive at times, too.  A perfect example is when I speak with my father-in-law, who is a plethora of information...all which he believes is true.  Enjoyable conversations are had over coffee or beer (depending on the time of day) when I challenge his statements through Google.  He loves being proven right, but also enjoys learning something new if he is wrong.

So to me, one of my first criteria to effective organizational communication is honesty.

THAT'S THE TRUTH!