Communication difficulties in companies are the common denominator of the main complaints between managers, salespeople and customers. Time and again, the same complaint appears in companies: We have communication problems! or “we must communicate more”. It is a general claim, of a common denominator that appears there regardless of whether it is a family organization or a large multinational. But: what are communication problems about? What are the beliefs regarding communication of those who define having difficulties?
We are used to thinking that communication is a process of transmitting information. Moreover, most corporate communication plans are based on this belief that equates information in communication by proposing the proliferation of channels such as intranet, billboards, mailboxes, etc. But nevertheless the communication problems seem not to be solved: Isn't it time to start thinking about communication differently?
A first way to approach communication is to analyze its roots. The epistemology of the word communication is the Latin word communicare; which means "share", "have something in common". This means that communication is linked to sharing and not just to transmitting “effective messages”. Communicating with others is entering the world of the other, recognizing their interests and needs, trying to understand their particular way of saying the world.
So, communication is much more than sending and receiving messages, it is not just about guaranteeing circuits through which exact data flows… Human beings are complex beings who establish multidimensional relationships beyond the information we receive.
An example of the above are the communication problems faced by companies certified in ISO 9001. By definition they produce a lot of data, they seek to guarantee the information circuits, they reinforce with written documents… and yet the difficulties in communication are still there beyond efforts to ensure smooth information flows.
Para reflexionar sobre la complejidad de las relaciones de comunicación pensemos por un instante en los vínculos que se establecen entre compañeros de trabajo. Cada día comparten, palabras, gestos, charlas, consignas, papeles escritos, comportamientos. Por cada día que trabajan juntos intercambian cientos de unidades de información que incluyen lo dicho y lo de dicho, aquello que se verbaliza y aquello que se actúa. Y esa relación está enmarcada en una historia y en un contexto que condiciona la forma de comunicación que hay entre ellos. Cada uno de ellos ve la vida de manera diferente, parte de diferentes intereses, posee diversas necesidades sobre su lugar en la empresa, consideran que los conflictos tienen raíces diversas….Frente a esto: ¿Es posible circunscribir la comunicación solo a la transmisión de información? ¿Se sostiene la creencia de que los conflictos de comunicación se resuelven solo a partir de transmitir datos?
Here is the first fallacy about thinking about communication: the reductionism of believing that communication problems occur only because of the absence or lack of data and that therefore, multiplying information is an antidote to all communicational disagreements.
Communication is a complex phenomenon that starts from accepting conflict as the articulator of human relationships. There is conflict to the extent that we are different, that we see things differently, that we have different interests that affect us in a situation. In a constitutive way, there are misunderstandings, filters in communication; but not because we are "not clear" but because we are different, because we see things differently.
So it is no longer a matter of “reaching another with an effective message”, it is no longer just about thinking about persuasive messages, but it is about looking for meeting spaces where we recognize and respect ourselves as different and from there we look for spaces in common, the points that connect us to work together in pursuit of a goal that from each particular interest, is presented as shared.
This conception of communication leads us to rethink our plans to manage it. Communicating in the organization will involve working in information circuits but without disregarding that the fact that the circulation of these data does not free us from possible disagreements and we must also consider other communication devices that consider the "sharing" of communication from to recognize the diverse interests and needs of the people involved in a situation.
And in this sharing of communication, no longer absolute rules, there are no longer certainties to achieve "effective communication". There is a space to create, a challenge that unfolds before anyone who works in communication in an organization, a place to start weaving webs of possibility of meeting between people from the recognition of differences as an inescapable starting point of work in communication.
