The Four Objectives of Communication Part 2

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In my last post, i introduced The Fundamental Purpose of Communication. In this post, we will be discussing upon the next two intentions of communication.

To recap, the four objectives of communication are:

1. To Be Understood
2. To Be Accepted
3. To Get Something Done
4. To Understand Others

Now, let us start by considering the second objective of communication. To Be Accepted.

What does it mean by "To be accepted?"

It means to get people to agree with you, or at least to listen to you seriously.

This might surprise some of you, but actually getting your message accepted does not happen as often as you might think. Many things block acceptance.

These things may include distrust, lack of empathy or even an upset state of mind.

The third objective of communication is To Get Something Done.

Let us consider a common example.

You have something that must be done quickly, and you need to ask someone whom you can trust to do it for you. You think John is the one.

You are under a lot of pressure and cannot possibly do it. So, you ask John for his help.

You are surprised when he shows that he does not want to help you out.

What happened? A situation like this might have taken place.

What you said...

"John, I'm using my machine to finish this job that i'm a little late with. My supervisor gave me this other job to finish today! I will never finish. I already have to work late just to finish the first job. Can you help me out by doing it on your machine for me?"

What John might have 'heard'

"John, here is a dirty job that my boss gave me. I don't want to be bothered by it. Your machine can do it. Your plans for the day don't count to me. Just help me out by doing my work for me."

Your tone may have made John feel that he was being used by you. Perhaps something that you asked him to do in the past had left him feeling resentful, or he may have personal problems which weigh heavily on his mind

In any case, he didn't "hear" so much with his brain as with his feelings. And since he didn't "hear" you correctly, he didn't accept you.

Getting action involves more than simply "asking" or "telling". When we use a machine, all we have to do is to push a button. With people, you will generally need to explain, to convince and to follow up.

In my next post, we will be looking at the last communication objective, which is "To Understand Others," and also look at how we can overcome these communication roadblocks which are present in each and every one of our lives.