Introduction
Communication is everything. Most of our needs and indeed most of what makes us human has communication at its root. Human needs for love and affection come about as a result of communication, for example, between a parent and child. Caring is communicated through words and actions. Human are socialized and educated through a communication process. People know themselves and their roles in society, learn about others and organize into groups of various kinds directly as a result of communication. Communication is, therefore, an important subject in and of itself. A strategic approach to a communication has become of greater importance in recent years. There are several reasons why this happened. The first involves trends in the workplace, the second is the evolution of understanding of the process of communication, and the third is that developments have resulted in a greater appreciation for the centrality of communication in terms of the creation of human social and organizational realities.
Audience
All good communication should be driven by and focused on your audience: its interests, needs, expectations, and concerns. In other words, effective messages should be audience-centered. Another important thing to remember is perception. Perception is the part of the communication process that involves how people look at others and the world around them. It is a natural tendency to perceive situations from own limited viewpoint. Perception of reality is also limited by previous experiencies and attitudes toward the sender of the message. People filter messages through their own frames of reference and tend to see only the things they want to see. Overcoming perceptual barriers is difficult but essential to craft messages that meet the needs and concerns of an audience. To envision the audience, the focus must be on relevant information known about the receiver. The more familiar you are with the receiver, the easier this task will be. When communicating with an individual, it is important to recall a clear picture of the receiver – his or her physical appearance, background, values, opinions, preferences. The following audience characteristics have to be considered: age, economic level, educational background, needs and concerns of the receiver, culture, rapport, and expectations. For example, some newspaper businesses after making analysis on cultural differences of their readers have understood that Japanese readers value the beauty and flow of words and prefer an indirect writing approach, unlike Americans who prefer clarity and consciseness.
Purpose
Identifying the purpose of communication can help to more effectively plan and formulate messages. It should be noted that to be an effective strategic communicator requires prior knowledge and specific skills: (1) self-awareness, (2) the willingness and ability to understand others, and (3) the ability to think critically. There are two foundational purposes of communication in organizational settings:
To inform
To persuade and influence
Communicating to Inform
To inform is to pass on information. In the world of work you are informing, when you explain something to the colleagues, employees, or customers and clients. It is helpful to analyze audience and make sure that you …