How to Coach Yourself and Others How to Influence, Persuade and Motivate | Page 53

2. Review of Communication Basics
2.1 Introduction
Imagine you are on one side of a wall and the person you want to
communicate with is on the other side of the wall. But there's more than
the wall in the way. The wall is surrounded by a moat that is filled with
crocodiles and edged by quicksand. These barriers could be things like
different cultures, different expectations, different experiences, different
perspectives, or different communication styles, to name just a few.

You might experience only one of these barriers at a time, or you might
find yourself facing them all. Persuading and influencing the other person
requires that you recognize these barriers exist between you, and that you
then apply the proper tools, or communication skills, to remove those
barriers preventing your message from getting through.
Of course, communication is a two-way street. The person on the other
side of those barriers will also try to send messages back to you. Your
ability to understand them clearly could be left to a dependence on their
ability to use communication skills. But that's leaving the success of the
communication to chance. Instead, you can also use your own
communication skills to ensure that you receive messages clearly as well.
Finally, there isn't only one point in your communication with another
person at which you have to watch out for barriers. To be successful at
influence and persuasion, it's important to recognize that these barriers to
communication can occur at multiple points in the communication
process.

2.2 The Communication Process
The communication process involves multiple parts and stages. These are:
* Source
* Message
* Encoding
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