Sean McPherson, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Emily Richardson, University of Pikeville
David Scales, Naugatuck Valley Community College
About the Authors
Teri Kwal Gamble, a full professor of communication at the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York (PhD, New York University; MA and BA, Lehman College CUNY), and Michael W. Gamble, a full professor of communication at the New York Institute of Technology in New York City (PhD, New York University; BA and MFA, University of Oklahoma) are long-time partners in life and work. Professional writers of education and training materials, the Gambles are the coauthors of numerous text and trade books. Their most recent publication was the second edition of the Public Speaking Playbook (2018). Among some of the other books the Gambles have written are Nonverbal Messages Tell More: A Practical Guide to Nonverbal Communication (2017), The Gender Communication Connection (2nd ed., 2014), and Leading With Communication (2013). Prior to Michael’s career as a college professor, he served as an officer and taught leadership skills for the U.S. Army Infantry School. Together, Teri and Mike founded Interact Training Systems, a communication consulting firm. They love living and working together!
1 Start Right Here
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After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
1.1 Discuss the nature of “communication presence.”
1.2 Define communication.
1.3 Explain the essential elements of communication and their interaction.
1.4 Use a transactional model of communication to visualize the communication process in action.
1.5 Describe the core principles of good communication.
1.6 Evaluate the benefits of communicating effectively.
1.7 Apply skills for improving your communication effectiveness.
Communication—the human connection, is the key to personal and career success.
Paul J. Meyer
Be brutally honest. Do you spend any of your free time thinking about communication? More specifically, have you ever imagined the words others might choose to describe you as a communicator? Take a moment and do that now. After engaging in conversation with you, might others say that you were present or distracted, authentic or fake, empathetic or distant? How are they likely to describe your behavior as a coworker or team member? Might they see you as cooperative and collaborative, or would they instead judge you to be self-concerned and a blocker? What words might those in an audience you were speaking to use to describe your speech-making abilities? Would they find you prepared and persuasive or ill prepared and uninspiring? And when roles were switched, how might other speakers describe you as a member of their audience? Might they report that you were attentive and encouraging, or would they perceive you to be bored or “out-to-lunch”? In each case, the adjectives others attribute to you, how you come across to them, are your communication presence.
Our goal is to help you make communication work as effectively as you can in all the social and professional settings you frequent, whether you are engaging with others online or face-to-face. With this in mind, welcome to The Communication Playbook, your resource for communication skills for life and career success.
What is Communication Presence?
We 21st-century communicators face complex challenges. Each of us bears personal and social responsibility for developing, sharing, and then managing a unique identity or communication presence—the composite of characteristics we present both in the physical and online world. Effectively, we each create a real-world or face-to-face identity and a digital-world or virtual identity for others to consume. It is as we navigate between these two spaces—the physical and the digital—that the unique personal communication presence that others attribute to us when we interact with them, both online and offline takes shape, and it speaks volumes.
How others in both the physical and digital world perceive our communication presence affects their opinions of us and our relationships with them. The objective, of course, is for our communication presence to be positive, authentic, and serve as a success catalyst.
Becoming adept at connecting with others, whether they are actually present or digitally dispersed, is one skill we all should want to master. We should want to present ourselves as competently and confidently as possible in the communication arenas we frequent daily, regardless of whether we happen to be physically in the same space or are using social media.
Skill Builder
Wi-Fi Me (It’s Not a Question)
Based solely on the name of your Wi-Fi network, what impressions might others form of you?
In an effort to influence others’ reactions, Wi-Fi network names have morphed from boring series of digits to personalized monikers much like vanity license plates.
Choose a Wi-Fi name that you believe will reveal to others something they may not know about you. For example, one ballet dance instructor branded her Wi-Fi network “PointToMe.”1 What will you brand yours? What do you think your brand communicates about you?
Communication Choices are Abundant
We have an abundance of communication options today. To be sure, various means of communicating become more popular than others at different times in our lives. For example, for many of us texting is the dominant form of interaction.2 But for better or worse, our communication choices evolve. The question is: Do we make sound decisions about how to communicate most effectively and appropriately with others?
Once we understand what makes communication work across the spectrum of communication channels available to us, we will know how to make it work for us. Ultimately, because the communication presence we present and share in social, civic, and professional arenas and personal, group, organizational, and public settings affects our relationships, our ability to engage with others, and our life satisfaction, we can never become too effective at communicating.
Communication Presence and Technology
What is your personal “go-to” means of communicating? If you’re like many 21st-century students, your smartphone serves as your prime personal connector. You likely use it to check Facebook, text, tweet, or post on Instagram—but rarely make a phone call. For some people, actually talking to another person causes discomfort. Such individuals find technology freeing, because they don’t have to be in the physical presence of others. They feel able to say what they want without fear of being interrupted or even having to listen to another’s response.
Are We Addicted?
Although we sometimes discount communicating face-to-face or forget it altogether, doing so effectively is equally, if not more, important than connecting through technology. Despite this, in a 2015 Pew Research Center study, 89% of smartphone owners reported using their phones during the last social gathering they attended. They also reported that they were not happy about it because it impeded conversation.3