Communication is one of the most powerful tools of leadership and management. In fact, many suggest that leadership and management is comprised of a network of conversations and communication between individuals, teams and groups. We communicate expectations, provide feedback, reward and recognition all through the process of communication.

The great Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once observed that “the single greatest problem with communication is the illusion it has taken place”. What he was saying is that we confuse talking, writing or sending information with true communication. There’s obviously a big difference. The American journalist Sydney J. Harris explained: “The two words ‘information’ and ‘communication’ are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out, communication is getting through”.

If we are going to be effective as managers, team members or subject matter specialists we need to be able to “get through”. And getting through is harder today than ever because there is so much other information being pushed out. In this module, we’ll look at some key aspects of communication and influence.

Mohan, McGregor, Saunders, Archee et al (2004)^[1] suggest that communication is a broad field of study with many dimensions. Among these dimensions are:

• Intrapersonal communication (our self-communication – thinking and thinking about our communication)
• Interpersonal communication (including in various forms: verbal face-to-face, written, and electronic)
• Group communication (again, in its various forms from physical proximity to virtual environments)
• Public communication or presentations
• Intercultural communication (which we touched on in Module 2)
• Mediated communication (from the personal media we use such as email or social media networks and mass media)

We are all communicators and we all communicate all the time. (Even when we don’t communicate, our ‘non communication’ communicates.) “We can’t not communicate.”