The Social Communication Model

Communication suggests a linear process. There’s a sender of a message—let’s say that’s you talking. You put your thoughts into words. And then there’s a recipient of a message. He hears those words and considers their meaning. That’s your co-worker, listening. It looks something like this:

You, the sender, have a thought. You put that thought into words (encoding). The message comes out of your mouth, and then it is decoded (processed) by the recipient, your co-worker, who then decides on the meaning of your words as a result of that decoding process.

But what you say isn’t always what your co-worker hears. And that’s where miscommunication can happen.

Imagine you’re discussing project details over the phone while in a noisy café. You’re trying to convey, “We need the report by next Thursday,” emphasizing the deadline. This is your message, encoded with the urgency and importance of the task.

However, the “noise” in this scenario isn’t just metaphorical. This environmental noise interferes with your message as it travels to your colleague, distorting the reception.

The noise disturbing your message can jump in at any time. It can be actual noise, it can be a concept misunderstood by the sender before the message is even formed, it can be a message that’s not articulated properly, or it can be a message that’s just not understood by the receiver. In this case, the “noise” is literal background noise from the café.

Your co-worker hears your communication, and the message you encoded and sent is not decoded in the same way, because the decoding process is affected by “noise.” As a result, your coworker thinks you’ve said, “We need the report by this Thursday,” and your colleague rushes to complete the report, prioritizing it over other critical tasks based on this misunderstanding.

They send you an email saying, “I’ve rearranged my schedule to ensure the report is ready by this Thursday,” which serves as feedback.

Your recipient has let you know that you’ve been misunderstood by giving you feedback. At this point, you can:

• Repeat the message, this time ensuring a clearer line of communication, perhaps by choosing a different medium to convey the message like email or text
• Ask clarifying questions to uncover the root of the misunderstanding, then address those issues in your next communication attempt

In this scenario, you realize the mix-up was due to the noisy environment during your call. This happens frequently in business communications, where background noise or distractions can lead to misinterpretations. You process the feedback and encode a new message, clarifying, “My apologies for the confusion; the deadline is next Thursday, not this Thursday.”

When the communication is only linear, extending from sender to recipient, you’re talking at your audience. The minute there’s feedback from the audience, like with the social communication model, you’re talking with your audience. Talking with an audience ensures a better level of understanding.