Improve Your Communication Skills, 2nd Edition

whether we like each other (this context can shift while 
we are communicating).
• Situational
: the social context within which we are 
communicating; the rules and conventions that apply in 
different social conditions (interaction in a classroom 
or office will differ from interaction in a bar or on a 
sports field).
• Environmental
: the physical location; furniture, location, 
noise level, temperature, season, time of day, and so on.
• Cultural
: all the learned behaviours and rules that affect 
the way we communicate; cultural norms; national, 
ethnic or organisational conventions.
These insights suggest a different model of the communication 
process. In this model, we are at the centre of two interlocking 
sets of contexts, seeking to find common ground. Whatever we 
understand, we have communicated with each other. 
We cannot 
not
 communicate.
(Paul Watzlawick, Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto, 
California)
( c) 2011 Kogan Page L imited, All Rights Reserved.

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11 What is Communication?
Communication succeeds when we increase the area of common 
understanding (the shaded area in the diagram in Figure 1.3).
We need a new definition of the word ‘communication’. And the 
history of the word itself gives us a clue. ‘Communication’ 
derives from the Latin 
communis
, meaning ‘common’, ‘shared’. It 
belongs to the family of words that includes 
communion
, 
communism
and 
community
. When we communicate, we are 
trying to match meanings.
Or, to put it another way:
The three levels of understanding
Communication creates understanding on three levels, each 
underpinning the one above (Figure 1.4).
relational
situational
environmental
cultural
you
(psychological)
me
(psychological)