THIS text is a little taste of the F2F (face to face) Communication Landscape
Communication Landscape for human interaction – the simple dimension = not talking about all the different communication channels – only with the F2F in mind.
Where are you in the (simple – 1. Dimension of the F2F) Communication Landscape?
Are you focusing on its complexities – and therefore are more – impulsive = I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it, so I do as always, “just wing it”.
Or – are you focusing on the simple dimension of F2F (face to face) interaction = tactically act situationally based = “my goal in this conversation or meeting is X, therefore, I will do this Y – to try to get there”.
Before you dive into the multiple dimensions of today’s extremely complicated version of the Communication Landscape – wouldn’t it be good to have the basics in check, kind of self-aware and optimized?
Wouldn’t you like to be aware and able to execute good communication – on the basic F2F level? = to communicate to people who are listening and taking part in the conversation in order to reach a kind of aligned result that most people are clear about?
What do we want from this meeting – how do WE get there together? – Kind of thing..
How much do you understand and use the starting point of all communication as the basis for how you communicate? (What IS that starting point, it would be a good – hehe, starting point).
Stress. Survival mode is when you are super-stressed – and you more or less, do your reflexes, or they do you, as is.
Stress is supposedly a good thing, it is an optimizer for human survival. When your brain and body react to what it interpreted as a treat, an uncertainty, it, the body, prepares itself by pumping up the muscles, hormones (one example is the enhanced level of cortisol you experience in your brain) are sent around into different part of the body and brain, you are getting an optimized version of yourself when you start stressing.
But the thing that extreme stress does – is make you dumb!
When you are in survival mode, you don’t think but act out your 3F reflexes, fight, flight, freeze – your body is not able to think, only react using one of the 3 F`s. We all know this.
But are we enough aware of the effect of stress, on our ability to think? That when you are really stressed you can’t really choose how to think.
This is sadly the starting (and end) point of communication.
The situation starts resulting in this stress response of 3F and .. the message drowns in the sea of cortisol.
Psychological safety, or the lack of it – in the situation = a good everyday example of this. That you are NOT – and the consequence is a bad communication situation.
You might have the most brilliant communication plan and set-up – but no one is able to listen – so fuck off, what now?
The starting point in the communication landscape is this – what level of stress, psychological safety – is in the start of the communication situation?
Here the 7M`s awareness and techniques – are an example of being aware of the situation and trying to adjust the 7M`s that increase stress – in order to optimize the chance of choosing to listen or not, have options when you think, or not.
The 7M`s – illustrated by one big one – MEETING.
You are in a meeting and the person running the show just said something that stressed you out. You are feeling the body preparing for survival – and you cortisol level rise. What can be done in a situation like this?
1 don’t ignite
the stress response.
2 when you feel the stress response ignited
– you, do so called check-back (Duhigg’s version is what he calls “looping for understanding”) – use active listening techniques to potentially clarify, and by that either create less stress and more psychological safety or not.
3 sleep well
so you have the power to fight the stress by using energy to have an inner voice that calms you down – and when done well, you might even learn and act – by surpassing the stress response if you have a good core awareness of how you act in certain situations. The core response is how you seemingly automatically act when stressed = 3F. this, surpassing or even changing the “biological” stress response of 3F, you can do what Victor Frankl communicates as “grow a space between stimuli and response”.
This – the text you just read is an illustration for the upcoming „Communication Landscape for F2F interaction“ – I am working on.
Other topics in this work are for now (and I am hoping for YOUR contribution with more);
Aspects and perspectives on F2F Communication Landscape – example of starting points =
Things you would like to know more about, a) what it is, b) what it potentially does, and how to use it (the a+b) in order to get to C, your goal for the communication:
– Survival mode – taking back control (a bit of what you just read)
– Stress – the 7 Ms, 6 more are to come, they are, open questions, functional or creative communication style, feedback and strength-backing.
– The 3 conversation types, functional, emotional, social
– Radical Candor done well, or terrible, done well it is a situational tool for speeding up the pace and quality of the communication
– Psychological safety – techniques to enhance psychological safety in the situation
– Shift Left communication principles, that aligned at the start of a process grow ownership and initiative, when done well – as in systematically
– Goal for communication – and consequences of the „3 types of goals“ i suggest (3R)
– Communicative actions, innovating a part of Habermas`s 5 communicative actions, they are, 1 written, 2 verbal, 3 non-verbal, 4 listening, or 5 visual/contextual communication.
= All of these things are a part of the F2F Communicative Landscape – its goal, the goal for the growth of awareness is to grow options and decisions for good SYNERGIZING COMMUNICATION as a part of Synergizing Leadership
OK. All of this has ONE goal – support you in growing situational awareness on – how the situation you are in, is – and how to communicate according to it | what do you want – and how do you act according to that?
Ok. Tell me YOUR thoughts, please.