Something to keep in mind in written communication is that the more words and punctuation in a sentence, the more likely it is to be confusing. Pronouns can be another problem area in effective communication. For example, consider the following statement, If the kitten won t drink the milk because it is too cold, put it in the microwave for a few seconds. Depending on how on how that sentence is interpreted, there will either be a bowl of warm milk or a cooked cat. When using pronouns, there should be no question as to what the pronoun refers to.
Body language can definitely affect how our messages are received.
Posture, facial expression, position of the hands and arms, and eye contact are a few examples of things people interpret to get our true message. Depending on our understanding and control of this body language, we can either reinforce or damage the message we wish to send. Physical surroundings also can impact the message we want to send. For example, if we take an employee to an area that is free of noise and other distractions to talk with him or her, the employee is likely to see the message as being very important. If, on the other hand, we speak to the employee in an area where there is a great deal of activity, noise and other distractions, the employee probably feels that the message is fairly trivial.