The effective communicator maintains eye contact for four to five seconds before looking away. Gestures should be natural and well timed. Grooming and dress should be appropriate for the situation. Listening requires good eye contact, alert body posture, and the frequent use of verbal encouragement. The channel is the path a message follows from the sender to the receiver.
Supervisors use downward channels to send messages to employees.
Employees use upward channels to send messages to supervisors. Horizontal channels are used when communicating across departmental lines, with suppliers, or with customers. An informal channel is the grapevine. It exists outside the formal channels and is used by people to transmit casual, personal, and social interchanges at work. The grapevine consists of rumors, gossip, and truthful information.