Effective Communication - Emergency Management Institute ...

UNIT 2: BASIC COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Introduction
This unit examines the basic components of communication: sending and
receiving messages. Sending and receiving are not simple actions. In fact,
how you deliver information and how you listen to others can dramatically alter
how others respond to your message. But although communication is complex,
it can be analyzed and refined. That is the purpose of this unit.
Unit 2 Objectives
After completing this unit, you should be able to:
Define “communication” and apply that definition to various forms of
communication.
Describe why effective communication is important to emergency
management.
Understand different communication styles and how they affect interaction.
Communication Models
The value of a model is that it simplifies a complex process. Communication is
just such a complex process, and using a model will help you send and receive
communications—and will help ensure that others respond as required in an
emergency.
Immediately before, during, and immediately after an emergency, emergency
and response personnel must respond quickly. Time to communicate is limited,
and often a specific message that must result in practical action must be
relayed to a large group. A very simple model that sends the message
efficiently and elicits the desired response will be most useful.
During the recovery phase, when sensitivity to the community’s cultural values
and attitudes is perhaps most important, a more complex, culturally based
model may be more appropriate. Failure to discern attitudes, beliefs, values,
and rules implicit in different groups could disenfranchise some citizens and
harm the community’s return to productivity and health. A cultural model is
useful because it recognizes community members’ shared interest in the
community’s future.
Effective Communication Page 2.1