Organisational Change Management Volume 2

The 10 Laws of Human Communication

1. It's not what the message does to the listener, but what the listener does with our message that determines our success as communicators

2. Listeners generally interpret messages in a way which makes then feel comfortable and secure

3. When people's attitudes are attacked head-on, they are likely to defend those attitudes, and in the process reinforce them

4. People pay most attention to messages which are relevant to their own circumstances and points of view

5. People who feel insecure in a relationship are unlikely to be good listeners

6. People are more likely to listen to us if we also listen to them

7. People are more likely to change in response to a combination of new experience and communication than in response to communication alone

8. People are more likely to support a change which affects them if they are consulted before the change is made

9. The message in what is said will be interpreted with respect to the how, when, where and by whom it is said

10. Lack of self-knowledge and an unwillingness to resolve our own internal conflicts makes it harder to communicate with other people

(source: Hugh Mackay, 1998)

"...Good communication skills are seen as the ability to produce......the 'e' factors within people - energy, enthusiasm, excitement, excellence and endurance..." and example (role model)

Charles Hardy as quoted by Helen Trinca, 2002a