"The Five Es"

I think we all agree that communication is important. After all, if it is not, then how come everyone tries to do it well every day of  their lives? We may not say so out loud, but we all recognize how vital being able to communicate effectively is to the betterment of our lives. While we want to understand where others are coming from on things, we certainly them want the same in return from family, friends, co-workers, etc. In terms of helping make such mutual understanding happen, communication has a bottom-line role that I call "the five Es." They are: engagement, exchange, enlightenment, experience and esteem.

Following is a brief summation of each aspect of the role of communication: engagement refers to helping bring about meaningful interaction between individuals and/or entities; exchange speaks to the quality of message-sharing; enlightenment addresses how well messages are understand; experience pertains to how well those who are interacting feel about their connection with another; and esteem is about the degree to which people who are interacting feel good about themselves and the effort they made to make an interaction meaningful. Collectively, these five points take communication beyond the mere act of being heard.

Being heard or acknowledged by others is very easy to do. Any one of us can go up to another person and begin to talk. Such an act, no matter how rude or inappropriate, definitely gains that other person's attention. It does not constitute a meaningful encounter or act of interaction, however. Granted, not everything any one communicates is golden or is going to generate much interest from others. But having said that, trying to address "the five Es," will improve one's chances of having and, yes, enjoying meaningful interactions with others. The more encounters of this nature one can have, then the better communicator they are.