2 Communicating with colleagues and peers

2.1 The basic communication model

The main reason for speaking or writing is to communicate with other people. This consists of giving them a written or spoken message they can understand and respond to. As illustrated in Figure 2, communication takes place when a sender, in this case a speaker or a writer, sends a message to a receiver, in this case a listener or a reader. The receiver often responds to the sender by speaking or in writing.

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Figure 2 The basic communication model

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Two rectangular boxes with two arrows placed in between. The top arrow points right, the bottom to the left.

Left box is labelled ‘Sender (Speaker/writer)’

Right box is labelled ‘Receiver (Listener/reader)’

Top arrow is labelled ‘Message’ and points from ‘Sender’ to ‘Receiver’

Bottom arrow is labelled ‘Feedback’ and points from ‘Receiver’ to ‘Sender’.

Figure 2 The basic communication model

The key feature of this process we will look at first is the concept of feedback. As we will see, this is a vital tool for developing your skills when you are communicating with colleagues and peers on a one-to-one basis.