Your Workplace’s Communication Ecology

Have you ever walked into an organization, restaurant, or store where there is a palpable atmosphere set? Maybe you feel immediately calmed, intrigued, or enchanted. I’ve walked into places before and I feel as though I just walked into a different world from where I came from. Those types of atmospheres take a long time to finesse and create. It’s more than just the decoration they have up: those places have a decided communication ecology. That business has decided what kind of meaning they want to be making with you as a customer.

What’s a communication ecology? It’s the manner in which a group of people relate and communicate to one another and their surroundings. In terms of your workplace, it’s the “vibe”, more or less. The environment. The experience. We are taught in high school that communication is verbal and nonverbal, and often given a graph like this to explain it:

Communication is much more complex. One fantastic definition of communication can be learned from the Coordinated Management of Meaning Theory (created by Barnett Pearce) which states communication is “the co-creating of meaning together”. CMM offers up famous artist M. C. Escher’s unique creation, Bond of Union, to exemplify many of CMM’s communication truths: This is a more authentic representation of what communication really is, versus the over-simplified graph we are usually taught in school. Let’s think about how this communication perspective plays out in your everyday interactions. Think about that last interaction you had. Maybe you were ordering coffee from a barista, asking a colleague for an update, or talking with your spouse about weekend plans. You were co-creating some kind of meaning with that person. What meaning did you create? When you take the time to walk your mind on this neural pathway, you are retraining your brain to see communication in its most accurate form.

This theory also talks about seeing communication in terms of sets of stories (like a tv series) – not just a message being sent and received (like an email). This is a much more humane and authentic approach to existing with the people around you. Your workplace communication ecology may need a rethink. How do new clients feel after communicating with you and your team? How does your team feel after conference meetings? Taking some time to consider what meaning you want to be creating at work. Doing this may shift the behavior, tone, body language, cadence, and overall essence of the communication at your workplace. Don’t expect a shift to happen all at once. The “2-degree shift” is a term to describe the phenomenon of making small adjustments making monumental impact over time. Great communication ecologies are built over time, with consistency. Take it step by step.