Effective communicators understand that different language is used in different situations. The language used changes depending on the following considerations.
- What we are communicating about—what is the message?
- Who we are communicating with—the number of people, their language skills and the relationship we have with them (the target audience)?
- How the communication takes place—what is the method of communication, is it verbal or non-verbal?
- Where and when the communication takes place—what is the location and timing?
To communicate effectively, we have to match our language to the situation. We need to clearly work out the:
- why—reason for the communication
- what—what we are going to communicate
- who—audience of the communication
- how—best form of the communication
- when—best time to communicate.
