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They should try to discover why that is so and what value the message has for them as
receivers. Being sensitive means not interrupting or distracting the speaker. If a sender has
difficulties in making the message clear, the receiver must try to help or act to postpone
communication until the sender is better prepared.
4. Indicate an Appropriate Medium. Receivers can often facilitate communication by stating
a preference for a certain medium. Many managers want to receive important messages in
writing so that they can study and store them. E-mail, faxes, letters, memos, and reports
can meet these requirements. Sometimes the request is for a face-to-face meeting so that
two or more people can interact. Expressing a preference speeds up a communication
effort and removes possible guesswork by the sender. Both parties, therefore, should be
more comfortable. Of course, company rules and procedures or a union contract often
specify various mediums as appropriate for handling routine communications.
5. Initiate Feedback Receivers bear the primary responsibility for providing feedback. Until
the receiver states his or her interpretation of the message, the sender will never know if it
was understood. Similarly, the receiver cannot be certain that he or she has understood the
sender's intentions until the receiver summarizes the message and receives confirmation
that the summary was correct. When a receiver cannot restate a message, it is a sure sign
that it was not understood.

The Ten Commandments of Good Communication
The American Management Association has prepared guidelines for effective
communicating.
1. Clarify your ideas before communicating. The more systematically the problem or idea to be
communicated is analyzed, the clearer it becomes. This is the first step toward effective
communication.
2. Examine the true purpose of each communication. Before you communicate, ask yourself
what you really want to accomplish with your message—obtain information, initiate action,
change another person's attitude? Identify your most important goal and then adapt your
language, tone, and total approach to serve that specific objective.
3. Consider the total physical and human setting whenever you communicate. Meaning and
intent are conveyed by more than words alone.
4. Consult with others, when appropriate. Frequently, it is desirable or necessary to seek the
participation of others in planning a communication or developing the facts on which to
base it.
5. Be mindful, while you communicate, of the overtones as well as the basic content of your
message. Your tone of voice, expression, and apparent receptiveness to the responses of
others have tremendous impact on those you wish to reach.
6. Take the opportunity, when it arises, to convey something of help or value to the receiver.
Consideration of the other person's interests and needs will frequently highlight
opportunities to convey something of immediate benefit or long-range value to the receiver.
7. Follow up your communication. Unless you follow up, your best efforts at communication
may be wasted and you may never know whether you have succeeded in expressing your
meaning and intent.
8. Communicate for yesterday and tomorrow as well as today. Although a message may be
aimed primarily at meeting the demands of an immediate situation, it must be planned with
the past in mind if it is to maintain consistency in the receiver's view. More important, it must
be consistent with long-range interests and goals.