Communication: For Learning and Change
Econnect Newsletter, Feb 2005. Available at www.econnect.com.au
Kerry Thomas and Barry Lincoln

“It’s been good having a yarn with you about our project! You know, when you first asked if you could come and see us, I really thought ’not again’ and to be honest, I was trying to get out of it! We’re so busy and visits by consultants, scientists and government people are often very one-way – we get nothing much out of it. But the way you approached this … I felt you were really interested in what our experience was and what we are trying to do… and the process of thinking back on our work has made me realise just how much we have achieved and what we’ve learnt. We so rarely have time to reflect like this… being able to acknowledge this for ourselves as well as for you, has been great.”

In this time of growing consultancy, rapid, short timelines, increasing political and social complexity, resource constraints, marketing strategies and so on, the true function of communication is under siege! How easy it is to focus on delivering up the outputs and products of feasibility studies, planning exercises, organisational reviews, and project evaluations to the detriment of the very processes and relationships required to achieve longer term outcomes and meaningful impacts.

Focussing on communication as a shared learning and creative process generates benefits for all concerned through more informed policy and planning and better understanding within communities. People then feel confident and perhaps more motivated to engage in change because they feel valued and part of the process.

Our experience both overseas and in Australia suggests that the key factors to success are surprisingly universal and simple – and yet are often sadly neglected in practice. They include an ability to:

• show respect – for people, their context and country
• listen actively and deeply – real meanings lie deeply
• show real interest in understanding the views and experience of those you are talking with, even if you hold differing values or perspectives
• talk with people, not to them and be cautious of speaking for others converse with people in a domain in which they feel comfortable
• illuminate the strengths and positive qualities of people and their experiences – look for possibilities, not just problems
• reflect back what has been shared and learned - in ways that motivate and build relationships.

These factors are not new so why then does there continue to be such a gap between what is being preached and what is too often occurring in practice?

Let’s keep the fundamentals in focus: communication should nurture relationships and enable the co-creation of imaginative responses to the challenging problems we face as we all work to achieve healthy outcomes for our communities and the environment.

So, take the challenge and ask yourself:

• To what extent and in what ways do I/we apply these principles?
• How do I/we know how successful we are? What are the indicators?
• What would it take to improve our performance in applying these principles?