In a previous video, I talked about
Shannon and Weaver's basic model of
communication that involves a sender
with a message that sent along a channel
to a receiver. This is a very one-way or
linear model of communication. It works
pretty well for explaining information
technology but it doesn't capture the
face-to-face dynamics that most of us
experience and feel. So several years
later, some other researchers like Paul
Watzlawick and
his colleagues as well as Barnlund came
up with what we now call the
Transactional Model of Communication. And that's the one we're going to unpack in
this video. So let's get into the details.
Hello again friends. I'm Alex Lyon. If we
haven't met yet, this channel,
Communication Coach is here to help you increase your personal impact so you can
lead the people around you to higher
levels of excellence. And a huge part of
that is becoming a little more educated
on the communication process. Probably
one of the most helpful models of
communication to understand face-to-face
interaction is the transactional model
or the transactional approach to
communication. So let's dig into that.
First, I want to talk about how this
differs a little bit with Shannon and
Weaver. In the Shannon and Weaver
one-way, linear model, you have a sender
and a receiver. But in the transactional
approach, the researchers that developed
this say that we are both simultaneously
senders and receivers. That means that
we're always giving each other feedback
both verbal and nonverbal and so in that
way we're always sending messages. Paul
Watzlawick uses the phrase you cannot
not communicate. Which is another way to
say you're always sending and receiving
messages whether you realize it or not.
So let's say somebody is giving you the
silent treatment and they're
deliberately trying not to verbally
communicate. You're still getting a
message. It may not be easy to determine exactly what that message is but there's
still messages going back and forth. So
you're always communicating. You cannot
not communicate. Another aspect that this model brings into the situation is the
context. So anytime you're interacting
with someone, it's not isolated and pure.
You're in a context. Let's say you're in a work setting.
And that work setting shapes the
way you send and receive messages.
Another aspect of this is what we call
the "field of experience." I come into a
situation and you come into a situation
with a whole set of life experiences,
values, and beliefs. And that's going to
shape how we send and receive and
interpret the messages that we are
exchanging. So that's a really
interesting aspect of this that the
other linear Shannon and Weaver model
does not capture. Another aspect of this
is the notion that in any kind of
interaction we have both content that's
being exchanged, like information, and we
also have relational dynamics that are
being built and established and
reinforced. So even if I'm just saying to
my wife "Hey, how was work today?" And she
says, "Oh, it was okay."  Now there's
information that's going back and forth
but there's relational work happening
at the same time. And, in fact, a very
simple example like that, "How was work
today?" "Oh, it was okay." There's a lot going
on there because you can read the other
person's nonverbal and there's feedback
going on you can hear tone of voice and
you can read into what's happening. In
fact, you probably know this from
personal experience. If someone says, "Oh, it's
okay today," It depends HOW they said it,
not just the information or the content.
There's that relational dynamic. So this model through and through is much more
sophisticated and layered and that
earlier video on the Shannon and Weaver
model I talked about how the model is
simple but people are complicated. And in
this Transactional Model, the researchers
came along and rounded out their notion
of how communication happens
face-to-face and came up with a model
that's much more sophisticated and
layered to help make sense of that human
interaction, in that dynamic that we
experienced day to day. So question of
the day, what are your thoughts on this
Transactional Model of Communication. I
would love to hear your comments in that
section below. I would also like to hear
how you see this applying to
professional settings specifically. How,
as a leader, can thinking in terms of
this model help your leadership develop
to the
next level? I look forward to seeing
those comments below. So, thanks. God bless. And I will see you in the next video.
