Applying Part II to the Real World of Work

Abstract

Communication is action, reaction, action, reaction—picking out one thing with the hope of saying “see, this is it” is impossible. Everything is connected to everything else. To unpack this vast subject I have separated the stuff that makes communication by showing the relationship between turns, episodes, and patterns. However, in the end these are all interconnected, virtually seamless parts of the whole. This is not to say that they are predictable, it is just to say that the moving parts of communication are connected and in constant motion. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if something was technically a turn, an episode, or a pattern—what matters is that you see the actions and reactions that make the experiences and outcomes you get. Figure 11.1 illustrates a picture of the way communication is made.

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.

—John Muir