Communication

The 12 basic needs

The basis for all communication is talking. The rest is substitute whether it is writing, using smokesignals, or communicating via the media. Only in a normal discussion or dialogue all the images, feelings and gestures come alive to make communication communication! At least one or more times a year meeting each other is essential to really understand each other also afterwards via the other media.

Especially new in communication is that EVERYBODY is now interested in EVERYTHING and wants to know EVERY detail. Internet shows that we are now surfing into all corners of knowledge, but also open presentation days of farms, hospitals, small and big companies, harbours, military organizations, schools, theatres etc etc are visited more and more every year. Plus discussions today in workshops, papers and parliaments are about black and white points of view and about all colours of all aspects in between. All information is necessary now because every individual human being feels more and more responsible from now on!

But of course real information is not communication only! Every manager knows that the most important thing is to have the “helicopter-view” over the company and the whole environment of the world where it is operating. And that you need to recognise in that 360-view the headlines and the sidelines and the priorities to work towards the goals of the whole enterprise. And today in the bottom-up structures everybody in the company is a manager and co-creator and needs to communicate in a managerial way also. And so the consumer in the world of economy and the citizen in the world of democracy!

Therefore we see that consumer organizations are already highly professionalized in facilitating the communication between all parties by organizing websites for general information, research for in-depth information, and organizing open visitor days and conferences. And last but not least gathering all the questions of consumers to translate it into a workable communication-process between consumers and producers. The bottom-up marketing in an economy of question and answer!

But from the other side of the “kitchentable” we see also more openess in reporting by producers and service-organizations and governments. And all the parties in between as trade and banking, but also media and journalists became real facilitators and moderators! And last but not least the world of communication got a new worldwide player itself: the World Social Forum where everybody talks with everyone about everything! So we see now three catagories of organizations representing head heart and hands: 1. social forums worldwide as platforms for the 360 survey, 2. political parties and ngo’s for the talking about goals and realization, people and organizations, and relations and laws between people, and 3. consumer-organizations and consumer authorities to coordinate consumer-questions.