Communication is a what?

I’ve often heard the phrase that communication is a two way street.  Well it isn’t, that’s a bad analogy.  In a two way street the traffic goes one way up one side of the road and down in the opposite direction on the other.  Up and down only.  Unless there is an obstruction in the carriageway what happens in each lane has no bearing on the other.  Verbal traffic without interaction cannot be described as communication.

How about instead that communication is a car park with some spaces occupied and some vacant with people coming and going, filling them and emptying as need and interest wax and wane?  Sometimes it’s busy and you have to drive up and down the aisles looking for that illusive space whilst at other times you can slip straight into that space right by the door.  But car parks are flat and ordered even if they are multi-storey and so this may not be a good analogy either.

How about then that communication is a roundabout where people are joining and leaving, coming from different start points and going to different directions but for a moment are engaged in a common pursuit?  To get into a roundabout conversation you have to know the rules.  You have to think about your approach, work out which lane you are going to be in, signal your intentions and make your moves early.  Or you can leave it all too late, get into a mess and cause a massive tailback of irate would be communicators.  A roundabout is a mechanism to keep traffic with multiple intentions free flowing.  Perhaps that is a better analogy.

But what communication should be perhaps is a demolition derby, with excitement and fun, where participants and observers are engaged in a common pursuit.  Cars driving round on a track at break neck speeds.  We need crashes and velocity and screeching of tyres, near misses and triumphs, cheering, smiling, entertainment and even a trophy at the end.  Communication should feel like an experience, something to be savoured and remembered, like a good night out.

Communication is many things and analogies never really work when they are under fire but to me it is never just a two way street.