Bernhard Schieber

Communication

A field of HFSAI, read through the General Theory of Systemic Initiative.

Everything that happens in an organization happens in communication. This series reads the theories, models, frameworks and tools of the field one at a time — what each explains, where it fails, and what it changes for the decisions an executive actually takes.

The essay of the seriesWhat Is Still There on MondayRead the essay →
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Report · Field Series · Communication

The Communication Trap

After two fatal crashes of its newest airliner, Boeing introduced three habits across the enterprise: seek, speak and listen. A year later, 85 percent of employees said they used them. In 2024 an expert panel reporting to the aviation regulator found people who did not know where to report a safety concern, and who hesitated to report for fear of retaliation.

The problem you called communication is still on your desk. It was never only a communication problem.

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Sources: Boeing (2022); expert panel report to the aviation regulator (2024).

Books on Communication

Seven works close the series, each answering one question. Four are on the bookshelves; three are in preparation, with a waiting list.
What does it mean, and where does it come from?The Executive Dictionary of CommunicationThe field in alphabetical order, each entry with its verified origin.On the bookshelf · From $36.99 / €36.99Open the bookshelf → What does the field know about the situation in front of me?The Executive Insight Briefs on CommunicationThe complete Executive Insight Briefs, gathered by situation: what the field knows, in terms executives can use.On the bookshelf · From $7.49 / €7.49 a volumeOpen the bookshelf → What is happening here?The Executive’s Primer of CommunicationPatterns for reading what happens in your organization: each one named, explained, and made recognizable.On the bookshelf · $18.99 / €18.99Open the bookshelf → What do I do about it?The Executive’s Playbook of CommunicationActions that impact what happens in your organization: each one with the model behind it and the point where it stops working.On the bookshelf · $18.99 / €18.99Open the bookshelf → What operates at each scale, and how far does it reach?Communication at ScaleThe field ordered by scale: the individual, the group, the organization, the society.In preparation · waiting listJoin the waiting list → Where is the failure, and what makes it visible?The Invisible FailureOrganized by the ways things fail: the models that explain a failure and the instruments that reveal it.In preparation · waiting listJoin the waiting list → What is whole in a single act?The Architecture of CommunicationThe author’s work: the architecture beneath the field, written last, because it addresses what communication is for.In preparation · waiting listJoin the waiting list →

See all the books →

The Premises

The premise of every Executive Insight Brief: the situation it reads and what is at stake for an executive. The full briefs are in their volumes, with the other works of the series: see the books →

Model · Theories & Explanatory ModelsThe Social Skills Model: Coach the Performance LoopInterpersonal effectiveness improves when goals, perception, response, feedback, and adjustment become observable and trainableTool · Intervention Methods & PracticesNonviolent Communication (NVC): Separate Conflict Data from Judgment and CoercionDistinguishing observations, feelings, needs, requests, and empathic guesses can make conflict more discussable without erasing power or incompatible interests.Model · Analytical Frameworks, Typologies & HeuristicsOramedia: Map the Communication Ecology Before Choosing the ChannelUgboajah’s Oramedia perspective shows why reach alone cannot replace cultural meaning, social authority, feedback, and the interaction between indigenous and mass mediaTool · Measurement & Assessment InstrumentsOCCI: Read Conflict Strategies as Situational CommunicationProfile nonconfrontation, solution orientation, and control without turning reported tactics into personality types or universal prescriptionsModel · Theories & Explanatory ModelsRelational Dialectics Theory: The Real Conflict May Be Over What the Words MeanOrganizations can appear aligned while competing discourses quietly assign different meanings to commitment, trust, loyalty, or professionalismModel · Theories & Explanatory ModelsGoals–Plans–Action Model: Expose the Goal Structure Behind the MessageGPA separates primary goals, secondary goals, plans, and action so leaders can diagnose why an influence message takes the form it does before judging the words
68ModelsTheories, frameworks and effects that explain how communication works — and fails.35ToolsInstruments, methods and practices you can use to diagnose and intervene.

Browse the premises → (103 of 511 published so far)  ·  Books: all seven works →

Eleven sample briefs can be read in full with your email →

Two families, many kinds

Every entry in the series is either a model — a way of explaining what happens — or a tool — a way of acting on it. Neither word covers what they contain.

Models

  • TheoriesCognitive Dissonance Theory · Uncertainty Reduction Theory
  • FrameworksLasswell’s Formula
  • Explanatory constructsSpiral of Silence · Cultivation
  • HypothesesKnowledge Gap Hypothesis
  • EffectsHostile Media Effect
  • ParadigmsNarrative Paradigm
  • Examined beliefsFilter Bubble
  • And moreHeuristics, typologies, principles, traditions…

Tools

  • MethodsContent Analysis · Conversation Analysis
  • Instruments and scalesPsychological Safety Scale
  • TechniquesNominal Group Technique
  • ProtocolsReadback/Hearback and ICAO Standard Phraseology
  • ProceduresRobert’s Rules of Order
  • PracticesPreparing Feedback Conversations
  • Coordination systemsIncident Command System
  • And moreMatrices, checklists, maps, traditions…

Knowledge

Short, exact entries on the models and tools of the field, shared by every series. Browse them by domain, or open Knowledge for families and categories.

A selection, not a census. This is not an academic survey of the field. It is broad by design and complete only for its purpose: these models and tools were chosen for the decisions that those who lead organizations and people actually face.

Browse Knowledge → (270 entries published so far)

Self-guided audits

Six audits are open to every reader: one for each scale — the individual, the group, the organization, society — and two that run across all four. Each works on one real case and ends in a map you can discuss with me.

Self-guided audit · IndividualPrepare the hard conversationCheck one conversation before you hold it → Self-guided audit · GroupWho actually wanted this decision?Check the agreement behind one decision → Self-guided audit · OrganizationIs the next fix repeating the failure?Check what one fix actually changes → Self-guided audit · SocietyCrisis readiness checkFind where one crisis response would improvise → Self-guided audit · Across scalesWhere does bad news stop?Trace one decision’s bad news to you → Self-guided auditRun the comparisonTake one act through four scales →

Membership

These audits are part of the membership. Members receive their access key personally. Request access.

Membership · Self-guided auditFind the break before resendingLocate where one message failed → Membership · Self-guided auditWill this argument survive scrutiny?Test one case before you argue it → Membership · Self-guided auditRead the climate, not the averageCheck what one survey result can show → Membership · Self-guided auditAcross cultures, before the meetingDesign one cross-border meeting → Membership · Self-guided auditWho controls when no one is in charge?Find where control went in one area →

The Architect’s Essays

The structure underneath: a signed, long-form reading that connects several pieces of the field into one argument. For members; selected essays are open to every reader.

Evidence Reports

What the field is publishing now, selected for consequence, not volume: what was published, why it matters to those who decide, where it stops, and the source. Monthly, open to every reader; each edition also arrives with The Debrief. Start with No. 0: what the report watches and how it selects →

The Debrief

Every two weeks, what this series has published, in one newsletter: the essays and Interrogations, and where to find them, with new works when they appear. By subscription; past editions stay here.

Subscribe

One address, one newsletter: The Debrief, which carries the Evidence Report once a month. You confirm by email before anything is sent, and every edition carries an unsubscribe link.

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