The communication hierarchy and how it is used to earn buy-in was a great lesson! I learned that in roundtables, and meetings with several individuals or teams, you have to go through stages of the hierarchy. That makes sense why Ice breakers are a good strategy during orientations and seminars, as it is a great way to transition through the hierarchy of communication with several individuals simultaneously 

Active listening is the total process of a combination of actions like asking open-ended questions, reflecting on information received and providing meaningful feedback in a timely manner

Principles of communication work synergistically with each other to ensure effective communication. It appears that metacognition could assist in knowing when to implement one or more elements and for how long during any interaction.

For instance, although asking questions is a principle of communication. I've found that meaningful questions carry more weight. It is possible to ask many questions that are not relevant to a conversation/discussion. Metacognition and self-monitoring can help you. during the interaction to ensure your communication remains effective

Communication is more than essential to a University's operations. One of the things that I learned was the impact of each facet of communication and the benefit of selecting a mode of communication in every interaction based on your intent. I was intrigued as well by the unintended consequences of communication. Emails and written texts can be the most misconstrued. I feel that to remedy this, it is critical for team members to be specific in their messages.