Communication is both the substance and the medium for information flow. To learn how information flows, we need to gather data on communication behavior, in particular, who speaks to whom about what. A sociogram is a diagram in which people are points or circles and lines represent types of relationships between the people.

1. Keep a journal of everyone whom you spoke to for one day at work. Write down to whom you spoke (individuals or groups), for how long, about what topics, and the type of relationship you have with those persons. 

2. Group these people together according to the reason you interacted with them; for example, people you work with on a particular project are grouped together, people who are in particular departments are grouped together, clients are grouped together, and so on.

3. Draw a sociogram (or network) that connects these people or groups of people (use no more than 10 people or groups) to you and to each other. Use thicker lines to denote strong relationships, thinner lines to denote weaker but important relationships, and dotted lines to denote relationships with people that are both weak and not important to you.

4. Now redraw the sociogram to illustrate the amount of time you talked with these people. Use thicker lines to denote more minutes, thinner lines to denote fewer minutes, and dotted lines to denote very brief conversations.

5. Compare the two sociograms. What do these illustrations tell you about whom you communicate with, why, and for how long? Do these sociograms suggest ways you may improve your communication with others?