L33T Index
Communication
Part 2
Communication Barriers
There are several types of barriers to effective communication. Examples are:
- General barriers
- Interpersonal skills barriers
- Written Communication barriers
Barriers occur when your message gets distorted. Effective communication involves overcoming and conveying a clear message.
General Barriers
Here is an example:
•Psychological Barriers
Psychological Barriers
These are problems arising from the psychological state of the audience. An example of this is if someone is stressed, this means they might be more interested in the things that are making them stressed and won't listen as careful to the message as if they weren't stressed. Therefore stress management is an important personal skill that affects how you handle a situation with a stressed person trying to talk about the things stressing them and try to solve them this will de-stress them removing the barrier.
Anger is another example of this as when we are angry it is easy to say things that we regret later on and also means we misinterpret what others are saying and find a way to turn it to anger. Therefore anger management is important to make sure this doesn't happen a good thing to do is go to a quiet calm place and cool off before returning to any conversations. This will allow the person to return to normal therefore removing the barrier that the anger had brought up.
Interpersonal Barriers
Non-verbal barriers
Non-verbal Barriers
These barriers are primarily physical, not being able to see the non-verbal cues make communication less effective. This can be avoided by moving to a place where there are no physical barriers.
Lack of eye contact with the speaker people who are listening tend to give eye contact. Lack of eye contact can also be a sign of shyness. This can be solved by removing distractions or gaining the persons trust so they are less shy.
An inappropriate posture slouched, leaning back or leaning forward onto a desk and/or a constantly shifting posture. People who are paying attention tend to lean slightly towards the speaker. This can be changed by constantly reminding the people of correct posture.
Lack of head nods which is often used when a listener is engaged with a speaker they nod their head, this is usually a subconscious way of showing attention. Lack of head nods can mean the opposite listening is not happening. As this is mostly a subconscious thing there isn't much you can do to change it.
Written Barriers
These are two examples:
- Language (international student)
Language (international student)
Language barriers seem pretty obvious but there are often language barriers that we are not always aware of. Obviously if you speak different languages it will be a barrier. Even when communicating in the same language, the terminology used in a message may act as a barrier if it is not fully understood examples of this are words in English (UK) do not exist or have new meanings in English (US) this is more common now in social media as it allows people to connect across the world because some countries that talk English talk more English (US) than English (UK). Without being patronizing, imagine explaining a situation in your English dialect to a child. How would you say these things in an understandable fashion? A clear, direct narrative is preferable to one filled with double entendres as these would confuse the other person. Other ways that you can remove this barrier is by teaching the other person the meanings of words that you use in your dialect and vice versa.