Communication Skills & Barriers
By Alex Frawley
Different Types of Communication
General Communication
What is General Communication? General communication is your basic communication skills you should have whether it be written or spoken. I am going to give some examples of Effective and Ineffective general communication and then explain why.
Effective General Communication
-Good Pronunciation
-Clear Voice
-Spelling Text Correctly
Ineffective Communication
-Misspelling Texts
-Cultural Accents
-Mumbled Speech
Why?
You will need effective general communication whether you're speaking in person, on the phone or you're typing a text/E-mail. You need to have clear pronunciation when talking in an interview or to your employer/coworkers, if you don't have a clear pronunciation the employer wont understand what you're talking about and they also wouldn't like you to be answering the phone at their company. Spelling text correctly is also another important one which I will go into more detail in the Written Communication section.
Interpersonal Communication
What is interpersonal communication? Interpersonal communication is face to face communication with other people, this includes your feelings, body language, emotions and moods. You will need effective interpersonal communication when going for interviews and talking to your coworkers. Here are some examples of Effective and Ineffective interpersonal communication.
Effective Interpersonal Communication
-Being happy and upbeat
-Using body language to show you're interested
-Speaking loud and clear
Ineffective Interpersonal Communication
-Being in a hostile mood
-Crossing arms at interviews (shows your being defensive)
-Being sad and not getting on with work
Why?
You need to be happy and upbeat to show your interviewer that you really are interested in the job, if you cross your arms or slouch back in your interview the interviewer will think you're not interested in the job and wouldn't want someone like you working at his/her company. You need to have a clear and loud speech when in an interview/talking to coworkers.
Written Communication
What is Written Communication? Written communication is when you're not talking in person but rather by text (Email, SMS, WhatsApp, Letters). An effective written communication is needed when writing to bosses, sending E-mails/letters for interviews and communicating with customers via written text. I am going to show you some examples of Effective and Ineffective written communication.
Effective Written Communication
-Writing Dear XYZ if you know the person you are writing to
-Writing Dear Sir/Madam if you do not know the person
-Putting Faithfully, Sincerely or Best Regards depending on the recipient
-Well structured and neatly laid out (Using Bold, Italics and Underlining correctly)
Ineffective Written Communication
-Using Emojis in emails to important people/CEOs
-Having bad SPG (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation)
-Bad handwritting/ Difficult to read
-Mistypes
Why?
You need to use the correct formatting when talking to CEOs and Important people other wise they will write you off as being in-polite and may not want further business/contact with you. If you have bad SPG then the recipient will think you are lazy and do not care about your work. Bad handwriting will make it difficult for the recipient to read meaning its harder to get your point across. Mistypes can cause accidents when ordering products for your company as you may order too many or too little.
Barriers and Overcoming Barriers to Communication Skills
Communication Barriers
Barriers in General Communication
What is a General Communication Barrier?
General Communication has many barriers, I'm going to talk about the barrier to understanding cultural accents. If you have a cultural accent or you're talking to someone with an cultural accent, it can be very hard to have a flowing conversation and it can be hard to get your points and ideas across.How Do I Overcome It?
To overcome this barrier there are a few options depending on the situation. If the person with the cultural accent is the person you are talking to, then ask them to talk slower. Don't be afraid to ask them to repeat things if you don't hear them. If the person with the cultural accent is you then practice common interview questions and phrases before hand so you will have the clearest accent you can. If you see the person you are talking to is not understand try to slow down your speech to make it easier for them to hear you. Another option you could try if you have an accent is to go for speech therapy lessons to try and make your voice clearer and easier to understand.
Barriers in Interpersonal Communication
There are many barriers in interpersonal communication, but most of them can be overcome. The barrier I am going to be talking about is the barrier to Body Language. Body language can be very important when going for interviews, your body language can tell the employer if you're interested or if you're bored.
How Do I Overcome It?
There are a few ways to overcome body language issues, some of them are free and don't require a vast amount of time and others may require money and patience. The first way I'm going to talk about is practice. You should practice your sitting posture and not crossing your arms at home, try and keep a straight back then doing daily tasks like using the computer or watching TV. By using this technique you can remind your self at the interview to sit straight and it should be easy to do. Another reason for having bad posture or bad body language may be a lack of self confidence. To overcome self confidence you can try going to therapy, you can also practice your interview with a friend or with yourself whilst keeping a good posture and not doing things like crossing your arms. This will help you break bad body language habits and will help you impress the employer in your interview.
Barriers in Written Communication
What is a Written Communication Barrier?
Written communication has the easiest barriers to overcome, I'm going to be explaining how to overcome the barrier to SPG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar). SPG can make employers not want to employ you because they think you can't use SPG when sending emails to customers and other coworkers.How Do I Overcome It?
The easiest and most obvious option to help you with this is Spellcheck, most E-mail programs and text processors have a built in spell check you can use. If it is written by hand then you should use google or the dictionary to search for any words you don't know . The more permanent way to overcome this is to take or teach yourself English language lessons. English language lessons will take a while to do, but you will no longer have to fully rely on software like spellcheck. Whether you take English lessons or fully rely on Spellcheck you should always read over your written work a few times to make sure everything is right.