5 posts tagged “communication barriers”
The last part of our communication problems series is responding barriers. Communication is a two way process, where two or more people share information. If a sender convey a message they are likely to hear a feedback from a receiver. When the feedback can't be successful, then there may be a break in communication cycle.
1. No chance for feedback. Such problem can occur when sender is a sole communicator. When a speaker in a room can talk for hours without others having a chance to ask questions, make suggestions or any other interruptions into conversation, there would be likely redused attention, misunderstandings or misinterpretation of the information. That is why face-to-face communication is always considered the best, when both people are involved. But this is not always possible, so some care should be taken during a meeting like making a break or "ask questions" time or making meeting in a form of disscussion rather than a constructive one.
2. Inadequate feedback. Good communication can suffer due to judgemental or delayed feedback. If an authority is giving instructions in a way of order without a chance for an employee to ask questions or clearing up some details, then the latter may leave with some unclear information which would lead to doubtful results. Further more if a person feels they are not respected they might feel like leaving the place and the commander as soon as possible and can pretend to understand the instructions even if it not so. The results are unpredictible.
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Today we are moving to the barriers the receiver can come accross with during communication. These are called decoding barriers. What are they? Here are some possible problems when decoding the message:
1. Lack of Interest. If a receiver is not interested in the information that sender tries to communicate, then the message won't be read or listened to at least properly. The receiver may listen unattentively or read the message hurriedly or not read at all. A desirable result would have little chance to happen.
To handle such situation, a sender needs to take a different approach or stop communicate the message alltogether, because a receiver might not have any interest at all in such kind of information.
2. Lack of Knowledge. If a receiver has not enough knowledge about the subject that's being disscussed, they would have difficulty to understand it. Unless they are introduced to a good explanation, too much technical wording can be tough to keep up with.
It is important to use as simple language as possible whenever it makes sense. If salesperson tries to sell something they should make their speech simple and to the point. This would have much more impact than showing off their extreme knowledge about something. If this is written information, the sender should take into consideration what type of people they are trying to contact. An email withtin company staff can include technical terms as receivers would certainly be familiar with it. When contacting clients though it makes sense to use plain English (or other language) when explaining their products and services etc.
3. Lack of Communication Skills. Not enough reading and listening skills make communication ineffective.
Asking for simplier explanation of the information would help in understanding the idea of the message.
4. Emotional Distractions. Emotions play a big art in our life. Everything we do has some connection with our emotions. In communication with others it has no difference. If somebody doesn't like a person who tries to deliver them a message, they are likely to read their message not objectively. They would hear or read in between the lines some negative tone or misinterpret part of information as being towarded against them etc. This may lead to misunderstanding part of the information.
It would be helpful to actually concentrate on the information itself rather than on the person that tries to convey the message.
5. Physical Distractions. It is difficult to maintain a good conversation, when something is constantly on a way of receiving information: external noises, constant phone ringing, too bright lights, too hot or too cold etc.
Avoiding such kind of distractions would help to understand the other person's message much better.
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Today we'll have a look at transmitting barriers. Communication can be difficult if there is something on the way of sending information.
1. Physical Barriers. Noisy cafe or bad line connection while you are on the phone can ruin communication.If this is witten message, like email or letter, then formatting it not correctly or having a lot of grammar mistakes can look unprofessional. Such appearance of information may lead to negative results.
To minimise the effect of this barrier one should check if the correct form of letter or email is used in certain situations, check spelling and grammar. If it's a phone talk, then avoiding noisy places would help to maintain good communication. If noisy environment can't be avoided then sending a message can be an alternative way to transfer the information.
2. Conflicting Messages. Sometimes message can cause a conflict in perception. For example: If a person uses slang or jargon while talking with a person who is not familiar with such expressions then some misunderstandings are likely to happen.
3. Channel Barriers. Choosing an inappropriate medium to convey the message can spoil communication. Giving detailed instructions over the phone can leave both communicators frustrated.
Choosing an appropriate channel will help to convey the message properly.
4. Long Communication Chain. The longer the communication chain, the bigger the chance for message error at the end of the chain. If too many receivers are involved in receiving and passing the information, then usually the message becomes distorted. The last chain would almost definitely have an altered idea of the message.
Some other communication problems I'll cover in my next post.
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In my last post I mentioned types of barriers that might stand between people during communication. By recognising them and making corrections as soon as possible can save conversation and bring better results as an outcome.
First type mentioned was encoding barriers. This is the process when person encodes the message they want to send to the other side involving their best communication skills.
What are the possible problems that may prevent communication from being enjoyable and fruitful?
1. Insufficient knowledge of the subject. It says for itself - the sender doesn't have enough information about specific subject that is disscussed. The likelihood of the receiver getting mixed or unclear message increase dramaticaly. When person knows such situation is likely to happen they should get some knowledge about the subject they are going to disscuss.
2. Lack of Sensitivity to Receiver. This is the other way round to the previous statement. That is, when a receiver is lacking of knowledge in something or simply a message sent is not adapted to them. In this case sender should recognise the needs of the receiver and their knowledge of the subject. In some cases the sender will need to use other more simple ways for explanation. Probably using less terminology. Or let say other complicated and too specific descriptions can be avoided or substituted with easier to understand words.
3. Lack of Basic Communication Skills. This happens due to sender's inability to choose the right words and/or arrange such in grammatically correct sentences. The receiver will probably misunderstand the message or part of it. Sender needs to improve their communication skills or at least prepare themselves for the particular situation.
4. Information Overload. When too much information is sent at a time the receiver is overloaded and simply can't comfortably interpret it. This usually put some blockage in absorbing information. Receiver ends up getting just part of the message or stop listenning alltogether. Let us take an example of salesperson. In trying to sell they might actually discourage the person from doing that by quickly naming 30 advantages of the product. Instead it's better to pick just couple of the most important ones and describe the item based on these features.
5. Emotional Interference. A person occupied with emotions might not be able to communicate well. Anger, fear, hate etc can take a big potion of sender's attention either to express these emotions or to hide them from a receiver. When dealing with their emotions a person can send mixed message. In the opposite situation, if a receiver is preoccupied with emotions (e.g. they don't like the sender) they may have some troubles to "hear" the sender. People should really, whenever possible, to prepare themselves in advance for such meetings.
Tomorrow we'll cotinue to disscuss other issues that stand on the way for a good communication.
Visit Improving Communication in Business and Personal Life for more information on key communication skills.
Communication is a process of exchanging information between two or more people. During communication a sender sends encoded message through a certain communication media to a receiver, who decodes the message, processes it and sends back an appropriate reply through the same media.
Communication is an attempt to create a shared understanding of information.
When people enjoy their talk, they definitely understand each other.
Sometimes though communication can be a tough thing.
Have you ever met a tourist who wants to ask you something but doesn't know your language? The only communication tools they use is a map and their own hands ( maybe also some prehistoric noises they are able to make ).
Ok. They can point you on a map where they want to go. You got it. But how should you explain how to get there if they don't know your language?
Yes, you both begin to use intensively your body language. All sort of gestures are expressed. It seems like exchanging information transforms into exercising. Usually the conversation ends up with the tourist leaving you with the same knowledge they approached you. And you feel kind of resposible for their nearest future or doubt your communicational abilities.
Anyone's fault? No. Both did their best to communicate information. A language barrier was stopping you from a proper conversation.
Everybody once in a while meets some obstacles while communicating with others.
What are the possible barriers in communication? There are quite a lot of them.
Lets devide them for simplicity. Some of them come from a sender's side, the other from receiver's and obviously there are some external obstacles as well.
Possible barriers in communication:
- Encoding barriers
- Transmitting barriers
- Decoding barriers
- Responding barriers
In my next posts we'll have a closer look at them.
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