2 posts tagged “communication people”
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.
In yestaerday's post I mentioned about assertiveness. Being assertive not only give you a better feeling but make your communication with other people look more proffessional. You stand out your point while not offencing the other party.
Some people are naturally assertive. Others might need to learn and practice few techniques.
Here are some tips to start you off:
- Watch how other people communicate and even persuade other people by being assertive. What words they use, the tone and speed of the talk, their gestures and facial expressions etc.
- make a decision to improve your assertiveness.
- Imagine yourself being assertive. You can create some situations or take real ones and imagine scenarios of handlind those difficult situations. It may sound useless, but all great artists spend hours practicing their roles just to feel natural when they need the most.
- Take actions. They say to overcome the fear you just need to do what you fear the most. Seems like easier said than done. But this is a shortcut. People tend to exaggerate things. You might find it not that difficult once you start. With practice your fear will fade. Start with small steps. Once you master those move to more complicated situations and so on.
- Don't forget the importance of body language. Use nonverbal signals that supports your speech and show you are confident. Speak clear with steady tone. Don't be in hurry stating your point. Learn to use a bit more time before you give the answer. Eye contact is vital, don't stare though. Avoid such movement that show up your worriness like scratching, tapping, blinking eyes too often, touching your hair or face.
- Make your message to be clear, don't waffle. Then stop talking. If you didn't get a wanted result on a first try repeat your message and do that as many times as necessary. Choose other words for expression if you like. But the main point is don't allow yourself to be sidetracked.
- Don't panic if you fail, especially at the beginning. Keep practicing and see the rewards comming your way.
Enjoy any conversation experience with right communication skills. For more information on communication visit my website.
