Barriers to communication

How to reduce the impact of barriers

General communication skills

·         Age of audience

·         Cultural differences

·         Engaging the audience and keeping them interested

Age of audience

The age of the audience could be a barrier because if the audience is young they might not understand what you are saying but to over come this barrier you should find out what age group it will be if it both young and old you will have to speak in a way that everybody understands. The tone of your voice could also be a barrier because if your voice is too low some of the audience might not be able to hear you clearly especially the older people, so to overcome this barrier you should speak loud and clear so that everyone can hear and understand you.

 

Cultural Differences

The culture of the audience you are speaking to could be a barrier because what you say might offend some cultures so to overcome this barrier you should find out who you will be speaking to and also try to find out what offends them for example some cultures be offended when women are physically greeted.  

Interpersonal skills

·         Hearing difficulties

·         Body language

Hearing difficulties

People with hearing problems could be a barrier because they will find it difficult to hear when you are speaking so to over come this barrier you could have a computer screen that types what you speak because the person will be able to read or you could just type out what you are going to say in your PowerPoint.

Body Language

Body language can be a barrier because if people who cant hear very well see you move your hands it can put them of or if you fold your arms they will think your being aggressive, so to overcome this problem move your hands in a way that doesn't come across as being agressive so dont move your hands as often.

Communication in Writing

·         Relevant

·         Email

Relevant

This can be a barrier because in a business if they were to have guidelines and everybody had to follow it might not be relevant/make sense to the employee, so to overcome this problem the business could explain the reasons behind these guidelines.

Email

Email can be a barrier because it is harder to explain something over an email than it is to do in person so to try and overcome this problem you could ring the person and ask questions about what they don’t understand.

Principles of Effective Communication

Effective communication

This means that information has been transmitted from a sender to a receiver is clear, fit for purpose and timely. A sender could be and employee customer of friend and the receiver could be one person or a group of people or a target audience. It is divided into 3 main areas:

·         General skills

·         Interpersonal skills

·         Written communication skills

Age of audience

This will have an impact on the way communication happens, because you may need to vary your voice to keep the audience interested especially if you are talking to young children because they will lose concentration very easily so if your talking with the same tone of voice all the time and using words they don’t understand then they will zone out.

You will have to speak words that the audience understands or else they won’t know what you are talking about. You will also have to think about how you are going to present your message either to use rhyme or music or to deliver it electronically.

Cultural differences

This is very important when you are trying to engage in communication. A different culture could mean a different part of country or world which could also mean a different language or accent, different beliefs which could be politically, socially, environmentally or religiously based.

This is also very important because you need to make sure that you are talking in a way that your target audience understands and that you don’t upset any of your audience due to their culture or beliefs. An example where different beliefs may be different would be greetings because in some countries this means a kiss on the cheek but in other countries to embrace someone physically especially a woman could be very disrespectful so you need to be careful on what you say and do.

Interpersonal skills

For communication to happen two or more people need to be involved. One person expresses a message through words (spoken or written), signs, signals, bodily expressions, facial or even silence. The other person uses their senses, mainly sight and hearing to gather the message from the other person. Being able to communicate with a person or people at all levels is very important and how you communicate information in terms of delivery method, style and use of body language reflects on the type of person you are.

A range of methods can facilitate interpersonal communication including:

·         Verbal exchanges

·         Signing

·         Lip-reading

Verbal exchanges

This is a direct form of communication and the response is received immediately, especially if the verbal exchange is conducted in person not over a phone. A change of tone is needed to express some emotion

·         A raised voice can indicate anger or impatience

·         A lowered voice can show fear or insecurity

Positive Language

The word yes is a positive response to a question, also your facial expression can be positive such as your smile. Nodding your head conveys your agreement or willingness to listen to what is being said.

Negative language

Cutting in while another person is speaking, depending on how you do it can convey enthusiasm or may be seen as antagonistic. Finishing other peoples sentences for them can be very irritating and may indicate insensitivity on your part.

If you decide not to react at all and remain impassive this also communicates a clear negative message to the speaker this could mean that you are not interested in what is being said.

Signing

Signing or sign language is an effective way of communication with a person who has hearing difficulties and cannot hear people talking. Sign language uses body language, hand movements, facial expressions and lip movement to convey words and thoughts.

Written communication skills

Written communication is fundamentally different from other forms of communications. It requires special skills in the construction of the message. Written communication also requires you to have sufficient knowledge of a language. It can be formal in terms of providing a legal seal such as contract of employment or a business agreement. It can also be informal in terms of writing an email or letter to a friend.

Using correct grammar and spelling

Written communication provides a clear and structured method of transferring information between people, but the clarity and structure can be impeded if the information that was sent wasn’t grammatically correct in terms of spelling, punctuation or sentence construction.

Mistakes convey an unprofessional image to the reader. If it is difficult to read and understand then it will cause confusion for the reader. If it was written using word processed software then any mistakes can be amended  but if it is hand written then the spelling needs to be checked by the reader.

Emails

Nowadays emails are used more and more frequently. Information that is usually sent in a letter can now be reproduced in an email and sent a lot faster and also is more cost effective. In addition one email can be sent to many people and a response can be almost immediate.