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.