Three Barriers to Effective Communication

Article by Zander Smith

Getting a clear message across to others in the workplace is so critical in business, particularly for those in senior management roles. In order to do this, it’s so important to consider what barriers might exist that will impede us from communicating effectively. There are in fact many potential barriers to effective communication, but here we present three of the most commonly encountered barriers, along with suggestions on how to remove them:

#1 Perception

The assumptions and judgements we have already made about others has a big impact on how much of an effort we make to communicate well with them. There is a tendency to ‘write someone off’ if they don’t conform to our ideas of appropriate dress, speech, or manner. We often disregard people that we perceive, even subconsciously, to be ‘beneath us’ in rank or intelligence. This is a real problem, because nearly everyone has something worthwhile to contribute. Try to recognize when you ‘writing someone off’, and challenge your own assumptions. Then make a real effort as a keynote motivational speaker to hear what they have to say.

#2 Culture and background

It is so important never to forget that other people are never entirely the same as us. They will have different experiences and beliefs like motivational speaker that impact strongly on their point of view. This is particularly true when we communicate with someone from a different culture to our own.

To combat this, take the time to consider the other person. Try to stand in their shoes for a minute and understand where they are coming from. If you are dealing with people from a different culture to your own, learn at least the basics about that culture

Tagged with: Assumptions, Barriers, barriers to effective communication, communication, different culture, effort, Experiences, Intelligence, judgements, Keynote Speaker, management roles, Motivational Speaker, Perception, Point Of View, Senior Management, shoes, Speaker, Tendency, workplace, zander smith