Communication barriers can easily crop up in your personal or professional life. They will interfere with family relationships and cause problems in the workplace. Fortunately you can hone your communication skills by using certain exercises that help you break down the barriers. Soon you will be a better problem-solver because you can communicate effectively.
Inattentiveness
Effective communication requires the listener to concentrate on the speaker and comprehend his message correctly. The listener's mind may wander, which puts up a barrier to comprehension and understanding. Reflective listening is an exercise that can break down the barrier by forcing the listener to pay attention. He must focus on the speaker well enough to be able to repeat what he believes he heard. The speaker then confirms or makes any needed corrections to the perception.
Strong Opinions
Strong opinions often form a barrier to effective communication. Two people who have conflicting opinions often get hung up on who is right or wrong. This can be remedied with empathy, which doesn't mean agreeing with the other person. It simply means understanding and acknowledging his viewpoint. Empathy can often be achieved through an exercise in which the two opposing parties temporarily change side. Each person argues the other person's position. This forces the two parties to put themselves in their opponent's shoes and may give them valuable insights that facilitate communication.
Lack of Focus
A conversation may start off with a particular goal, but it often gets lost if one or both parties keep bringing up other topics. This barrier can be removed through an exercise in which the parties agree on a goal and write it down before beginning to communicate. Either person may point to the goal and redirect the conversation if they perceive it is wandering in another direction. This is an objective way to keep the focus where it belongs.
Focus on the Past
Communication is often obscured by bringing up past events that were not resolved. Suddenly the conversation isn't just about one issue. It's about everything that has gone wrong for the past several months or years. A simple rule can remove this barrier: Neither person is allowed to bring up any past events. If one person does, the other is allowed to use a predetermined code word to stop and redirect him to the current discussion point. If certain past issues keep cropping up, schedule a time to address them in a specific conversation.
Member Comments