Communication Blockers

Introduction

If you are unable to communicate what you think and what you want, your will not be much successful in getting your work done in a corporate environment.

Therefore, it is necessary for you to get to know what the communication barriers are, so you can avoid them if you intentionally or unintentionally practice them at the moment.

Common Communication Blockers

Have a close look at the following communication blockers that can be commonly found in corporate environments:

Accusing

Accusing and blaming are the most destructive forms of communication. When accusing, the other person feels that you assume he/she is guilty, even without hearing their side of the story.

Never accuse or blame unless it is highly required to address certain exceptional issues. In a corporate environment, accusing and blaming should not take place at all.

Judging

Judging is one of the blockers that prevent the information flow in communication. As an example, if one person is suspecting that you judge him/her, he/she will not open up to you and tell you all what they want to tell you.

Instead, they will tell you what they think as 'safe' to tell you. Make sure that you do not judge people when you communicate with them. Judging makes others feel that one person is on a higher level than the rest.

Insulting

Insulting takes you nowhere in communication. Do you like to be insulted by someone else? Therefore, you should not insult another person regardless of how tempered you are or how wrong you think others are.

There are many ways of managing your temper other than insulting others. Insulting does not provide you any information you require.

Diagnosis

If you are to diagnose something said by another person, think twice before actually doing it. If you diagnose something, you should be having more expertise than the person, who originally related to the communication.

When you try to diagnose something without a proper background to do so, others understand as if you are trying to show your expertise over the other person.

This is a communication blocker and the other person may be reluctant to provide you all the information he/she has.

Sarcasms

In order to have effective communication, you need to show respect to others. If you show no respect, you get no information. This is exactly what sarcasm does.

If you become sarcastic towards a person, that person will surely hold back a lot of valuable information that is important to you. Showing your sense of humour is one thing and sarcasm is another!

Globalizing

Do not use words such as "always" or "never." These make the parties involved in the discussions uncomfortable as well as it gives the notion of negativity.

Try to avoid such globalizing words and try to focus on the issue in hand.

Threats or Orders

Understanding what other person says is the key for a successful outcome from communication. Overpowering rather than understanding the other person has many negative consequences when it comes to communication.

With threats and orders, there is only one-way communication and nothing collaborative will take place. Therefore, it is necessary for you to avoid threats or orders when communicating.

Interrupting

Interrupting is a good thing when you want to get something just said, clarified. But most of the times, people interrupt another person to express their own views and to oppose what has been said.

When such interruptions take place, the person, who talks may feel that you are no longer interested in what they are saying. Therefore, interrupt when it is really necessary and only to get things clarified.

Changing the Subject

If the other person is keen on talking about something, changing the subject by you might result in some issues in communication.

Changing subject in the middle of some discussion can be understood as your lack of interest on the subject as well as your unwillingness to pay attention. This may result in unproductive and ineffective communication outcomes.

Calling for Reassurance

Sometimes, we tend to do this. When one person is telling you something, you try to get the reassurance for what has been said from others.

This behaviour makes the first person uncomfortable and it is an indication that you do not believe or trust what the person says.

If you need a reassurance of what has been said, do it in a more private manner after the discussion or conversation is over.

Conclusion

Communication barriers are the ones you should always avoid. If you are a manager of a business organization, you should know each and every communication barrier and remove them from corporate culture.

Encourage others to avoid communication barriers by educating them. With communication barriers, neither the management nor employees will be able to achieve what they want.