Mastering the art of communication is an essential requirement for success in any professional field nowadays.
There are a lot of communication barriers faced these days by all. The message intended by the sender is not understood by the receiver in the same terms and sense and thus communication breakdown occurs. It is essential to deal and cope up with these barriers of communication so as to ensure smooth and effective communication.
In the post-pandemic scenario, most of us are often working remotely and need to use various types of communication channels. This makes it even tougher for people to communicate, and that’s where understanding the right techniques of communication is essential. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that will help you overcome the barriers of communication:
Overcoming perception differences: For any modern business organization, it is absolutely important to recruit the right people for the job. The recruiting professionals and the interviewers must ensure that the candidate has a good command over the desired written and spoken languages. Quite often, there is a difference of perception due to lack of an orientation or induction program. That’s where the HR team has to conduct a proper induction process whereby the new recruits are familiarized by the company’s policies, processes and hierarchy. Wherever needed, training should be conducted for the employees. For instance, the voice and accent training in a contact center.
Communication that is not verbose: In routine office and interpersonal communication, usage of simple and easy to understand words has to be prioritized. Not everyone is going to be at the same level of linguistic proficiency and a good communicator would avoid jargon or ambiguous words to ensure that he/she is clearly understood.
Reducing ambient noises: Noise disturbances affect the quality of communication, and the conducive work environment. It should be ensured that the causes of undesirable noise are identified and removed.
Active Listening: Any communication expert would emphasize the value of active listening. What it means is that one must not just hear a sound but attentively listen to it and understand it carefully. A speaker or a teacher usually asks questions and seeks the opinions of the audience to confirm that his words are being attentively listened to.
Uncomplicated hierarchy: The more levels a communication flows through, the more complicated and manipulated it is likely to become. Therefore, any organization should keep the hierarchy levels to the minimum required for smooth functioning. Many times, companies tend to create designations such as assistant manager, deputy manager and so on. That leads to a tussle for authority and lack of clarity on the right communication flow. This can hamper the speed as well as the effectiveness of information flow within the organization and should be avoided.
Addressing the emotions: Communication is not just the words spoken but also the effective use of the body language and emotions. In fact, using the right visual and behaviour cues is a great support system for your speaking skills. Feelings such as anger, excitement, or body language showing disinterest or lack of trust can lead to a wrong intent being interpreted by the receiver of the message. It can even make the person take the message lightly or completely ignore it, and cause chaos later on.
Choosing the right communication channels: There are so many communication channels available these days such as email, chat, social media posts, conventional mail, calls, voice messages and video calls etc. While casual communication, routine queries etc can be made through social media or chat messaging, sharing of reports and data should be through written communication in physical and email format. Similarly, confidential and personal communication might be better conducted through calls or video calls.
Constructive feedback: Negative feedback is one of the biggest causes of miscommunication in organizations. You should make sure that the feedback given to any person or service is constructive and improvement oriented. Harsh criticism is likely to cause further deterioration of communication between the two sides.
These are some of the best ways in which any individual can overcome the barriers of communication with success and achieve great career/business and personal growth!
