What are some barriers to communication you have experienced and how did
you overcome them?"
In the video “it’s not about the nail” it clearly shows that the guy lacks active listening
skills, he’s analyzing the situation for the solution which can work in some cases, but
the girl is clearly indicating it’s not about the nail, it’s a bout how she’s feeling. She
wants him to listen and cater to her vulnerability and be compassionate about what
she’s feeling, what she’s going through and allow her to vent in a safe space instead
of being told what she needs.
In the breakout rooms last week, Marla, Manvir, Morgan and myself, we had all
discussed that barriers to effective communication. We found that language could be
a barrier depending on the effect of the tone, vibe or lack of vocabulary or even
diversity, as stated in the textbook too there is lots of jargon this could dilute the
communication message along with asking too many questions or there being noise
present from other people or the setting of where the conversation is taking place.
From our lecture last class, we also found that listening habits, lack of feedback,
perception, role requirements, information medium, lack of honestly and emotions
can also greatly affect the barriers to effective communication.
In the textbook, it states that effective communication for perceptions and role
differences is hard to correct. The following guidance to overcome them:
THINK FIRST: Simple, we must think for a moment to organize and articulate our
words before they come out, perhaps write a quick draft this again will help with the
message and delivery of the message.
CONSTRAIN EMOTIONS: If you’re in an unstable emotional manner or easily
triggered it’s best to leave and revisit when you’re calm. This will allow clear thought
process and not cloud our judgements.
LEARN TO LISTEN: We tend to push our narrative or perception onto others like in
the video “it’s not about the nail” but it takes a lot for us to stop for a second and
acknowledge that we can take this as a learning opportunity as we could be wrong.
TAILOR LANGUAGE TO THE RECIEVER: Depending on the person we’re talking to,
whether it’s a colleague, manager, an aunt or uncle, or our own child we must tailor
the message to them. We must deliver the message so that both parties understand
and also be mindful and respectful.
MATCH WORDS AND ACTIONS: As we learned that majority of effective
communication starts with the person’s body language, first and foremost are they
approachable? After the conversation, it’s also important to follow up and align the
message with our actions.
One of the first times I realized I was having non-effective communication was based
lack of feedback, lack of honesty and emotions.
This was roughly a year ago, my organization was going through a change called the
“Staffing Transformation” where they were rolling out new policies and procedures to
better our service. There was zero communication between the clerks and the
management team with the creation of these new implementations. It was all about
the business aspect of this role out but they forgot to add the human in human
resource.
As these new changes will affect the workers day to day task it’s seemed like a no
brainer to ask for their feedback on implementing these new changes and to see if
there were alternate directions or advice within the team. However, there was only a
one-sided conversation from higher ups and the team was only told when there were
role outs. This was all done due to technical reports generating that these specific
changes would be effective to the entire service spectrum for staffing but, in reality,
on the field when these were rolled out these changes, the reports missed one piece –
the people aspect.
This was a huge role out for the department, and it took months to prepare the
launch and when it launched, it came crashing down. The pilot team, which I was a
part of, were constantly left in the dark, we had lots of questions from the employees
we staff for and we had no answers, there were so many learning curves and not
enough time to either properly train or implement these changes. This resulted in the
launch failing. I had reached out to advise the management team that there was a
lack of communication, the clerks weren’t apart of the conversations, as the workers
performing the new changes, they should be taught properly first and then once
rolled out be followed up on. There was a lack of feedback and the clerks felt
unsupported and didn’t know where they stood if there were performing well enough
or simply communicating that this wasn’t working.
This in the long run, increased turnover and lowered employee engagement with
people who did stay. The way I overcame this barrier issue, was that I became a part
of the management team and I am working on creating and implementing
performance appraisals that can also branch to either developmental plans or
additional training workshops. I felt firsthand as an employee, the effects of lack of
effective communication from the lack of feedback, lack of honesty and emotions.
This has driven me to want to make a change in the current organization that I work
for.