Bariers to Communication

UNDERSTANDING BARRIERS THAT EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATION FOR STUDENTS ON PLACEMENT

Efective communication is where a message is sent and recieved with little distortion.If your message has not been understood clearly this causes a barrier to communication. This can be caused by a number of things these can be physical, phscological or natural. In many circumstances non-verbal communication can help to improve effective communication and overcome some of the barriers. One of the best ways to do this is by using eye contact: it shows that you are in interested in others and will help your credibility, as well as improving effective communication.
Facial expressions are also good for messages for example, smiling helps people to react in your favour and want to listen to you.
Gestures can improve communication, gestures help others to understand what you are saying (e.g., pointing to a toilet door can show people the way to the toilet) gestures can also make people more interested in what you are saying
Body postures can express a great deal of communication you communicate by the way you talk and move. For example, leaning forward shows you are interested and others find you more approachable, whereas looking away as you speak with your body faced in the opposite direction to others can indicates a lack of respect or interest.
Do not forget how important listening is in communication, communication is about the ideas and information passed and received by you and others. Active listening is one of the best ways of overcoming the barriers to communication.
Communication can be blocked by alot of things 3 of the main ways are if 1. The reciever cannot hear/see or recieve the message. 2. If the reciever cannot make sence of the message. 3. The message is missunderstood.

* Encoding Barriers is selecting and arranging symbols to represent a message which will require good skills and knowledge. Barriers listed below can get in the way of effective messages. * Lack of Sensitivity to Receiver When a message is not altered correctly for its receiver it can cause a breakdown in communication. If you know what the receiver needs, their background, their knowledge of the subject and their language skills this will help you achieve successful message being sent. For example if a customer is angry, a good way to respond may be just to listen to the person, show empathy so you will be able to get the information that you need * Lack of Basic Communication Skills. The listener is less likely to understand the message if you have trouble choosing the correct words needed you will have to ensure the language is correct for the message to be understood. * Insufficient Knowledge of the Subject. If the sender misses out an important part of the information because they do not have the knowledge of the subject you are discussing the listener will likely receive an unclear or mixed message. To overcome this ensure that you have all the knowledge needed when talking to a service user about a specific subject. * Information Overload. If you send a message with too much information a barrier may be caused because the person receiving the message may feel that you talk too fast for them to recognise the message in full. Using the correct speed will allow the listener to take in what is being said and respond if necessary rather than trying to remember what was said and getting confused.

* Emotional Interference. An emotional user may not be able to communicate well. If someone is angry, hostile, resentful, joyful, or fearful, they may be concentrating more on their emotions than what has been said to them. To overcome this try using empathy(empathy is to put yourself in the users position and try imagine how you would feel in that position),also ensure that you leave enough time for pauses in between what you are saying so it allows the user to talk if they want to. * Transmitting Barriers: Things that get in the way of message transmission are sometimes called “environmental” Communication may be difficult because of noise and some of these problems:

1. Physical Distractions. * Verbal you are trying to talk to a depressed service user there will be a lot requirements such as a peaceful environment, patience and trust etc. e.g. you go into a room with a service user to discuss important matters when you realise that there was a Christmas party fr users and family in the next room the service user may find it difficult to listen to you , concentrate what they are saying or even unsure to talk in case they are overheard, to overcome this ensure that environmental noises will not affect the discussion that you need to have. * Non verbal. If an E-mail or letter is not formatted properly, or if it contains grammar and spelling errors, the receiver may not be able to concentrate on the message because the appearance of the letter or E-mail may look unprofessional.to overcome this try asking your supervisor/manager/colleagues if you are unsure whether an email/letter looks correct to overcome this ensure that you have been trained correctly how the company presents their work to others through letters or emails, spellcheck your work before sending to anyone.

2. Conflicting Messages. Messages that cause conflict perception for the receiver may result in communication to be incomplete. For example, if a person constantly uses jargon or slang to communicate with someone from another country who has never heard such expressions, or think that it means something else mixed messages are sure to result.to overcome this ensure that there are no slang/jargon used towards other people Another example of conflicting messages might be if a supervisor requests a report immediately without giving the report writer enough time to gather the right information. The report will not be to the best that it could because the writer may concentrate on the time that there is left to complete the report rather than the accuracy of the data gathered for the report. to overcome this talk to your manager and explain that there will not be enough time to complete the report if the deadline is too early.

3. Channel Barriers. If you choose an inappropriate channel of communication, communication may stop. Detailed instructions presented over the telephone, for example and how it may be overcome. It may be frustrating for both communicators because if they were talking one to one maybe pictures can be shown as a way to help them understand. If you are training a new member of staff to use the services computer system it may help if you are actually at a computer doing the steps yourself as you tell the member of staff the directions, as opposed to thinking in your head and getting the stages of the process mixed up .

4. Long Communication Chain. There is a greater chance of error in communication the longer the communication chain is if a message is passed through too many people the message often becomes distorted. If a person starts a message at one end of a communication chain of ten people, for example, the message that eventually returns is usually liberally altered. (like the game Chinese whispers)the message usually gets mixed up by the time it has reached the attended person.to overcome this I would pass the message on myself /use the least people necessary or even write a note or email them directly.

Decoding Barriers. The communication cycle may break down at the receiving end for some of these reasons:

1. Lack of Interest. If a message reaches a reader who is not interested in the message, the reader may read the message hurriedly or listen to the message carelessly. Miscommunication may result in both cases. To overcome his barrier try making it sound more interesting to the listeners by changing the pitch of your voice to emphasise words which will attract the listeners attention.

2. Lack of Knowledge. If a receiver is unable to understand a message, communication will break down, for example, you are asked to store a report on a patient to the correct folder the user may have difficulty saving work to the correct place it should be saved to if they are not familiar with the process of doing it. To overcome this make sure that there has been enough training given for the task to be carried out.

3. Lack of Communication Skills. People who have weak reading and listening skills usually make information ineffective for the receivers. On the other hand, those who have a good professional vocabulary and who concentrate on listening, have less trouble hearing and interpreting good communication. Many people plan out who is talking and rehearse what they are going to say.

4. Emotional Distractions. If emotions interfere with the creation and transmission of a message, they can also disrupt reception. If you receive a report from your supervisor regarding proposed changes in work procedures and you do not like your supervisor, you may feel like not even reading the report. You then may read to find fault. You may misinterpret words and read between the lines, this will cause you to misunderstand part or all of the report. To overcome this think professionally and not think about who actually wrote it but what it actually says

5. Physical Distractions. If a receiver of a communication works in an area with bright lights, glare on computer screens, loud noises, excessively hot or cold work spaces, or physical ailments, that receiver will probably experience communication breakdowns on a regular basis. this is because instead of concentrating on what is being said you will be concentrating on the distractions around you for example you are in an important meeting and you feel a bit cold and the window across the other side of the room is open all you can think about is if someone would close the window, thinking that will then distract you from what is actually being said in the meeting.to overcome ensure that you look around and see whether you are going to be disturbed or even close an opened window and reopen if needed

Responding Barriers—the communication cycle may be broken if feedback is not successful.

1. No Provision for Feedback. Since communication isn’t a one way process, the sender must think of how they can get a response from the receiver. If a team leader does not allow any interruptions or questions while discussing, they could find that others may not completely understand what they are to do. Face-to-face oral communication is considered the best type of communication since feedback can be both verbal and nonverbal. When two communicators are separated, care must be taken to ask for meaningful feedback.

2. Inadequate Feedback. Delayed or judgmental feedback can interfere with good communication. If your supervisor gives you instructions in long, difficult sentences without giving you a chance to speak, you may pretend to understand the instructions just so you can leave the stress of the conversation. Because you may have not fully understood the intended instructions, your performance may suffer.

Here are some barriers that may reduce effective communication and the effects that they may have and how to overcome them.

You may come in contact with people who use english as a second language which means that they use a different language for everyday life to what you may use to communicate, it will be hard to get the message through to the other person if their english isnt as good as yours as they will not understand what you are saying.To over come this you can use an interpreter, an interpreter is someone who translates words in one language to a different language this would be effective because you will be able to understand the person talking by asking the interpreter to repeat what they said but in english and the other way round.
If for some reason that the interpreter is unavailable try using the picture cards for example; you sart your shift and realise that there is a new member of the groupwhich doesnt use english as a first language you greet them with a smile and you could show them a picture of a cup of tea ten giving them 2 cards one with a tick and one with a cross so that they can help you by answering with the cards (picture from clip art)
Allow the service user to draw you a picture if needed this will help you understand what their needs are .
Jangon/slang Slang is casual spoken language which changes from dialectical speech and jargon as well as formal speech. Slang is often unique, unusual, and sometimes startling and is not used in formal speech or in writing.
This can cause a barriers in communication because words can have different meanings in different parts of the world, to overcome this ensure that the correct language is spoken at all times to prevent people feeling upset by words they think mean something else

Here you will come across people with mental health issues this could be some kind of depression , this will cause a barrier as people with depression may close up and find it hard to say how they feel they may find that eye contact is to mush at the first stage as they dont know you.To overcome this barrier you can try to talk calmly and be patient as they may need time to be able to trust you,in some cases this may take longer than others but being patient will help them open up to you. Empathy is a good way to do this (emapthy is to put yourself in their situation).

Ther are lots of dissabilities that can cause communication barriers one in which is most common is people with impared hearing this causes a barrier because the person who revieves the message may not quite hear the message and as we said at the begining of this booklet one of the main ways for barriers to be caused is if the message sent is recieved but missunderstood.To overcome this barrier, if the person is wearing an earing aid make sure that it is turned on, as if it was not on they will have difficulty hearing what is being said.another way to overcome an hearing imparement could be to use subtitles on the television or making sure you talk in a normal tone of voice speaking clearly for them to understand you .

Stereotyping is another barrer to communication
Stereotyping is when you hold ideas about individuals and thinking what they are like before you actually know them e.g.(he is wearing an hearing aid he must be deaf) like judging a book by its cover, just because the book hasn’t got a colourful, attractive or exciting picture it doesn’t necessarily mean that the service user is deaf it may mean that they find it difficult to hear and not totally deaf. You can overcome stereotyping as a barrier by not judging someone before you know them.