Four Barriers to Effective Communication
Why does communication so often go wrong? Here are the top four reasons for breakdowns in communication:
1. Poor Listening Skills. Poor listening skills top the list when it comes to barriers to communication. Poor listening skills can result from:
* Lack of involvement with the other person or the topic at hand: you just don’t care enough to listen.
* Distractions in the environment such as excessive noise or activity.
* Disagreement with the speaker, resulting in mentally “shutting off” the other person.
* Passive listening rather than active involvement with the speaker.
2. Assumptions. There are many assumptions we make while communicating with others. For instance, you might think that you know what the other person is going to say, so you simply “leave” the conversation.