Communication within an organisation is fundamental to a business’s growth and success. Without good communication, reduced productivity, subpar work standards, and diminishing staff morale are bound to happen. For this reason concerned companies conduct team buildings and conducive corporate events every once in a while.
Identifying communication barriers in the workplace is the first step to improving your organisational communication. Barriers can be emotional, psychological, or physical, but regardless of type, they can all possibly create unwanted rifts and tensions the same way.
Read and analyse if any of these barriers are present in your organisation.
1. Not Listening Enough
Poor listening is one of the most common communication barriers in the workplace. Effective communication is a two-way street and nothing will work out if the other party is not listening attentively. Some of the reasons why poor listening occurs is the person’s disinterest, indifference, or getting distracted by other matters. When you are not listening enough, it may lead to misinterpreted information. To overcome this, remind your employees to not interrupt when someone is speaking, listen attentively, and ask for clarifications when needed.
2. Body Language
Your body language and gestures may be interpreted differently by the other party. Sometimes, your actions don’t coordinate with what you are trying to say, which may unintendedly convey mixed sort of signals to your listeners. Teach your employees the importance of making sure that their actions are communicating a message of attentiveness, acceptance, and friendliness. Remind them to maintain eye contact when they are speaking or listening. Also, be careful of gesturing any negative actions such as shaking their heads, crossing their arms, and furrowing their brows.
3. Perception
Everyone sees and understand things differently and every employee has different ways of handling and managing their given tasks at work. Therefore it is important to be receptive and respectful about other people’s opinions, viewpoints, and most of all, cultures.
4. Stress in the Workplace
In the modern workplace, stress is inevitable and it can greatly impact workplace communication in one way or another. Stress can result to attitude changes and lack of focus, which can both contribute to unhealthy communication habits. It’s important to teach your employees how to manage stress in the workplace so they can maintain effective communication with one another.
5. Assumptions
We all know how unhealthy assumptions can go about. Most often than not, it leads to conflicts. However, people still usually make assumptions, thinking that this might speed up their work process. The thing is this, it actually does more harm than there should actually be. Avoid assuming at all cost and cultivate a culture of open communication.
In order to overcome these barriers and promote effective communication in the workplace, having regular conversations and building strong bonds within your organisation is vital. That’s whyteam building sessions are so great in uniting employees together, so they can work on their communication skills, get to know one another better, and most importantly, have fun together! Email us at hello@teammusic.co to learn more about our different fun-filled music-themed activities that is guaranteed to give you and your employees an awesome great time!
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