Communication Blocker

In today’s global business world, communication is of paramount importance which binds people together and facilitates meaningful exchange of thoughts and information.

A communication blocker is something which can create a divide between people and can impede the flow of effective communication. Communication blocker can create a loss of enthusiasm to communicate and can many times completely break the communication between people. Very often people end up using communication blockers in their communication; sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. Communication blockers can really create a wall between people and create immense emotional distress.

Hence, it is extremely important to become aware about the various communication blockers so that we can avoid them in all respect and will never allow them to affect our communication in a negative way. Get to know more about communication blockers with the best PMP certification to get the most out of them.

Some of the important communication blockers include:

1. Accusing

Blaming someone and making someone feel guilty is a sure shot way of creating a negative atmosphere and this can surely block open communication.

2. Judging

Judging someone too quickly and passing on a verdict about them as being 'bad' or 'good' will easily lead to a feeling of 'insecure' and 'inferior' in the minds of people and can lead to loss of communication.

3. Insulting

It is important to manage one’s anger and temper. No matter what, we should not be using our temper in a negative way and end up insulting someone.

4. Diagnosis

Many times there will be a need to diagnose the validity of information provided by someone, especially from some experts. This can be a very sensitive thing to do. It must be done with adequate research and care. Otherwise, we may end up hurting the sentiments of the people whose information we are trying to validate.

5. Sarcasm

Sarcasm is one of the worst kinds of behavior we can use. This is a sure shot way to push people back into their shell. This creates a feeling of extreme disrespect. It has all the potential to completely breakdown the communication. By being courteous we can win people’s trust and get things done.

6. Globalizing

Using extreme words such 'Always', 'Never', 'Absolutely Not' etc. have the potential to create a wall between people. It is important to involve and engage people in communication. Hence, such strong words should not be used.

7. Threats or Orders

Ordering or threatening someone by using one’s power of position is one of the most negative way of engaging with people. It is important to be understanding in a team environment.

8. Interrupting

Frequent interruptions to a person can surely create a negative feeling in his/her mind and that person can retreat himself/herself from the conversation. Hence, interruption should be done for genuine clarifications only.

9. Changing the subject

Suddenly changing the topic of conversation will also have a similar impact of making the other person feel as if you are not interested in a conversation, leading to retreating from communication. Hence, one needs to be careful not to suddenly change the subject.

10. Calling for reassurance

In a meeting, if one of the team members shared some crucial information, and you try to get this validated and reassured from others in the meeting immediately, then the person who shared this information may end up feeling very uncomfortable. If there will be a need for reassurance, it should be done in private.

Conclusion

Communication is the only way we can effectively engage with people and exchange our views and thoughts. Communication is between two minds and two hearts. It involves a lot of emotion.

Communication blockers described above are some of the most common yet most destructive sins of communication we may end up committing. Hence, we need to be careful and conscious about avoiding the above communication blockers at all costs.