you ask someone about their weekend and suddenly they're talking about next
month's vacation plans and now they're using technical medical language you can
barely comprehend did you just say something now before you throw shade
think back to a time when you might have done something similar we can agree that
there's obviously a communication barrier here let's not have that happen
to you I want your skills supercharged so stick
around for part two of our barriers to communication series where we discuss
more surprising reasons why the person you're talking to might not actually
understand what you're saying
What is up Explearners Mary Daphne here of myexplearning.com where we believe
social skills are the key to the good life what's the good life it's where you
call the shots you have a crew you can count on and you're on a mission that
you care about in part one of the barriers to communication two-part
series we talked about some of the most common roadblocks to getting your point
across today we're going to dive into five more ways you might be losing your
audience our goal here is to remove communication
barriers by understanding these barriers you'll equip yourself to be a much more
effective and persuasive communicator the last one is particularly dangerous
and particularly prevalent so I'd love to hear your experiences with it in the
comments below let's get right into it number one lack of enunciation similar
to number five in part one this also has to do with the delivery of your message
enunciation is how cleanly and clearly you're sounding out your words when you
don't enunciate your speech turns to mush your words blend together and
people miss what you're saying so what's the solution slowing down your
speech helps with enunciation but in this instance your focus should really
be on making sure that each word you say is pronounced fully if you watch a news
anchor or a Broadway show or a really good public speaker you'll notice that
they articulate each distinct word some words do naturally blend together like
where are you going today notice how I barely pronounce the are try it again
with clear enunciation where are you going today sounds a bit strange in
those cases it's fine for the words to blend
that's what connected speech is all about but in most cases you'll find that
separating your words helps the listener fully comprehend what you're saying even
if it feels a bit stiff that's worth it to ensure clarity of speech and when you
do it more often you'll start to sound more natural to vague language we've
talked a lot about verbal communication but there are communication barriers in
writing as well the biggest challenge with written communication is that
there's no body language or tone of voice without those cues it can be
really difficult to know how something's being said are they angry sarcastic or
were they just in a hurry when they wrote it so what's the solution the most
important thing in written communication is to be really clear about your tone of
voice if you're frustrated about something it's best to say that if
you're making a joke make sure to say that as well
after the joke of course emojis when appropriate can actually also be a fun
way to lighten up your written text there's nothing like a smiley face or
two to lighten things up the bottom line is just don't leave anything open to
interpretation because you may discover that the recipients interpretation is
very different than your intention and that's where confusion starts three
over-communicating when conveying ideas people often like to err on the side of
more than less which is a mistake when you say things using too many words it's
easy to lose your audience they may become bored or just lose track of what
you're trying to say wordiness also leads to you repeating yourself which
can cause confusion because like didn't they already say that so what's the
solution less is best choose your words thoughtfully and don't repeat yourself
this will ensure only the important stuff gets said it can be helpful to
structure your thoughts using bullet points which ensures each idea is
articulated clearly and more importantly only once don't forget you can always
add to what you said if they have questions but once you say something you
can't take it back for failure to engage it's so easy to launch into your
favorite topic and speak about it straight for 10 minutes but don't assume
it's also your listeners favorite topic while you're talking be on alert for
boredom or loss of focus if someone is bored with what you're saying you're not
getting your message through to them so what's the solution if you discover that
you've lost their attention find ways of making the conversation more interactive
ask their opinions share personal anecdotes or stories to get them fired
up and be authentic it's the more they're encouraged to participate the
more likely they are to follow along alright that brings me to number 10 the
most dangerous of all communication barriers 5 tyrannical talk this last one
is toxic stuff it's at the core of bullying and hateful speech
it is not okay the way this normally plays out is that someone gets on their
soapbox and proceeds to tell the listener what to think this is very
different than expressing an opinion because in this case there's no room for
dissenting opinions it's the speaker's way or the highway this one-sided type
of talking forces the listener to accept what is being said which can be a really
uncomfortable experience in such cases the listener often shuts down mentally
and once the speaker finishes walks away with no intention of comprehension so
what's the solution be respectful and open-minded you're
free to stand by whatever you're saying and don't hesitate to speak with passion
but just make sure you're saying it in a way that really makes it clear that
you're open to other points of view even better once you've spoken your piece ask
for the listeners opinion for all you know they might change your mind
well there you have it the second five barriers to communication so let's
quickly recap what lack of enunciation be sure to sound out your words too big
language be as descriptive as possible particularly in writing three
over-communicating keep it short silly for failure to
engage no yawns don't count as engagement test them asking questions
and five tyrannical talk no one likes a tyrant speak with an open mind and
you'll be far more persuasive the biggest takeaway here is that
effective communication is an active process it requires you to be aware of
not only what you're saying but how you are saying and to whom you are saying it
it's a two-way street with some give and some tick if you do it right your
listeners will hear you out and respect what you have to say at the end of the
hey if the topic is something you feel strongly about there's nothing more
important than being heard so be sure to take a generous open-minded approach to
ensure that the audience actually listens to what you have to say well
that's it for today Explearners add these strategies to your communication toolkit
try them out and make them your own and be sure to check out the blog article
over at myexplearning.com to review the concepts that we discussed in this
video today if you enjoyed this lesson like comment and share it really helps
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Explearners I will see you in my next lesson Happy Explearning