The Importance Of Barriers To Effective Communication

Every speaker hopes that they use the right words to help their listeners gain new understanding and perspective. Unfortunately, there are also many barriers to communication that could prevent the listener from grasping the message in the way it is was intended. Barriers can cause the message to be misinterpreted and misunderstood, which in a business setting could cause much confusion, as well as, loss of time and money. To effectively communicate it is important to understand common barriers of communication, and to avoid using them, so that your communication is presented in a way that is straightforward and to the point. The common barriers to effective communication are use of: clichés, jargon, slang, sexist or racist language, euphuisms, and double speak.

Clichés are clever words or phrases that are often overused, and therefore have lost their effectiveness (McLean, 2010). In every staff meeting, my old boss used to jump on all of us about not cleaning portions of our classrooms well enough, and she would say, “I know not everything on my list of cleaning violations will apply to you, but if the shoe fits, wear it.” I know I got so sick of hearing that dumb cliché, as well as listening to her rant over the same ridiculous “cleaning violations,” that at this point in our meetings I often tuned out. (She let us know if the lines on our carpets from where we vacuumed did not all go in the same direction.) Anyway, in order to effectively