{"id":545,"date":"2013-06-26T05:41:05","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T05:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.resourcezoneinternational.com\/?p=545"},"modified":"2019-06-24T01:09:56","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T01:09:56","slug":"removing-communication-barriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/?p=545","title":{"rendered":"Removing Communication Barriers in Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RemovingCommunicationBarriers\"<\/a>So-called \u2018bad\u2019 communication is pretty simple. Bad communication is what happens when you\u2019re not able to get your ideas and feelings through to the other person \u2013 when you\u2019re misunderstood. For example, it\u2019s obvious \u2018bad\u2019 communication has occurred if you ask two people to work together to find a volunteer and you get two volunteers (rather than one).<\/p>\n

In order to overcome bad communication or unnecessary barriers to understanding, you need to have a goal for every important conversation. Making assumptions that others feel, hear and understand things the same as you do can be a sure way to \u2018mess up\u2019 a conversation. We therefore need to be careful not to focus on our own agenda, which is only half of the conversation.<\/p>\n

For effective communication to take place, each person has to understand what the other is saying. At the very simplest level we need to use words which have a common meaning and we should check that meaning. For example, we often use words such as \u2018quickly\u2019, \u2018soon\u2019, \u2018quality\u2019, and so forth, but does the other person apply the same meaning to them as you do? Doing something \u2018soon\u2019 may mean a lot longer for kids than most parents would like. People are often frustrated because what they mean is not what others understand.<\/p>\n

So, ideally you should think very carefully about the words you intend to use and then be specific about what some of the more ambiguous words mean. For instance, \u201cI\u2019d like this done by the end of the day\u201d, or \u201cIf you finish the presentation by Tuesday, I will have time to read it before you deliver it on Wednesday morning\u201d leaves much less room for misunderstanding or confusion about what is being said.<\/p>\n

Things which can create barriers in conversations:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n