My Interpersonal and Written Communication Skills

reduce impact of barriers to communication

TASK 3b – Reduce the impact of communication barriers

 

1. General communication barriers

 

Knowing the audience

Research who the audience is before the presentation takes place. Ensure you are clear of what age they are and their ability is. Make sure that anybody who may suffer from a disability has full and easy access to the presentation and the room and the presentation is suited to their disability. E.g a person with a visual impairment should be seated at the front of the room.

Use clear language

Make sure that the language used is understandable to their ability. Do not use acronyms unless full word is presented with the acronym. Some people may not understand what the acronym means.

Preparation

Research into when and where the presentation is taking place to avoid a run in with something. There are more ways of reducing the barriers of communication whilst in the presentation by doing small things that will make a difference.

1. Interpersonal communication barriers

 

Interpersonal communication barriers come up people face barriers when speaking face to face to someone. 

Reducing lack of concentration and boredom barriers

Boredom is a typical example of a barrier that can happen very easily. When people are bored in a presentation they are less likely to listen. A way of making sure that the audience stays alert is to engage with them. Engage in different ways such as;

• Engage with the use of questions, open, closed and probing questions should be used here as it will make the audience more alert if they are answering questions.
• Let the audience take part, this can be done with questions or having a quiz
• Something which will keep the audience guessing and listening is group discussion
• Restrict the use of technology such as the internet, computers and mobile phones when your  presentation is taking place – as this could be a distraction.
• Use a different format of presenting the  essage then normally. Use YouTube videos, slideshows and an interactive white board to keep the audience interested and reduce boredom of just talking all the time.
• Use different tones and pitch in your voice so the audience can sense the change in your voice and stay interested.

1. Written Communication Skills communication barriers

 

Reducing the barriers in written communication. There are many ways in which this can be reduced such as:

• Proof reading the work before it is sent on to the next person – this will help to pick up errors that may not be obvious to the writer.
• When writing documents, emails, texts and reports make sure to take your time and spend extra time making sure it is right.
• Get others to check that they understand it before giving it to the intended person.  This is checking that the intended mean is clear to the reader.
• Use heading and subheadings to indicate what the paragraph is about.  This will help to keep the reader interested and let them know what the document is about.
• Use of bullet points and numbering can be used to summarise information or for lists of things.  It is quicker to read than lots of paragraphs and can get the point across much quicker.  It will help to keep the readers attention.
• Written documents should be well presented with consistent fonts and sizes so that it looks professional to the reader.

 

WORD COUNT: 556

Barriers to Communication

 

TASK 3a – Barriers of communication

1. General
    

Dialect

Two people who speak the same language fluently but have widely different accents and dialects can find barriers when communicating with each other. Where one person will understand what they are saying, the other person might find it hard to understand what they are saying due to their accent and the dialect they are speaking with.

Cultural Differences

Different cultures express their views and communicate differently. They will have certain social taboos (bans or forbids) when communicating, so it can sometimes be difficult to communicate between cultures without causing offense or talking in a way that the other person does not understand what you are saying due to the way their culture usually communicates.

 

1. Interpersonal
    

Hearing
Someone who is hard of hearing might cause a potential barrier to effective communication for themselves. If they cannot understand or hear what is being said properly, then they will be unable to understand the point that the speaker is trying to get across, which will be a barrier to effectively communicating.

Use of Slang

Use of slang and other region specific terminology can cause a barrier to effective communication. When two people from different regions or countries communicate, they can use slang and jargon specific to their region which can cause confusion in their communication.

 

1. Written Communication Skills

 

Reading & Writing

The ability to read and write is important for effective communication. When a person cannot read or write in fluent English(or any language they are reading in), it becomes difficult to understand what is being written and the point the writer is trying to get across in their writing.

Languages

Differing languages can be a barrier to communicating effectively. When writing whether it be email or social media or even a presentation, writing in another language can become difficult and strained as no one else will understand what it is you are trying to get across as they cannot read this language.

 

WORD COUNT: 547

 

Principles of Effective Communicatioon

TASK 2 – Principles of effective communication

1. General
2. Interpersonal
3. Written Communication Skills

 

General Skills

Cultural Differences

Within communication in the I.T industry, there are many different cultural differences and languages which are used. These can have an effect on communication and can be very confusing. It is important that you are clear with your voice and language and that you think of the needs of others. This also applies for accents, as different accents can pronounce words differently to yours. This is why it is important to be clear with your voice, because if you are not you may offend someone, not get your point across or be quite difficult to understand.

Questions and Answers

Within communication in the I.T industry, question and answer sessions are important. They are important because they allow you to gain information and have a better understanding of the person you are communicating with. however it is important to know what questions to ask and when to ask them, as asking questions which are not related to the subject can be meaningless. An example of a good question is if someone was confused with an assignment they needed to hand in, they could ask someone some questions which would help them out with their work. It is also important to give reliable and relevant answers, as deceptive information can have negative effects or consequences.

 

Interpersonal Skills

Positive and Negative Language

Within communication in the I.T industry, it is important that your language is positive and not negative. Positive language is required to be more productive in the workplace, as this will give you a more positive attitude towards both yourself and your colleagues. Negative language should not be used, as you will not be able to perform to your potential. This also means that both you and your colleagues will have a negative opinion on you. You may also need to deal with negative language sometimes, so it is important that you act positively towards this behavior and keep calm.

Barriers

WORD COUNT: 417

Within communication in the I.T industry, it is important that you understand your barriers. Barriers are anything which inhibits or stops your ability to perform a task or presentation. Common barriers include background noise, hearing problems, physical inhabitations and low vocal projection. These can be avoided by making sure that background noise is reduced to a minimum, you raise your voice to compensate for hearing problems and you make sure that no one has their back turned to you.

Written Communication Skills

Email, Social Media and Blogs

• Within communication in the I.T industry, Email, Social Media and Blogs play a big part in communication. They allow many, many people to communicate with each other on regular bases with relative ease. Email is used mostly for communication between company’s, businesses and work colleagues. This is useful to them because it allows them to communicate privately between each other and send files and documents.
• Social media is mostly used for communication between friends and family. This is useful to them because it allows them to communicate effectively and allows them to stay in touch with each other.
• Blogs are used for communication between anyone. This is useful because it allows anyone to make an online discussion or topic and have others comment and create new posts for that subject, expanding the mind of the users.
   

Spelling and Grammar

Within communication in the I.T industry, spelling and grammar are essential to your success. Spelling and grammar are important because it allows the viewer of your work to read and understand it effectively and correctly. Incorrect spelling and grammar can cause problems and sometimes it can cost someone’s job. To make sure you follow correct spelling and grammar, proofread your work before you send it to someone else for viewing.