Communication Barriers

1898 Words4 Pages

A truly successful leader not only has to master the necessary business skills, the technology that makes a business efficient, but the greatest tool for success is the art of communication, so you can share your ideas and they are understood and carried out using every communication tool available. A common denominator among managers that fail in business and life is as a result of failing to overcome barriers to communication, these are often as a result of a lack of proper communication skills, prejudice, lack of information, a loss of touch, cultural and language differences.

“A national survey conducted by the U.S. Labor Department concluded that 20 percent of all U.S. managers lack effective communication skills” (Gordon, 2000, p. 158).

“Leaders take communications seriously. Many leadership scholars advocate speech lessons and presentations skills for those desiring to share vital messages of vision and purpose to those within their influence. Yet for all the writing and talking, speech classes and seminars on presentation skills, it is astonishing to realize that a mere 7-10% of our normal day is verbal” (Nidert, 1999, pp. 153-154).

Why is it then that we spend all of our time preparing for spoken conversations and no time learning how our nonverbal communications effect how our message is heard, seldom do we consider how our body language affects that message.

“Inconsistency between language and action will cancel out what is said, no matter what is said, no matter how often, loudly, eloquently or clearly spoken. If your speech does not match your behavior, those within your sphere of influence will, over time, begin to discount what you say in favor of what you didn’t say” (Nidert, 1999, p. 155).

“As we fo...

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...A common denominator among managers that fail in business and life is as a result of failing to overcome barriers to communication.

Works Cited

de Janasz, S. C., Dowd, K. O., & Schnieder, B. Z. (2009). Interpersonal Skills in Oragnization. New York: McGraw-Hill/ Irwin .

Dotlich, D. C. (1998). Synergy: Why Links Between Business Units so Often Fail and How to Make Them Work. Oxford: Capstone Publishing Ltd.

Gordon, E. E. (2000). Skill Wars: Winning the Battle for Productivity and Profit. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Jones, T. E. (1999). If It's Broken, You Can Fic It: Overcoming Dysfuction In the Workplace. New York : AMACOM.

Nidert, D. (1999). The Four Seasons of Leadership. Provo: Utah executive Excellence.

Osblad, J. S., Turner, M. E., Kolb, D. A., & M., R. I. (2007). The Organization Behavior Reader. Upper saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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