The workplace is a huge gathering of different communication styles.
It is challenging to get along with everyone. It is even harder to explain things to people of all ages. Add to the mix cultural background, education, gender, temperament, and experience. You get solid communication barriers.
When communication fails, you can:
a. Put your head in the sand.
b. Acknowledge and get better in your relationships.
The choice is yours.
Top communication barriers in the workplace
I doubt you have never experienced hiccups when interacting with others.
You may know very well what it means to have a chaotic boss. You work with a colleague who seems never to get it. There is a guy who always hangs out in the kitchen instead of working or a coworker who refuses to come to the office.
What comes to your mind when hearing communication barriers?
The usual suspects are physical environment, language, emotions, or organizational structure. Let’s zoom in for a second.
1. Physical/globalization barriers
The work environment plays a significant role in communication.
Teams used to sit together in open spaces. Yet, distractions are always present. Noise, lack of comfort and control over light, temperature, and spreading viruses made offices less sexy.
The only advantage of an open office was everyone's proximity. You could physically come and ask. That sounds like a luxury nowadays.
After Covid, some jobs shifted to full/part-time home offices. Goodbye, all good teamwork. Teams in hybrid models rarely have all team members in the office. They are often scattered on different floors, locations, or even time zones.
How to compensate for physical absence?
2. Language/cultural barriers
How many of your colleagues are native speakers? The workforce migrates. One place can have many nationalities with different languages.
It is awesome. But it also makes understanding difficult. I still remember an awkward situation. My Brazilian colleague hugged me when we started a project together. He saw it as a welcoming gesture, but I saw it as confusion. Like what?
Language/cultural barriers are:
Different understanding of the meaning
Communication style (polite, direct, etc.)
A different sense of humor
Non-verbal body language
Strong accents
Slang
To dig deeper into cultural differences, use the Hofstede Country Comparison Tool. Compare countries in six dimensions.
You learn which country accepts unequal power distribution (e.g., Turkey in the example). Which country is more individualistic and less reliant on groups (e.g., the UK)? Which country favors competition and performance (e.g., Switzerland)?
It may not answer everything, but it shows cultural differences.
3. Emotions and psychological barriers
How you feel today influences how you communicate. In tough situations, people also tend to feel anger, anxiety, stress, and disappointment and are likely to freeze, fight, or fly.
Imagine you have to deliver feedback. You are nervous about it. Then it is out. The other person gets defensive, hurt, and disrespected. The whole meeting collapses because pride is hurt.
Bad previous experiences are also shared with colleagues. They might have social anxiety or other psychological barriers. Emotional baggage prevents them from listening and being present in conversations.
If only people could wire themselves together. Empathy comes to light with this communication barrier.
4. Organizational barriers
Whatever structure you have at work, whether it is hierarchical, project-based, or teal, there will always be organizational barriers.
Not everyone will be available and within your reach. Remember what George Orwell wrote in his novel Animal Farm?
The sentence is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that proclaim the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite. - dictionary.com
One thing my grandfather taught me years ago was that fair play was not common at work. In companies, you often have to respect statuses. Follow official communication channels and processes to speak up.
Top-down communication creates barriers. Others have no say or chance to contribute. So, when you feel you cannot say a thing or no one is listening to you, that is when you know there are organizational barriers.
We all wish for caring leaders. Yet, in reality, you have little control over the direction and often must follow what others have decided. Oh, well.
5. (hot) Generational barriers
Millennials used to be spoilt kids. Gen X went nuts as they felt they had to entertain them. Now you hear a lot about Gen Z. Millennials are burned out. Gen X is still pushing performance without understanding work-life balance. And Boomers? They are laughing.
Experienced managers do not care about young employees' opinions. They don’t know. Older employees are inflexible, and not tech-savvy.
There are many prejudices and stereotypes against the younger generation or the older generation.
Age is just a number. Or a communication barrier.
One has trouble understanding the other. This leads to silos.
You need to communicate more with the 7 C’s
But more communication does not always equal quality.
Your gut feeling probably tells you that when communication is good, everyone feels satisfied and involved. Easy communication brings people together, lets them work as a team, and builds trust.
In an ideal world, communication solves retention problems and mitigates conflicts. To get closer to the ideal world, consider the 7 C’s of Communication and see where improvement is needed:
Clear
Correct
Concise
Concrete
Coherent
Complete
Courteous
More examples of how to apply the 7 C’s. Leave away barriers and focus on clear, engaging, and accessible communication.
A few more tips to consider
Accept different communication styles. Do not fight against them. People will never be the same.
Utilize the communication channels available. Explore asynchronous communication to ensure effective remote communication
Try to break organizational and generational barriers. Invite different people to work on internal projects. Such as digitalization, training programs, organizing employee surveys, etc.
Get them to talk together. One can learn so much from each other. You are missing out if you are in a silo!