Question

Discuss barriers to effective listening as described in the textbook. Name those barriers and tell whether or not any or all of the barriers you have read about, affect your personal ability to listen effectively. If you feel they do, why? If your thoughts are that they do not, then why tell why not?

Answer 1

Part A)

Mentioned below is the description of barriers to effective listening and its various forms.

Effective communication is a key skill for synergy and work & listening properly is an important aspect of effective communication. The right listening skills can make a big, positive impact on the team and increase productivity.

But poor listening caused by many barriers lead to conflicts and confusions amongst team members & creates an unproductive and negative environment.

Part A & B)

Here are the barriers & effect on my personal ability:

• Excessive Talking - The excess talking aspect is a big barrier to communication & people tend to avoid listening to the ones who speak continuously. This affects my personal ability as I tend to avoid conversations when a person speaks too much. It is important for people to think & analyse before they and practice self-control.
• Prejudice is another barrier to listening & is the preconceived thought or opinion of feeling which is not rational and can break the momentum & spirit of the game. It bothers me the most as everyone must respect each other for his/her knowledge and skills.
• Distractions are the other barriers forms and are classified into physical, mental, auditory and visual. These barriers don't bother me as I tend to be focussed and make communication selective in such cases. It is important to face the person, have right body language, ensure comfort and switch off gadgets etc.
• Another barrier to listening is to expect others to be open to share your beliefs and values: It is important for others to share the beliefs and accept the perspective as it can be unique and value-adding to the situation.
• Misunderstanding is another barrier to effective listening & not being able to hear can lead to confusion. It is important & polite to ask the speaker to clarify certain aspects of communication and can help avoid any confusion. It bothers me as well due to various modes of communication especially virtual misunderstanding is created due to lack of face to face time & clarification hence have to be addressed immediately.
• Interrupting is another barrier to listening & can be caused by improper use of body language or using inappropriate words. This has a huge impact on my personal flow & causes irritation as the audience is not attentive or giving the opportunity to understand or listen to the entire perspective.

Other forms of barriers in listening include:

• Brining in emotions is another major barrier as listener might not be able to function at its optimum level when emotions are stronger.
• Noise is another factor & can impact clear communication. It becomes impossible to focus on conversation in the noise environment.
• Fear is another form of barrier to listening. People who are scared become defensive & are involved in a lot of arguments.

I overall believe that to become effective leaders it is important to have good listening skills as it helps achieve goals and work with more focus & productivity. It has become an important skill in global scenarios & especially working in diverse teams.

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