Understanding the Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communication There are several common barriers to effective communication:

1.     Failure to listen. Most of us want to say something rather than listen to someone else. We sometimes even finish other people’s sentences for them.

2.     Status differences. Rank and status make us listen to some people more closely than we normally would. It also can make us not listen to those of lower status than us.

3.     Psychological size. People with TAKE CHARGE personalities get listened to a lot more than others.

4.    Distractions such as noise or lights or movements cause us to lose focus.

5.     Language barriers. Everything said may not be clear to the receiver. There are approximately twenty-eight (28) different meanings for each word in the English language. Try to put yourself in the other person’s place to determine if your words have a clear meaning to them.

6.     Fear of criticism. Nobody likes to be thought of as not understanding. They claim that they understand when really they don’t.

7.     Jumping to conclusions can occur. Wait until all of the information is received before making a judgment.

8.     Filtering information through our own life experiences can sometimes distort the information that the sender intended us to have.

9.     “Killing the messenger”. This can occur if the message is not a pleasant one. It inhibits people from communicating.

10.   Overloading of information. Sometimes there is simply too much information to process.