Communication Breakdowns & How They Affect Us

Breakdowns in communication just happen. Hey, we're human.

Communication breakdown can be the source or the result of conflict, but it is also important to recognize that a lack of conflict can also be a sign of communication breakdown. Inadequate training, misunderstandings, differing backgrounds, or lack of respect can all be causes of communication breakdown. The results of communication issues include withholding information, loss of trust, reduced cooperation, reduced productivity, reduced creativity, personal attacks, sabotage, complaints, or team breakup.
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What is unfortunate, however, is how these breakdowns affect our relationships, both business and personal. The fact is, because most of us were never taught how to communicate in a way that produces desired results, we continue to experience frustration, resistance, conflicts, or breakdowns in our communication. Some of the obstacles that may prevent you from reaching certain objectives during the communication process are:-

-We want to be heard, but we don't always pay attention to the quality of our message.
-We want to be understood, yet we only assume that our communication was successful.
-We want others to agree with us and we often become consumed with having to be right, that we forget to listen to others.
-We want an action or response from the others, but we do not let them know what we really want or how to achieve it.
-We want to understand the message that the other person is communicating to us, yet our ability to listen is tainted by our perceptions of the person speaking and by the outcome we are looking to achieve. So, we often pass judgment on the speaker, evaluating the messenger rather than fully accepting the entire message.

Evolving your communication skills requires taking full responsibility for the outcome of each conversation, responsibility for what you say and for the message that the other person is hearing. Since we all listen and process information differently, it is crucial to uncover and to become sensitized to the other person's style of communication in order to align it with our own.