Table of Contents
Overcoming Physical Barriers
To overcome physical barriers within the workplace, here are some helpful hints:
- If you send a lot of email or digital messages, make sure you are surgical in your word choice. Choosing the correct words and stamping out ambiguity is the only step to making communication more effective. Face-to-face communication is far superior to most people, especially once the connection has already been made.
- Open-concept offices are designed to improve workflow and communication. This concept have grown rapidly over the last decade. A report outlining 6 design meta-trends for 2014 by Gensler, states, “As organizations recognize the benefits of face-to-face interaction, ‘getting everyone under one roof’ will grow.
- Video conferencing adoption is increasing as enterprises turn to higher-quality, lower-cost video technology to improve workforce collaboration and reduce reliance on travel.
Overcoming Cultural Barriers
To overcome cultural barriers within the workplace, here are some helpful hints:
- Determine whether a specific behaviour or attribute is a requirement of the job. There are some cultural differences with your employees that you just have to accept and not try to change if you want your employees to perform well. However, there also are some cultural issues that are relevant to your business and to which employees of a different culture will have to adapt to if they are going to succeed in the work culture.
- Identify whether or not you can reasonably accommodate the cultural difference. Some cultural differences – such as an employee’s willingness to confront her boss – can be accommodated by slightly altering the expectation or changing the circumstances of the situation. For example, some cultures are not responsive to stern feedback, but they are receptive to less direct insinuations regarding their performance. If you ask your employees they will tell you how best to communicate with them without violating their cultural norms.
- Determine how best to accommodate the cultural difference. Some cultures are group-centric rather than individually focused. In such cases praising an individual for their effort, rather than recognizing the entire group, can create contention among the group and embarrassment for the individual, thereby decreasing the employee’s performance instead of enhancing it. Likewise, giving someone negative feedback in public, even if it is not severe, can have a detrimental effect on employees of certain cultures. Being sensitive to and aware of the unique cultural differences of your employees will help you determine where you need to alter your management style or practices.
- Learn about other cultures. There are numerous excellent books and articles on cultural diversity in your local bookstore or library. The internet is a valuable tool for unlimited resources explaining the differences in cultures. There is no excuse for your not understanding the cultural issues of your employees when you have so much information literally at your fingertips.
- Ask your employees for insight into how best to manage them. If you show an open and honest willingness to learn and to adjust your management practices, most of your employees will tell you how to accommodate their cultural needs if you ask them.
Overcoming Language Barriers
To overcome language barriers within the workplace, there are a few things you can do:
- Translate all relevant documents into the primary language of your employees. There are several free websites that translate text from one language to another. However, you have to be careful since the translation is not always in the exact same dialect as that of your employees. Also, sometimes the meaning of a word used in written translation does not always correspond to the meaning you wish to convey in your work documents.
- Use an interpreter whenever you give instructions or provide feedback to your employees. There may be someone in your organization who speaks both languages fluently enough to convey your message to your employees. Find someone who you trust to translate your instructions and feedback properly.
- Provide language classes for your employees on the basic language requirements for your business. Teach them work words, phrases, warnings, and other critical communication elements that are necessary for them to perform to your performance standards. Teach the basics first. Give all of your employees a “survival” crash course in the predominant language of your workplace. Later, if you have the desire and the resources, you can provide additional opportunities for your employees to learn the language skills they need in order to “thrive” in the workplace.
- Use both telling and showing methods of training. Simplify your training methods, particularly those that rely heavily on telling versus showing. Demonstrate what you want and then have the employees perform the function as you observe their performance. Re-demonstrate as often as needed until the employees can perform the task successfully.
- Use visual methods of communication more than audio. Show more than tell. Explain it with pictures as much as possible. Take a lesson from the airlines in how they convey their safety instructions. Use pictures in your instruction manuals rather than words. Almost every step in every process can be described in picture format. Give your employees signs, cue cards or other methods to help them learn.
- Use repetition. As with any new concept, most people don’t learn something the first time they hear it. Employees need to hear the same message over and over before they fully grasp it. Don’t expect people to learn anything after being told once. This is true of all of your employees whether they have a language barrier or not.
- Never raise your voice or over-enunciate your words. Talk slower, not louder. Speak clearly, not forcefully. People of a different language and culture can hear fine. They probably also are intelligent enough to grasp what you are saying if you intelligently deliver your message without talking down to them. Don’t speak “Pidgin English.” Speak correct English the correct way, just more clearly. People cannot learn the language right if you don’t speak it right.
- Use simpler words with fewer syllables. Be aware of the complexities of your words. Use more common words that convey your message in simpler terms. Again, don’t talk down; just use a less complex vocabulary.
- Learn the basics of your employee’s language. If you want to communicate effectively and build rapport with your employees you should consider learning a few words and phrases in their language. Nothing sends the message that you value the diversity of your employees more than your willingness to learn from them. Have them teach you how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and other important pleasantries you can use in your interactions with them.
- Have the employee demonstrate their understanding. Don’t assume the employee understands; check for understanding. Ask the employee to demonstrate that they know how to do what you have asked them to do.
Overcoming Perceptual Barriers
To overcome perceptual barriers within the workplace, there are a few things you can do:
- The audience may make assumptions about you or the situation; perhaps you are new to the organization, or the situation is a challenging one. To get your message past these barriers, provide evidence to support your claims and enhance your credibility.
- Effective communication relies on being aware of nonverbal aspects of interactions with others. It is equally important to be aware of one’s own nonverbal behaviours and be sensitive to how they may be perceived. For instance, maintaining eye contact when communicating indicates interest. Staring out the window or around the room is often perceived as boredom or disrespect.
Overcoming Interpersonal Barriers
To overcome interpersonal barriers within the workplace, here are some helpful hints:
- Use simple words to convey the message. To have an effective process of interpersonal communication, you have to simplify the language. Everyone hates to decipher spoken words, reserve the deciphering to the writing and when speaking, keep it simple and easy to understand.
- Learn the art of listening. A person will always try to get his opinions across first before listening to the other person’s point of view. To improve interpersonal communication, listen both attentively and proactively.
- Keep composure while communicating. The process of interpersonal communication is more effective if emotions are kept at bay. Keeping your composure while talking or negotiating with a business partner will keep you on the right track towards your goal.
- Provide constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is perhaps the best sign that you are communicating with the other person on a more personal level. Both the sender and receiver of communications may use feedback for effective interpersonal communication.
Overcoming Gender Barriers
To overcome gender barriers within the workplace, here are some helpful hints:
- Educate Team About Gender Bias. Bias is embedded in stereotypes and organizational practices that can be hard to detect, but when people are made aware of it, they see possibilities for change.
- Create Safe “Identity Workspaces”. Companies should encourage women to build communities in which similarly positioned women can discuss their feedback, compare notes, and emotionally support one another’s learning. Identifying common experiences increases women’s willingness to talk openly, take risks, and be vulnerable without fearing that others will misunderstand or judge them.