It has been known that there are 12 barriers to effective communication. These barriers are said to be the main causes of failing relationships. Among the 12, seven barriers provide great intensity as a communication barrier. These are criticizing, labeling, diagnosing, praising, ordering, threatening and questioning. Nonetheless, one should also focus in improving communication skills.
Criticizing deals with judgmental states. Commonly, this barrier reflects negative comments. With this, criticisms can easily pull one’s self-esteem down. There are the usual negative comments such as, “You’re wrong” and “You’re not very good at…” Even as simple as pointing out physical flaws such as having dry skin, acne-prone face and overweight body may be considered as criticisms.
People should know that there is no such thing as a common “right way”. There are times when something is right for a certain person but wrong to another one. We all know that criticism may improve people’s ability to adapt with changes. Nonetheless, problems are taken note off. You must avoid acquiring this barrier in order to support the relationship you are building.
Labeling is simply putting names. It’s like calling your best enemy as “jerk” or calling obnoxious behavior of your officemate as silly. This is one of the barriers of communication that allows one to categorize people. The characteristics that you think is fit for another may destroy the other person’s reputation. There is also times that labeling take away the right of a person to be unique.
Diagnosing is said to be a complex barrier of communication. People are inevitable to act like psychologists. They tend to look in the person’s face and then issue a diagnosis regarding what they just saw. Some phrases that entail the diagnosing and barrier of communication is, “You are just jealous”, “you need to be happier” and “stop trying to antagonize me”. With all these, you may now conclude that diagnosing somewhat labels and reads the person’s behavior.
Praising may give the reason of the children nowadays of being reward-conscious. With this, people tend to work due to the fact that there is a reward. Ordering, on the other hand, deals with controlling statements to make people work. Negative comments such as “Go and do the work” and “stop complaining” may fall under this barrier.
Threatening is a bit the same with ordering. However, a threat involves punishment. If the person does not do the task, he/she will be punished. Lastly, questioning may sound positive. Nonetheless, rhetorical questions that challenge the good quality of relationship may sprout. It is essential to screen out questions in order for some questions that may damage the relationship not to come out.
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