There are many barriers that get in the way of effective verbal communication. We can help recipients of our spoken communication by recognising and avoiding barriers.
- Actively listen to and acknowledge them to make sure you understand what they are telling you.
- Avoid conflict with them.
- Do not make assumptions about them or their beliefs or feelings on an issue.
- Make sure that background noise does not prevent them hearing the message, e.g., crowd noise, waves, outboard motors.
- Use appropriate tone, emphasis and volume.
- Use language appropriate to their level of language skills and understanding and use other methods of communication if necessary. If you are speaking to a person who has English as a second language, do not use jargon.
