Overcoming Communication Barriers in a Diverse Workplace Strategies for Effective Management

Business Management Tasks As a manager in any industry, communication can have many obstacles. As our society grows, it becomes more complex and diverse. This is not necessarily a bad concept because it could mean having a remarkable team working for my company that is cultured and diversified. Each person would be able to bring something new and innovative to the team. However, as a manager one of the first competencies I should understand and continue to learn is effective communication that would work for each individual and as a whole. Acknowledging the following four barriers of communication will allow me as the manager to become more aware of my staffs needs and understanding their positions. The first barrier to communication that will affect everyone in the department is the physical barrier. Physical barriers can include technical issues such as bad phone connections or having to communicate long distance. It becomes convenient to be able to walk a few feet and have a conversation with an employee, but after the pandemic we find most of us working remotely. In the beginning, we found some of our team not being able to access some systems from their home. This can create many physical barriers. For example, if I need a staff member to process something quickly but I am having trouble reaching them while they are working from home, this could cause issues for our clients. To resolve this, I was able to check in with each employee once a week and verified they had everything they needed to start their week. This also allowed me to have one on one time as well which allowed me to become more focused on the individual rather than constantly focusing on the group. Becoming a manager, I found the personal barrier to communication to be the most complex to comprehend. Personal barriers can involve issues with poor communication skills, multiple personalities, and different opinions, etc. Having a team that comes from various backgrounds and cultures has been exciting but challenging. One issue I have run into is grouping the wrong staff members for department projects. Not understanding each individual's work ethic, knowledge and skills made for these projects to become delayed or even fail completely. To help prevent this situation in the future, I was able to attend a course on how to identify and handle different personalities. This course also helped me understand which personalities work well together. I plan to have my staff members attend the course as well in hopes they can understand which personality they possess and the benefits of it and ways they can work with different people. The third barrier to be aware of is semantic. According to a column on Career Trends website, semantic barriers are the meanings behind the words we speak (Dayton, 2018). Working with a wide range of generations, we are constantly running into miscommunication errors. For instance, having a younger staff member use jargon or slang in the team chat causes confusion amongst my older employees. Another example of a semantic barrier is not being able to communicate face to face. If I send an email to an employee, it is hard to tell how they received the message without seeing their expressions or body language. To resolve both issues, I established a policy that states that slang language is allowed in the office only, not used in online chat. The policy also states that emails sent by me, the manager, will only include simple requests; they will not include personal or crucial matters. If it is urgent, I will set a time for an online meeting or in person. The final barrier to communication I have researched is the process barrier. There are multiple steps to the process of communication. This includes the sender in which encodes the message. Then there is a decoding period in which the receiver will get the message and begin to understand it. I could be the sender, or receiver at any point in time and vice versa for my employees. I recently brought on a new hire and tasked them with a few projects outside of their essential job duties. After the first month, I found one of the projects was lagging and should have been completed by the last day of the month. I spoke with my employee, and she stated that she was uncomfortable asking for assistance because I always seemed too occupied to stop and help her. This is an example of me being the sender, communicating and expressing the wrong message. And in return, the receiver inaccurately perceived the message. After having this conversation, I made it clear to all of my employees that I would be following up with them after assigning a project and giving them the time they need to ask questions and get assistance. In light of this information, I have a better understanding of how to process communication with my employees. Although misunderstandings are inevitable, as a manager it is my responsibility to have the knowledge and skill sets to handle them to the best of my ability. I owe it to my employees to stay well informed on the different barriers of communication.