Overcoming the wrong choice of environment in organizations
A wrong medium or an inappropriate medium chosen to convey a message will act as a barrier to communication. In the store, you cannot use a long written note with instructions, while your information about a new product on the market can only be through effective and attractive advertising.
Appropriately complementing one communication medium with another can help overcome the communication barrier caused by the chosen medium. A verbal reminder in person or on the phone followed by a written letter can easily elicit the desired response or anticipated reaction.
Also, by wrong choice of communication medium, for example, two people are interacting and suddenly one of them starts using slang, it will create a barrier for the receiver of the message because he/she may not know the meaning of these words. The same goes for texting on the phone or sending an email, people always use abbreviations and it always leads to miscommunication.
Most of us wish to communicate effectively, but do not fully understand the communication barriers we must face. Because of these barriers, there are many opportunities for something to go wrong in any communication. Competent managers develop an awareness of barriers and learn to deal with them.
How effectively does it happen as a manager, communicate with your superiors, subordinates and colleagues? Do you recognize the barriers to effective communication? Have you learned to deal with them? In the discussion that follows, the main barriers to effective communication in today’s work environment are identified and proven techniques for addressing them are discussed.
The main obstacles to effective communication are: noise, poor feedback, selection of inappropriate media, wrong mental attitude, insufficient or lack of attention to the choice of work, delay in the transmission of the message, physical separation of sender and receiver and lack of empathy or good relationship between sender and recipient.
FACTORS DETERMINING THE OVERCOME OF WRONG ENVIRONMENTAL CHOICES.
1. AGE: Many companies decide to segment the channel by looking at customer demographics, especially age. Many studies regarding the use of social media and real-time messaging such as web chat and text. And there is a belief in many quarters that the older Baby Boomer generation has a stereotypical preference for talking on the phone over the newer digital channels. While those in the middle – Generation X – are happy with using the phone and email, but perhaps not yet fully comfortable with real-time messaging. This is a definite factor in the choice, but not the only one.
2. CONTEXT: In an emergency, when we need a quick response, we pick up the phone, regardless of our demographic. However, if you are then told you will be on hold for 15 minutes and the chat is available, you can hang up and switch to that channel. In contrast, for less time-critical interactions, sending email provides security, so companies must consider why users are contacting them, especially the urgency of their inquiry, when balancing resources between channels.
3. PERSONALITY: Another perspective is to examine how customers’ personality types may drive their preferences for customer service channels. Extroverts, with confident and outgoing personalities, will be happier on the phone and may even enjoy chatting and voicing their opinions to a contact center agent. In contrast, those with reserved and introverted personalities may prefer non-verbal/real-time channels such as email contact for customer service. This means they don’t have to speak to someone and can avoid having to think on their feet when communicating with an agent on the phone. Email gives them plenty of time to think about and convey what they want to say. And they can avoid being put on the spot with tough questions while talking on the phone or in real-time dialogue in text or web chat.
4. TYPE OF BUSINESS: Obviously, it can be difficult to analyze your customer base by persona without asking intrusive questions. However, if you look at the type of business you do, it is possible to get an idea of the type of customers you will attract. The youth fashion retailer will obviously appeal to a different demographic than the over-50s holiday provider. Understand your customers and use this information to help plan your omnichannel strategy. Conduct focus groups and research to help form this picture.
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