Purpose

Avoiding communication barriers is a necessity in today’s business world. Not only it is critical to identify if these barriers exist, but also how to remove them or reduce their effect. This activity enables delegates to explore new solutions in overcoming communication and listening barriers.

Objective

In this exercise, delegates identify practical and effective ways to remove communication and listening barriers at workplace.

What You Need

• A flipchart or a whiteboard
• Pen and papers for each delegate

Setup

• Split the group into teams of 3 or 4 people.
• Each team is asked to come up with a practical solution in removing listening obstacles such as:
  • People working in isolated office or environment
  • Dealing with a customer who talks too much
  • Working in a noisy workplace
  • Dealing with a frustrated client
  • Dealing with visual distractions at workplace
• Each team has 10 minutes to come up with at least one solution for each scenario.
• At the end of the activity, one representative from each team writes down their ideas on the board and explains how his or her team came up with the solutions.

Timing

Explaining the Test: 5 minutes.

Activity: 10 minutes

Group Feedback: 20 minutes.

Discussion

Get the group to discuss the solutions offered by other groups and add solutions if necessary. This is particularly useful if delegates have previous experience and can share their stories with the group so that everyone can learn from real-world scenarios.

Ask the delegates what they thought of this exercise? Is it easy to overcome such barriers or does it need training, patience and persistence? What are some good qualities which would help a person to deal with communication barriers?