Barriers to Effective Listening and Strategies to Overcome Them

This assignment discusses the barriers to effective listening and provides strategies to overcome them. Effective listening is considered a key skill for underpinning positive human relationships. The barriers discussed include information overload, differences between thought rate and speech rate, listening from one's own perspective, and taking away from the perspectives of others. The author shares their personal experience with information overload and multitasking and describes the actions they have taken to overcome these barriers. The importance of effective listening in human relationship management is emphasized.

Running head: HUMAN RELATION
HUMAN RELATION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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HUMAN RELATION
Listening is one of the keys for effective communication. Without the capability of
listening effectively, one might easily misunderstand messages. This might result in the
breakdown of the communication and the sender of the messages can become easily frustrated as
well as irritated (Brownell, 2015). Therefore effective communication is considered as the skill
that helps in underpinning all positive human relationships. This assignment would be based on
the barriers of effective listening and a reflective piece would be presented on this aspect.
Three forms of barriers can impede listening. One of them is the information overload as
well as multi-tasking. An individual conducting many of the tasks at the same time might feel
distracted from effective listening as she is concentrating not only on the speech of the speaker
but also equally on the other tasks he or she is carrying out (Scott, 2016). Another barrier is
differences between thought rate and speech rate. Studies suggest that a speaker speaks at 125
words per minute but the brain of the speaker works 400-500 words per minutes. This gives the
brain “free time” to process other information of past incidences within the time. As brain is not
efficient as multi-tasking to a higher degree, missing out information said by the speaker
becomes common. Another barrier is when the listener listens from their own perspectives.
Situations might arise when speakers are revealing information from their perspectives but the
listener might judge the spoken information from their own perspectives thereby increases
chances of conflicts and disappointment (Lloyd et al., 2017). Another barrier is when taking
away from the perspectives of other person. This might occur when the speaker disagrees or
agrees with the speaker rather than listening effectively to provide emotional support. Barrier to
effective listening also arise when they try to provide solution interrupting them when not
wanted, judging the speaker or when shifting the focus from the speakers by stating other

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questions (Reece et al., 2016). All these affect the validation impacting human values, rights and
emotions.
The main barrier that I face is information overload and multitasking. Often during busy
days, I cannot concentrate of the lectures of the class because my brain keeps on processing and
planning the next set of activities that I would need to conduct throughout. Fear of not reaching
my part time job organization on time. The set of task that are left incomplete, the cooking that I
have to do after returning home, the video call that I make to my mother every day, and many
other clouds up my head. All these aspects result in information overload and multitasking and I
miss out on important points said by the lecturer. Constant pings on Facebook, snapchat and
whatsapp and other further add to the deterioration of the activities of brain in retaining
information told by the professor. In order to overcome, I had taken up three specific actions.
Nowadays, I schedule the next time with proper time frame and follow that. This prevents me
from developing tensions about whether /i could attend all of them successfully. Second, I keep
my phone switched of when I enter the class. This prevents me from checking them again and
again. Third, I have engaged in mediation, yoga and mindfulness based theories. These help in
developing self-awareness and self-regulation skills and help me to concentrate on effective
listening.
From the entire discussion, it is seen that effective listening is important part of human
relationship management. An individual should be aware of the types of barriers to effective
listening and develop strategies to overcome them. Smooth communication can help in
preventing conflict and successful teamwork.

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References:
Brownell, J. (2015). Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills (Subscription). Routledge.
Duck S, McMahan DT, 2014, Communication in Everyday Life Retrieved from:
https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=Kcg_AwAAQBAJ&dq=communication+in+everyday+life&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahU
KEwi_w4LX4M7gAhWLtY8KHWf1ArMQ6AEINTAC (Google.co.in)
Lloyd, K. J., Boer, D., & Voelpel, S. C. (2017). From listening to leading: Toward an
understanding of supervisor listening within the framework of leader-member exchange
theory. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(4), 431-451.
Reece, B., & Reece, M. (2016). Effective human relations: Interpersonal and organizational
applications. Cengage Learning.
Scott, L. (2016). Effective Communication Requires Caring, Explaining, Listening, and Living
the Role.