You know how to communicate. Communication seems easy because we do it since the day we are born. But when we look closely, there are many potential barriers.
Most people neglect these barriers. Then they stumble and get stuck while trying to reach their goal.
Which barriers for communication did you experience? How did you jump over these barriers?
Is your message heard and understood? Does your target audience agree with you? If you don’t answer these simple but crucial questions, your communication efforts are doomed to fail.
OUR CASE OF SIMONA: stumbling over barriers for communication
One-way communication does not result in understanding
When Simona gave speeches and lectures about the value of nature and the need to protect it, she did not check if her message was heard, understood and agreed. Her message was: ‘Our beautiful park is being threatened by many people: the visitors, the mountaineers, the hunters, the campers. And nobody is helping us to protect it: neither the municipality, the local community or the police. If you do not change your behavior, our nature will be destroyed.’
What the audiences heard, were accusations: ‘You behave wrong. You fail to help’. The audiences reaction was defensive: ‘we don’t do anything wrong, other people behave wrongly!’
Simona reacted by pushing the same message harder. As result, the audiences became more defensive. The people even became hostile. Conflicts between the groups increased, seeing each other and Simona as enemies. They accused each other of being the cause of nature damage and failure to help.
This pattern is often seen in conflicts surrounding green efforts. You have to first understand each viewpoint of the target audiences you try to change.
By listening and observing without prejudice. By asking questions.
Jumping over communication barriers. Go to your target audiences and check:
It is best to check for communication barriers early. The only way to find out, is to test your communication.
Go into the field and research the effects. This does not have to be complicated, expensive large scale research.
Go to your target audience. Show them your means. Observe the effects. And ask them to check if they understand and agree.
Evaluation will give you these insights as well. But too late! You want to identify communication barriers in an early stage so you can cope with them.
This is the last Topic of Key subject 1. Want more? Go to Key subject 2:
Understanding your goal and the role of communication