Being preoccupied and distracted When you're preoccupied, your mind wanders. This is the time that our emotions become barriers to communication. Listening – Types, Barriers, Effective Listening Listening plays a crucial role when it comes to Oral Communication . Barriers to effective listening are present at every stage of the listening process. 1. 5 Barriers to Effective Listening 1. [5] The problem: Say you had a fight at home and are on a slow boil, muttering, in your head, about the injustice of it all. Here are ten common barriers to listening. This refers to the difference in the speed at which people speak and the speed at which we can process speech. While you think you look engaged, you're actually ‘faking attention.' Distractions. The top 3 barriers to effective listening are distractions, misinterpretations and attachment to personal beliefs and values. Barriers to listening or the factors that impede effective listening are conditions or situations that block our ability to hear or listen. Overcoming Barriers to Active Listening If you want to gain respect and have people trust you, being an active listener is a good start. Owen Hargie, Skilled Interpersonal Interaction: Research, Theory, and Practice (London: Routledge, 2011), 200. Here are a few of them: The Speed Gap Trap. At this time, you have to give someone a dressing down over their work performance. An open, listening culture communicates value for individuals, their perspective and experience. Effective strategies to avoid them are … There are several other barriers to good listening. Internal listening barriers are more difficult to manage, as they reside inside the mind of the listener. While a speaker communicates the intended message orally, the listener plays an equally crucial role to make the communication a successful one. While it seems easy to listen, there are many things that pull our attention away from the conversation in front of us. Judgment of the speaker or the topic. At the receiving stage, noise can block or distort incoming stimuli. Unfortunately, we often inhibit or prevent real connection when we … Once you have identified how you react to these barriers, you can identify the best ways to overcome them in your business and personal life. Internal Listening Barriers. Without listening we cannot be an effective leader. Several distractions that interfere with our ability to listen effectively can be physical, physiological or psychological barriers. Listening is a critical leadership skill. But, we can hear at a rate of 500 – 800 words per minute. We get distracted by what is going on … The main kinds of Psychological or Emotional Barriers are: Lack of Attention: When the person is pre-occupied by some other things and do not listen carefully what the other person is speaking, then arises the psychological barrier in the communication. These barriers can prevent you from getting or understanding the message you are hearing. Most of the time, people speak at a rate of about 125 words per minute. Which do you fall prey to?