Anticlue

Communication Barriers

When one begins to contemplate how important communication is to project success, it is also interesting how common barriers to communication become. Communication barriers often present an obstacle to delivering a successful project. Project Managers should be considerate of the frequently occurring barriers in order to assure there are no developing issues.
The most common barriers to good communications are:

• Misunderstanding other stakeholders' information needs – Misunderstanding commonly occurs when the project team doesn’t understand the informational needs of other stakeholders. In this situation, information can be distributed inappropriately and inconsistently.
• Using media improperly – The media selected to communicate must be able to be used by all stakeholders and project team members. It does no good to send the Microsoft project version of the work break down structure when the team doesn’t understand how to read the project plan.
• Isolating decision makers – The silo-ed decision maker can impede a successful project. Decision makers who isolate themselves or don’t respond to requests for information are a common communication barrier.
• Misapplying policies and procedures – Team mates and stakeholders who don’t follow the prescribed communication policies and procedures create confusion. These communications are commonly incomplete containing inaccurate information and are directed to the incorrect audience.
• Underestimating the importance of teamwork – Insensitivity to teamwork results in isolationists not distributing the information in a timely accurate way. A key signal that this problem exists is when team members don’t participate in team-building activities.

Good communications create constructive attitudes and knowledge and take time to establish.