Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Communication at its worst!
Communication does not always happen as we want it to. In fact more often than not our message is rarely understood. What do you think that people can do to prevent communication breaks downs? List an example of a communication breakdown that happened to you. Reflect back on this situation. Now, write how you could communicate better and make this communciation process successful for everyone.
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I think that to prevent communication break downs, we should ask questions when having a conversation, ask for clarification if needed and read the other person's body language to follow what they are actually understood. My example: I had texted my mom that I was leaving to go to work but that I needed her to pick something up from the store for me so that I could have it after work. She misunderstood me and did not pick it up. I could have called her and told her instead of texting her. I also could have asked her to repeat what she was going to do and ask questions so that we both understood what needed to be accomplished.
ReplyDeleteWhen having a conversation I know that, if I have touble with the conversation and I don't understand what they are trying to say - I'll let them finish and just remind myself at the end to mention it to them. Also, definitely make constent eye contact with them. That'll help you from starting to drift away and/or daydream.
ReplyDeleteMy example would be when I asked a friend if she wanted to work on chemistry together in the library on Monday and she ended up not showing up because she thought I meant next Monday. Which it was bad on my part because i didn't clarify it enough. So now next Monday when we get together I'll make sure to mention the date.
There are always misunderstandings when communicating. There are a few things that we could do in order to have more effective communication. When asking a person to do something, you could repeat yourself, or ask them if they understand completely, maybe have them repeat what you asked of them.
ReplyDeleteI was hanging out with a friend, and they wanted me to invite people, so I invited people. Eventually I got a call from my friends asking where we were. Turns out they ended up going to my house instead of my friends house who wanted me to invite people. I could have been more specific to where to go, especially since I was inviting people, it gives them reason to go to my house.
There are ways for us to prevent communication break downs. Such as making sure if someone doesn't understand someone they should asked questions and if needed repeat what they say sometimes. Make sure that everyone of the conversation knowing or listening and understanding what the others are saying.
ReplyDeleteMy example was picking up my brother from school one day I thought I had told him one place and then he did not come and he doesn't have a cell phone, but I found him in a different place. It just took us longer to find each other. I should have reminded him where we were meeting that morning and ask him if he got it or write a note for him.
I think that the most important thing you can do to avoid any sort of miscommunication is to make sure that whoever you are communicating with doesn't have any questions or if you have a question to ask it. I also think that eye contact and facial expression are helpful because you could interpret something one way but their face could be telling a completely different story.
ReplyDeleteI think the most miscommunication happens for me with texting. Once time I was texting my friend and she said something that I interpreted it her being really upset and unhappy with me, but in reality she was actually really excited about what she was telling me and wasn't mad in the least. You can't use voice fluctuations and facial expressions through texting so effective communication is more difficult. I think the best way to fix things in my situation couldn't happen until there was already confusion aside from not texting in the first place. The best thing I could have done was to ask her what she meant but instead I got all worked up about it and just assumed she was mad at me.
~Katie M
I think to prevent communication break down people should keep total eye contact and ask frequent questions throughout the conversation if you have any questions.
ReplyDeleteI have had miscommunications when I told my coach come pick me and some friends up from school to go out to eat and I told her I was in the first building and she thought I meant the first building of the apartments so she was driving around the apartments and I called her and found that out so I told her to come back down the hill. I could have fixed that by specifying that I live in suites not apartments and we wouldn't have had that misunderstanding.
sorry i forgot to put my name at the bottom.. picksumthincrazy is mine.
ReplyDelete-Sara M.
I think that going into depth with the important details is a great thing to do when having a conversation with someone. If they look confused make sure you explain again exactly what you mean until they understand what you are trying to say. Also, asking questions and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if you do not understand.
ReplyDeleteMy communication breakdown happened when my mom asked me to pick my brother up from school and when I got there I couldn't find him anywhere. Turned out she forgot he had an after school activity and forgot to tell me. She could have told me that I didn't have to pick him up until later or I could have asked if he had anything going on after school, so both of us were at blame!
-Travis K
Miscommunication happens a ll the time, thats why its impportant to ask questions and to read body language. In most cases, you can tell if a person is understanding you by facial expressions or body language. And when your talking to someone, you could always ask questions like, do you understand, if ;you dont, i can explain in a different way so you can understand.
ReplyDeleteAn example for me of miscommuncation is when my dad told me to meet him at a certain part of a field with the tractor. I didnt really understand where he wanted to meet but i just nodded my head and went to the wrong spot. My dad wasent mad, he just laughed and called me blonde. Next time i will make sure i know exactly where im going.
Connie A :)
I agree with what Travs had to say. Explaing in depth about a subject is a good idea, ecspecially when the person dosent undertand you. Asking questions also helps to understand certain things.
ReplyDeleteConnie A :)
I agree with connie's post. It is sometimes easy to tell by the person's body language and expressions to decide if they understood what you said. There will never be communication break downs if you ask questions when you don't understand.
ReplyDelete-Cassandra
I agree with Connie and Travis. Reading the body language of the person you are trying to communicate is very important. It makes me think of the saying "listen louder than you speak". Communication cannot happen if both parties are not listening.
ReplyDelete~Katie M
I think that eye contact is huge. It's pretty easy to see when somebody isn't showing a genuine interest in the conversation. Details are good too. When somebody doesn't fully understand what I mean and I just say, "never mind", that's a breakdown. It's giving up on helping the other person understand. I've done that quite a bit. One vivid example I can remember was when I was about to go hangout with my friends. I had yesterday reminded "Ben to pick up someone else on the way there. When it came time to meet, Ben showed up, but no other friend. I asked him where "Dan" was and he said, "I thought you were bringing him". That all happened because I assumed things in our earlier conversation and so did he. Breakdowns can be avoided. It has a lot to do with effort and interest.
ReplyDelete-David
communication break downs can happen everyday to any body. One way to prevent communication break downs is to ask questions when someone is telling you something to make sure you get what they are saying. If you are telling some one somehting make sure they are following you by asking if they get it.
ReplyDeletean example of communication breakdoown for me would be: one time i was having my mom pick me up from school and i told her the front parking lot...the front of the school for me is the doors i use everyday which is different from the actual front of the school so we spent a good 20 minutes trying to find each other going between the two parking lots.
melissa leraan
i agree with what david said that eye contact is a huge part of good communication. you really can tell if someone is paying attention by their eye contact.
ReplyDeletemelissa leraan
Katie,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you talked about facial expressions and how their facial expressions can tell a completely different story than what you thought they just said. It is so true!
Matt,
ReplyDeleteI think if people used active listening skills there would be less break down of communication. Active listening includes paraphrasing, asking questions, and clarifying to help the sender know that you have received the message properly. An example of communication breakdown I have experienced was when my friends and I decided to get together to watch a movie. Only the place where we were going to watch the movie had not been clearly communicated. Two of us were at one person’s house and the others were at another house. If we clarified with each other the meeting place the breakdown would have been avoided.
Today the communication break downs happen very often. To prevent miscommunication we should ask questions, clarify and keep eye contact. I think it is very important when you keep eye contact and try to read facial expressions during the communication. Another way to avoid miscommunication is to speak clearly, without rushing. An important thing to remember about communication is to communicate with other the way you want people to communicate with you.
ReplyDeleteMy experience of miscommunication was when I had to pick up my sister from volleyball practice. She called me from her friend’s phone and mansion the time. I got to a school but I never asked her where I should wait for her because I thought she would figure it out. Eventually, I waited for her on one side of the school and she was waiting on the other. If I would ask her about the place and where exactly should I wait I wouldn’t we wouldn’t have to look for each other on the parking lot.
Maria
Katie-
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with you about facial expressions. It is very important when you can see person face to face because then it is completely different communication. I like your example about texting. It happend to me many times.
Maria
I agree with what Maria said-speaking clearly and not rushing while having a conversation is a big factor on if the person will fully understand.
ReplyDelete-Kara
I agree with Maria and Travis that we should make sure the other person we are talking with is understanding us. Also that we should speak clearly so we are not rushing through just to leave.
ReplyDeleteSammi K
To communicate better you should talk face to face so whoever is involved knows whats going on and there is no miscommunication. One time I asked my mom to wash a shirt for me because I needed it the next day and I thought she would just throw it in with all the other stuff but she didnt know I needed it the next day. I should have been more specific and told her when I needed it, and then there would have been no miscommunication.
ReplyDelete~Kristy
Connie ~ I agree. You need to read body language as well as ask questions and if you do that you will be successful.
ReplyDelete~Kristy
I think that effective communication is very important. I think that they should discuss to each other what each other said and make sure that they understand what each other said. A situation where a misunderstanding happened in my life was today. Jake told me Friday to meet in the Mitchell parking lot at 11:30am and I did but no one was there and the time was supposed to be 12:30pm.I could have asked other people in my group what the time was or could have asked what he said in case i misunderstood what he said.
ReplyDeleteJon
I agree with Kristy in that meeting face to face when wanting to communicate its the best way to communicate with the least amount of distractions. When you talk on the phone or texting there may be slured words or a wrong misrepresentation of a word or emotions of what the text was supposed to be. And you need to be specific in what you are saying.
ReplyDeleteI think that ways we can prevent communication breakdowns is by choosing our words wisely. We need to think before we speak. To many times in a day we blert out things that we may not even realize could be insulting someone else. An example that I have of miscommunication was when one of my friends told me to meet them infront of the science building and i thought they meant the first floor, when they accually meant the third floor. I think that if we all try to stop and think before we talk that others would understand what we are trying to say so there would be less miscommunication.
ReplyDeleteSarah A
In order to prevent communication break downs people have to be very clear about the point they are making. It is important to be specific about every detail that you are trying to communicate. Even if the little details seem like they don’t really matter, like they should be implied, it is still important to state them just to make sure that the other person understands completely what you are trying to get across. You also have to be very patient when you are trying to communicate an idea. We must understand that everyone understands things differently and there are always obstacles that get in the way of understanding what people are trying to get across.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Germany over this past summer there was a communication problem. We were always supposed to be in groups of three whenever we had free time in a city. I was in a large group that got split in half. The group I was with had three people and the other half of our group had three people too. It wasn’t until later that we realized we had forgotten our 7th person at the store we had been at. The two groups didn’t communicate with each other at all when we left we had just assumed the 7th person was with the other group. This could have been prevented simply by talking with everyone to make sure that we weren’t leaving anyone behind.
Elise K
I agree with Kristy in that the best way to communicate is by meeting face to face. When you text or talk on the phone there are a lot of barriers. It is also harder to tell what the other person is actaully feeling without seeing their face and reacting to their emotions.
ReplyDeleteSarah A
I agree with what katie has to say. You can always tell if someone is actually listening to you, or if they could care less what you have to say. Facial expressions are a big part along with eye contact. If someone has good eye contact with you generally they are interested in what you have to say.
ReplyDeleteAlso i think texting is a big reason why people have communication breakdowns today. So many kids, as well as adults are too focused on their phone then the conversation we are having. It's becoming a technological world, and i guess we'll just have to adapt to it.
joe vuicich
To prevent a communication breakdown we should speak loud enough and clear enough so the rest of the group can understand what you are trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI agree that communication breakdowns are very common. One way to prevent communication beak pdowns would be to have communications in person face-to-face. Many conversations happen through alternate forms of communication like texting, letters, emails, facebook, telephone, etc. Having conversations in person gives the receiver a much better chance of fully
ReplyDeleteunderstanding the message being sent by the person talking. They can also read your body language which you cannot do unless you are talking in person.
One communication breakdown that happened to me was when one of my friends was texting me about a car accident they had just gotten into. My friend was trying to explain what had happened that made the accident occur, but since we were texting I couldn't grasp the details of the situation. Had we met up in person I think I would have had a much better chance at understanding how my friend got in the accident.
(ps sorry it took a couple of extra days to post, my computer has been giving me many problems lately. Very sorry.)
I can relate to Becca's situation because we both have had misunderstood conversations through texting. I also agree with her about people talking in person so they can read each other's body language to fully comprehend what the person is saying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cassandra, although if you repeat yourself the person might believe that you think they're incompetent. I also thought your story of bad communication was pretty funny!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Becca. Making sure your message has been received correctly eliminates communication break downs. Asking questions and paraphrasing was you heard is a good way of making sure that the message has been received correctly
ReplyDeleteMatt J
Communicating is often frustrating for me. I do believe that there are communication breakdowns and i think talking in person is perhaps the best way to avoid them. However, they are inevitable to happen. In person communication is better then any form of electronic commincation because people can read your body language and even if the person didn't completely understand the meaning of your words, they can get the meaning through your body expressions, unlike electronic communication.
ReplyDeleteA communication breakdown that happened to me was actually just today. I was trying to find a parking spot at UMD and in a lot closest to his dorm. I asked him which lot would be the closest and he told me lot J2. So i parked there at first and eventually found the building where his dorm was, realizing that the building was much further away. I then parked in lot J1 which was much closer and when i asked him in person he thought he was giving me the right directions when he wasn't. If i talked to him on phone while parking that could've helped. Meeting in person before and talking about where to go could've helped too.
I believe that to make sure that people dont have miscommunication you can speak to the person face to face if you can. If not, make sure they understand by either saying it a couple times, or something that I do is ask the person, did you get that or do you understand that? I think that miscommunication happens when people try to communicate too fast and dont take their time. An instance where I had miscommunication was when I was pitching in a game and my catcher put down the sign. I couldnt see it so I just guessed what it was. I guessed wrong and my catcher wasnt expecting what I was throwing so it hit him right in the chest. I couldve prevented the miscommunication by stepping off of the mound and asked for the sign again. I wouldve saved my catcher a shot in the chest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sarah when she says that we could prevent them by not blurting out something. If we thought about what we were going to say before we said it, it would make everything a lot easier.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Joe V about the listening and better eye contact situation. By better eye contact and knowing the person is listening would surely help communication breakdowns. knowing the person is probably the best way to avoid breakdowns
ReplyDeleteIn communicating you should always ask questions if you dont understand or if something isnt very clear instead of just assuming because you can interpret it wrong. Also speak face to face when talking because you can see the person talking and its better to have eye contact then the person knows your listening and understanding a lot better.
ReplyDeleteMiscommunication that happens with me alot is through text messaging. You can see the person so you can tell the expression on some things they are saying so you could take it in a bad way. I texted one of my friends telling them something i was upset about but i wasnt being mean about it i just wanted to tell her how i felt but she took is the wrong way and got really mad.
I like what Elise said about even the littlest things matter and should be implied because often those are the details that get missed and can screw things up. Also it shouldnt be just the person who is listening to make sure they understand it could be the person talking asking them is they understand to make sure they do, as in what cassandra said
ReplyDeleteI agree with sara,it is very important to keep eye contact and ask questions when you dont undestand. It is very easy to lose information from acnersation when you dont understand something that you are talking about.
ReplyDeleteElise K