The communication process is successful only when the receiver understands the message as intended by the sender. You can improve your chances of communicating successfully by learning to recognize barriers that disrupt the process. Some of the most common barriers include

• Missed meanings. As demonstrated in the clip from The Office below, misunderstandings result when the receiver and sender attaching different meanings to words.
• Differing frames of reference. Your experiences, education, culture, expectations, and personality result in biases that you bring to a communication situation.
• Lack of language skill. The sender and receiver have different skill levels in spelling, grammar, vocabulary, speaking, listening, etc.
• Distractions and noise. Both senders and receivers are affected by emotional interference, physical distractions, and digital interruptions. Noise is anything that interrupts the transmission of a message. Noise can apply to oral communication (static, mannerisms, uncomfortable chairs, etc.) or written communication (misspelled words, being overloaded with messages, etc.).

Using the eight phases of the communication process, analyze a miscommunication youve recently had with a coworker, supervisor, classmate, instructor, friend, or family member by answering the following questions:

1. What idea was the sender trying to share? How did they encode and transmit it? Did the receiver get the message? Did the receiver decode the message as the sender had intended? How do you know?
2. Based on your analysis, what do you think prevented successful communication in this instance?
3. What could the sender and/or receiver have differently to prevent the miscommunication?

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