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For
any communication to be considered successful, the message that
is received must be the same as the message sent.
Anything that hinders this successful flow of information
between a sender and a receiver is referred to as “noise.”
Noise interferes with the transmission and prevents the
message recipient from understanding the message as the sender
intended.
Noise
can be tangible. It
can take the form of a background distraction, such as a loud
machine or someone talking.
Noise can also be a phone connection with too much
static, or a person speaking with a difficult-to-understand
accent. Noise can
also be a mental distraction.
For example, noise can come from having something on your
mind that affects your concentration, or from holding strong
negative feelings about a speaker that cause you to pre-judge
his or her presentation.
Noise
can interfere with written communication as well as oral
communication. For
example, poor formatting, unclear language, technical jargon, or
mistakes in spelling and grammar are types of noise that often
obstruct understanding of written messages.
Effective
communicators do all that they can to minimize the impact of
noise. That’s
because if you don’t, miscommunication will result – often
with dire consequences to your professional standing and to your
organization. For
example, when noise prevents you from communicating effectively:
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You
and your colleagues may not be clear about what to do and
may spend time and resources on the wrong activities.
-
You may
lose opportunities to forge cooperative, trusting work
relationships, and. experience an increase in conflict that
goes unresolved
-
You may
be less effective at problem solving.
-
You and
your colleagues may experience less work satisfaction that
affects morale, and lower morale may lead to turnover.
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Customers
may find the organization unresponsive and take their
business elsewhere, negatively impacting the “bottom
line”.
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