Attitudinal barriers to communication are beliefs or perceptions that prevent the effective transmission of messages between individuals. The obvious attitudinal barriers to communication are stereotypes or bias—and just look down the page to see a 30 year-old Punch cartoon that perfectly encapsulates this. However, there are plenty of others, including personality clashes.

Unlike the barriers created by technology, or organisational barriers to communication, the solution to attitudinal barriers to communication lies within us, as individuals. This page explains more about these barriers. It also sets out what you can do to improve your self-awareness and reduce your personal attitudinal barriers.

What Causes Attitudinal Barriers to Communication?

Attitudinal barriers to communication arise from our thoughts, beliefs and perceptions—both about ourselves and about others.

These attitudes and beliefs can affect how we send and receive communication, so can disrupt communication from both sides.

We can think of this as our attitudes or beliefs acting as a filter in how we send and receive communication. Every communication passes through that filter, and may be altered in some way as it does.

For example:

• If you dislike someone else, you may be more inclined to dismiss their ideas without giving them full consideration.

• If you are having a bad time at work, for example because you think you are being asked to work unfair shifts or hours, you are much less likely to be open to suggestions about how to improve your work. You will also be less willing to hear advice about personal development—unless it involves getting a new job elsewhere.

• If you believe that you are not good at maths, you will be disposed to think that a new topic in maths is difficult—and will therefore probably find it hard. By contrast, someone who thinks they are quite good at maths will be more likely to approach the same topic with an open mind.

• If you think that you are generally quite competent, you are more likely to volunteer for a new task or responsibilities—regardless of whether you actually have the skills necessary. Some might call this confidence, but others would see it as arrogance, and quite possibly driven by privilege.

• If you don't like change, you are unlikely to welcome an announcement that you have an opportunity for promotion by moving to a new team—even though it means promotion and a pay rise. You are also far less likely to welcome an idea for how things might be improved in your work area, especially if it means doing something different.

• You may be more likely to listen to someone wearing a suit than a torn t-shirt, especially if they are saying something challenging. Personal appearance makes a surprising amount of difference to our level of tolerance for eccentricity.

• If you believe that a particular group of people is less able than others, you are less likely to appreciate input from someone in that group. The Punch cartoon below, by Riana Duncan and published in 1988, skewers this attitude very neatly.

• If you believe that someone is less able or less knowledgeable than you, you may well be patronising when you speak to them. You may oversimplify matters, in a way that does not accurately reflect their knowledge (see box below). Your approach may also affect their willingness to hear your message.

• If you believe that your opinion is unlikely to be valued, you are far less willing to share it with others. Our page on Diversity in Groups and Teams explains more about this, and why 'tokenism' (an approach of having one person from a minority as a representative) does not work.

Why Do These Barriers Matter?

It is clear from this list that personal opinions can have a huge impact on how we send and receive communication.

It should also be clear that stereotyping and bias will be very important aspects of those personal opinions, because they will alter our attitudes towards whole groups of people and not just individuals.

Why does this matter?

Because these barriers don't just disrupt our own communications with other people. Everyone has their own attitudes, beliefs and perceptions, and these affect every communication within an organisation.

If unexamined and unchallenged, attitudinal barriers can influence the free flow of ideas within an organisation—and that in turn can stifle creativity and innovation.

Over time, organisational performance will drop, and people will be less willing to work there.

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Addressing Attitudinal Barriers to Communication

The list of causes of attitudinal barriers of change also highlights the importance of understanding what lies behind our attitudes, beliefs or prejudices.

Without that understanding of the causes, it is almost impossible to address them effectively, and reduce or remove them as barriers to communication. This is because the same behaviour could stem from so many different things, all of which would need different action.

The first step in resolving attitudinal barriers to change is therefore to develop improved self-awareness.

Our page on self-awareness explains more about how you can improve this important skill, including through developing your reflective practice, and seeking out feedback from those around you.

Once you have started to improve your self-awareness, you can then begin to address individual barriers to communication. More generally, however, you can also break down attitudinal barriers to communication by:

• Consciously adopting an open-minded approach to ideas.

  Instead of trying to see flaws in others' ideas, engage with them. Ask questions about how they might work, and explore them together. Organisations can encourage this by adopting techniques like Edward De Bono's Six Thinking Hats (a technique that suggests six different approaches to considering ideas to ensure that they are fully explored).

• Challenge negative stereotypes and biases, including in your own thinking

  Biases are often simply a mental shortcut that has built up over time. They may come from our own experience, or opinions that we have heard from others that we respect. We may never have challenged them, or even be fully aware of them—but they may influence our thinking. Some examples of bias include:

  • Affinity bias, where we are more likely to accept people who seem like us;

  • Confirmation bias, where we are more likely to accept information that confirms our opinions rather than opposing them; and

  • Conformity bias, where we adopt opinions that help us to fit into a group.

  If you see someone displaying an attitude that suggests a stereotype or bias is in play, it is worth challenging it. You don't need to be aggressive or unpleasant. Instead, just ask what evidence they have for that belief.

  There is more about this in our page on Understanding and Addressing Unconscious Bias.

• Cultivate cultural competence

  Our page on Cultural Competence explains that this skill means being able to build relationships and interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. It requires understanding of yourself and your prejudices, as discussed above. Once you have developed those, you then need to cultivate knowledge about other cultures and the skills to interact with people from those cultures.

  Evidence suggests that probably the most important element in developing cultural competence is therefore self-awareness.

  However, beyond that, the second-most important aspect is empathy, so that you can go beyond seeing others' points of view, and instead walk alongside them. These two—self-awareness and empathy—are both crucial parts of emotional intelligence. This makes sense, because emotional awareness is all about understanding yourself, others, and your effect on others—vital for effective communication.

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A Final Thought

Many barriers can get in the way of effective communication.

Not all of them are directly within our control as individuals. However, one area that we can address directly is attitudinal barriers to communication. Cultivating better self-awareness and empathy are likely to go a long way towards making us more aware of our own attitudes and beliefs, and how they influence our behaviour towards others. This, in turn, will make for more thoughtful and effective communication.

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