1) Watch the following TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better
2) How can you become a better listener?
3) Describe real-world situations where you have encountered barriers to communication (give examples for all three listed in the lesson)?
4) Respond to this post: There are a variety of ways to become a better listener from the video. First, you can try to get a few minutes of silence each day, in order to basically reset your ears. You can also use the guide he supplied where you listen, acknowledge, summarize, then ask questions. One physical barrier I have encountered would be when I am flying and try to talk to ATC. Sometimes the response can be garbled or noisy, so I have to ask them to repeat.
For language, sometimes there is slang that I hear for the first time and I have to look up what it means after the conversation, as I didn’t quite understand what they were saying at first. Finally, with interpersonal, sometimes I am too quick to read a room and don’t get the mood quickly enough, which can lead to situations where I misinterpret people’s attitudes.