Army Family Team Building Level II

Communication

Roadblocks to Communication
1. Ordering, Directing and Commanding: Telling another person to do something, giving him
or her an order or command.

2. Warning, Admonishing and Threatening: Warning another person about the dire
consequences of an action or alluding to the use of force.

3. Moralizing, Preaching and Obliging: Telling another person why he or she ought to do
something.

4. Advising and Giving Suggestions or Solutions: Telling another person how to solve his or
her problem.

5. Persuading with Logic, Arguing, Instructing and Lecturing: Trying to influence another
person with facts, arguments, logic, information, or an expert opinion that happen to agree with
your own.

6. Judging, Criticizing, Disagreeing and Blaming: Giving negative judgments or evaluations

of another person.

7. Praising, Agreeing, and Evaluating Positively or Approving: Giving positive judgments

or evaluations of another person in a condescending, sarcastic way.

8. Name Calling, Ridiculing and Shaming: Making another person feel stupid. outcast, or
foolish or stereotyping and categorizing.

9. Interpreting, Analyzing and Diagnosing: Informing a person what his or her motives are,
that you have him or her figured out or psyched out, or that you have diagnosed his or her
behavior.

10. Reassuring, Sympathizing, Consoling and Supporting: Trying to make another person
feel better, talking him or her out of the feelings or trying to make them go away, or trying to
deny the strength or significance of his or her feelings.

11. Probing, Questioning and Interrogating: Trying to find reasons, facts, motives, causes, or
information to help you solve another person’s problem.

12. Withdrawing, Distracting and Humoring: Trying to get another person away from his or
her problem, getting away from it yourself, or trying to change the focus by joking, offering
other things to do, or pushing the problem away.

Source: David H. Price, Family Support Group Basic Training: Facilitator’s Guide for Conducting
Family Support Group Training Workshops (Operation READY), session 6, handout 12.

2006/7 2.1 Handout 4-1

Army Family Team Building Level II

Roadblocks to Communication
ƒ What are the easiest barriers to recognize?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

ƒ What are the hardest ones to recognize?

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

ƒ Which barriers do you find most irritating?

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

ƒ Which barrier do you personally need to work on correcting?

_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

ƒ What will you do to avoid this barrier?

2006/7 2.1 Handout 4-2