This is a very difficult question to answer because communication is a two-way process, not one.
In life, most of us have almost total control of our responses when it comes to communication. This includes our thoughts, our perceptions of issues, our perspective on engaging in conversations with others, our selection of medium(s) of communication with others and our receptivity when it comes to the acceptance of others as friends. Moreover, with consistent effort and practise, we can gradually build up our rapport-building skills and become a more lovable person to others. And these factors are one key to good relationships.
Nevertheless, there is the other factor to consider: the perceptions of others of us. Or to put it in another way, the impression that others have of us. This is one vital area that no communicators can and should ignore. But this is also one crucial area where none of us have much control over. Each one of us brings with us in this life our own distinct identify in society. And what form the fabric of this identity are the strands of our upbringing, our culture, our life experiences, our perspectives, our personalities and our outlooks in life. All these strands are the lifeblood of our identity in this life. When these strand combinations come into contact with any social exchange, be it in the verbal or written form, there will be a certain responses from us that almost seems like they are computed. It almost seems like we are living in automatic pilot mode, since we often react rather than respond.
For instance, when someone nearly drowns in their childhood days, there's a high likelihood that they might become tense when a conversation topic happens to touch on swimming issues. They might sometimes make an attempt to steer clear of the topic or leave the conversation altogether, often leaving the parties engaging in the conversation feeling puzzled over what has just happened. This is the type of situation where even the best communicator in the world cannot avoid or resolve, for that matter.
Therefore, stating that the key to overcoming obstacle in communication is communication itself is only partially right. This is only one out of two keys that are required for successful communication. To complete the equation, we will need the other key, which is an in-depth understanding of the individual(s) that we are communicating with. What's interesting about this second key is that it cannot be found or discovered by ourselves, like the first key.
This second key can only be found in others, within the communication process itself.
What this means is that we have to take the risk to by delving into communicating with others to find this second key. We have the first key when communicating with others but to unlock the success leading to communication with others, we need to retrieve the second key from the other party (who is holding it) and the only way to do this is to engage them in conversations. There is really no other way. In another words, to communicate successfully, we need to run a risk of being rejected by someone by doing the following:
Taking the initiative to strike up a conversation with anyone
Develop a strong curiosity to know and more importantly understand someone
Be attentive when listening to others
Develop a human touch to our communication process
Sincerely care for the other person
Only by doing so can we build the bridge between ourselves and others, and we have to do it on an individual basis since every one of us are different and special. And only by doing so can we understand others as a person (their likes and dislikes, their interests and concerns, their humour and dreams) and getting the second key to successful communications. This process takes time and it is challenging. But this may be the only way to overcoming communication obstacles since being accepted by others is eventually- a choice made by them, and definitely not by us.
Hence, let us return to the question of communication being the key to removing obstacles. It really depends on how we communicate (i.e our communicating styles).
To me, it is in understanding others that we find the key to overcoming obstacles when it comes to communication.