Communicating within diversity

I experience cultural differences on a daily basis. I work with families whose children are considered high risk for special education. My colleagues come from different educational backgrounds and my friends have varying political and religious views.  All of these factors can make communicating effectively a challenge. I do believe I communicate differently depending on the context and situation I am. For example, when interacting with colleagues I am professional and straightforward. Many would consider me serious. However, when I am communicating with my friends I have a totally different style. I am more laid back and comfortable expressing how I feel without any fear.

Considering the cultural differences I experience the three strategies I would use to help communicate more effectively would be to consider and use the platinum rule with all my interactions. Second, I need to have empathy. I am working with families who are learning to cope with their children’s special needs. As an effective communicator I need to draw on my own experiences to better relate. Finally, I need to make sure I am actively listening in all contexts.

Communication within television

My husband recently became a real estate agent. Real-estate is his passion and plays a big role in the types of shows we watch. There is a plethora of ‘home shows’ including House Hunters, Love it or List it, Million dollar listings and Property Brothers. As the supportive wife, I have been started watching these shows with him. One of the new shows we started watching is Property Brothers.

The premise of the show is brothers’ Drew and Jonathan Scott find couples that want to buy a house that is out of their price range. They convince them a fixer upper is the way to go. The show follows the challenges and benefits of doing a renovation.

When I watched the show with no sound I realized how much of an impact nonverbal communication has on communication. The facial expressions of the couples said a lot. For example, when they went into the decoy home the facial expressions were of excitement and awe until they realized the home wasn’t affordable and the instant shift to disappointment and anger when they realized they couldn’t afford the home. Watching the process of renovating the home I could tell through the body language and expressions what they couples were feeling. It was often a rollercoaster of ups and downs between excitement and frustration/anger.

Watching the show with sound made me more aware of how nonverbal and verbal communication goes together and can contradict each other. For example, the couple’s non-verbal communication was clearly showing excitement and the verbal communication supported that. However, there was an situation during the renovation when the body language of the couple clearly showed anger and defensiveness but the verbal language was contradicting that.

Watching the show with both the sound on and off made me more aware of the detail involved in communication. I often listen to what is being said rather than paying attention to the non-verbal cues. This assignment made me focus more on the message nonverbal communication rather than verbal language.

           

Effective C ommunication

Effective communication skills are important when running an organization. The director of the company I work for has these skills. When I was first hired I went through orientation. My director, David, spoke to the group the first day. He was clear when describing his expectations of us. He spoke eloquently and was prepared while remaining lighthearted and entertaining. He was motivational, encouraging and uplifting. Since then I have listened to him speak on more than one occasion and I experience the same thing. He listens when someone asks a question, answers it completely while remaining respectful. I would model my communication behaviors after David. He is effective, respectful and prepared in his communication. He is engaging and motivational. His ability to communicate with several different disciplines on the same topic is a great skill. These are skills I strive to have when I communicate with others.