I do find myself communicating with people from different
groups and cultures. I find myself
uncomfortable in front of people who would be considered more experienced than
I because I am afraid I will say something wrong. In my family, I have some
very out spoken individuals and I find that I also limit my communication with
them because most of the times they have a sarcastic remark or could care less
to what you say. Bring in front of
cultures I am not familiar with, I tend to not act like myself in fear of doing
something they are against or frown upon.
This in turn affects the communication between us.
Three strategies I could use to communicate more effectively
with these groups:
-I can try and not judge others from different cultures and
fear acting as myself but instead, try and get to know who they are first.
-Another strategy I could use in that of eye contact, try
not to make direct eye contact with an individual in case their culture would
consider that staring and not polite.
-The last thing I can do is confront the family member who
is sarcastic and express to them how it makes me feel. This will open the communication and allow
more effective us of it.
Lynette,
ReplyDeleteI think that you having an awareness of your fear of not being correct or judge gives you an opportunity to shape this feeling. In other words, your awareness will help you and others who feel this way become more comfortable in their skin. Thanks for sharing! Opal
Hi, Lynette.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting look at your personal communication habits. I think we all have a family member who makes us uncomfortable somewhere in the family tree. For me it is the family member who uses passive aggressive criticism a lot. She tends to point out things that she disagrees with, then says "well, to each their own I suppose." The way she says it almost feels like she is dismissing your opinion or sounds like she is giving you permission to not do things her way. As you mentioned with your family member, I tend to avoid interactions with this person. I think it would be interesting to see what would happen if I took your tip and confronted her.
Hi Lynette,
ReplyDeleteTo "piggy-back" on what you had stated, as well as other's comments, I too find myself becoming more quiet around individuals who I feel are more experiences than me as I do not want to offend them or give them a bad impression of myself. Although we have learned quite a bit already about communication, it still causes me a bit of anxiety knowing there will always be individuals who will judge a person based on first impressions. I look forward to using the strategy of confronting people more on their sarcasm to help instill the idea of each person having a valuable opinion and should have the opportunity to reciprocate in a respectful way, allowing for communication to flourish. Great strategies!
Your second strategy is one that I was taught to do to show respect. Growing up in a military home, my father taught me to look a person in their eyes when speaking to them. That looking away represents weakness and disrespect. But I am aware that some cultures, eye contact is disrespectful. As a professional in the EC field, I do find myself trying to read my new families to insure that I am not being disrespectful or making them feel uncomfortable by making eye contact. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteCrissy
I too am from a family that resorts to sarcasm. I find the narcissi's that employ such tactics to be limited in finding a positive way to develop a conversation. Speak truth to sarcasm and you will find a lull in it's perpetuation. Aloha
ReplyDelete