Communication and Culture

As I consider the issue of culture and communication, I find myself thinking about work…Today, my staff (of two) hosted our 5^th Annual Pathways to Quality Early Childhood Conference for 185 professionals.  What an awesome day!  As you can imagine, a group of that size presents the potential for many different interactions.  I found myself communicating with a very diverse group of people, some who did present me with challenges.  When I reflect upon the experience (and I am honest with myself), I communicated differently generationally.  Our keynote speaker today was 70+ years old and is someone I have always wanted to meet.  My communications with her were somewhat reverent but I also found myself speaking louder, taking care of technology and triple checking her needs.  I did not worry about technology with the other presenters!

If I think about the roles of the people I interact with at our conference, I recognize that I treated folks differently too.  For example, my conversations with our presenters were more formal and business like whereas, the attendees were looking for hugs and hellos!  I was much more tense with the staff at the facility were using, certainly, there was a lot riding in everything going smoothly behind the scenes.  Overall, I would say these types of interactions are similar to those I have every day on a much larger scale.

One strategy that I attempt to practice every day is to “be present”.  By this I mean to be attentive to what others say, both verbally and nonverbally.  To be present is to be an active participant in all conversations.  A second strategy is to be aware of my nonverbal cues and how they influence my interactions with others.  A final strategy is to approach all opportunities to communicate as learning opportunities.  We all have something to learn from each other but sometimes, I think I am too focused on my own needs to be as open-minded as I should be.  In general, I am learning so much about myself and am beginning to see where I need more information or training!

Click here to read the article our local newspaper published about the conference!