I find that as I become more and more involved with people from various background, I try to become more conscientious of the things I say and how I phrase things. I try to be careful how I ask questions as I assess parents to find their needs for our program. I pay more attention to facial expressions and body language than I use to and try not to jump to conclusions when they answer questions but get them to expand on their answers.
One strategy I would use to help me communicate more effectively is self reflection. This give me a chance to think about how I react to people and why this reactions are taking place. It also helps me to get feedback from coworkers on how I communicate with them so that I can better communicate with the families that we serve.
Another strategy is looking at the source of my communication behavior. This has helped me examine where I learned to communicate and figure out why I am not as effective as I would like to be. The habits that I have formed over the years, until about 3 years ago, have made me introverted. I have always been self conscious about speaking with others who are not familiar with me and found it hard to talk to others because I was not comfortable with myself. This was the source of my withdrawl from others. I am learning to be more open and expressive to others I come in contact with and have noticed that others really respond positively to that.
A third stragegy is learning about diversity, so that I don't jump to any conclusions. I try to be sensitive to those I do not know anything else about and learn as much as I can by repeating what I thought I heard for clarity, validating strong emotions and efforts that parents and caretakers make positively for their families, and praising the work that they do put in. The praise is really hard to do with adults, at least for me, because I never had that growing up. It is easy to praise the little steps that children take because they are learning and growing, but subconsciously I think that adults should have it all together. I am learning because we think that adults should have it all together, we take for granted that they are struggling just like the children they are trying so hard to raise.
You stated that you have always been self conscious about speaking with others who are not familiar with me and found it hard to talk to others because I was not comfortable with myself.
ReplyDeleteI am glade that you are learning to overcome what I call shyness. Sometimes you have to step out of the shell and be seen. With that I mean sometimes it is good to meet and talk with poeple that you do not know.
I am so glade you are coming out because the more we communicate with people and people from author cultures we can learn a lot. This is true you stated you have to do an self examination of the way you communicate with others. Great post.
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