Communication Essence
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BEING SENSITIVE TO OTHERS WITHIN COMMUNICATION (Part 1)

In communication, we tend to expect people to understand what we mean based on the way we say it. We also tend to be overly sensitive to others who casually say things that seem inappropriate. Many of us have gone through sensitivity training to help understand racial, sexuality, and cultural barriers, but being sensitive to the different ways people communicate is of the utmost importance.
People are brought up in different homes, different cultures, different regions, with different values, and with different educational levels. When you are communicating, it is your responsibility to take each of these differences into consideration.

RACIAL SLURS

You may have been raised in an environment where it was common to classify certain people with racial nick names. Those particular groups may have had no problem with it, just as a Texan has no problem with people from Oregon calling them Texans. However, in most settings, especially business settings, it is never okay to use racial slurs even when teasing.

If you have a good friend who was from Poland and you both sit and swap Pollack jokes with each other, he may laugh. You may even be of Polish ancestry yourself, but in the presence of others, it may be considered extremely offensive and should be avoided.

RELIGIOUS REFERENCES

It is fine to talk about your beliefs where it fits appropriately in a conversation, but it is not okay to bad mouth other religions and other denominations regardless of your opinion of them. You do not have to embrace their theology or hide your own. Just don’t talk in a demeaning manner regarding other religions.

Keep in mind that every person with a belief has a reason for that belief. For the most part, no one that is passionate about their faith is convinced they are following an erred religious doctrine. If you truly care, then develop a relationship with that person, understand the foundation of his or her beliefs and then share the foundation of your own.  Visit, http://www.communicationessence.com

 

 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 8:23 am and is filed under Communication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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