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Christian InTech Articles - Mobile Cell Phones
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Free Money Saving Tips – Part 1
With the high cost of gasoline and the amount of money needed to lead a comfortable life slowly increasing many consumers may be worried about how to make ends meet. Fortunately there are lots of ways to save money in a variety of areas. Using any...
Repair Your Credit Like A Financial Expert
How many times have you been scammed by commercials and companies stating that bad credit, no credit, bankruptcy, or divorce is okay?
The truth of the matter is that it's not okay. Having poor credit can devastate your life style. In today's...
SO YOU WANT TO START A WEB BUSINESS - WELL LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING.......
Like a lot of people, we often thought about having our own business, but weren't sure what to do. One day my wife, Kim, was talking to her brother, Chris, and he started to talk about his six pack abs. Not to let an opportunity to needle my...
The Art of Co-venturing in Business
Co Venturing in Business
Strategic partnerships create allied relationships that increase business of all the partners who participate by allowing other people to sell your products and services, exchange customer lists,...
Turning Keyboarding Skills Into Cash!
Most with excellent keyboarding skills wonder if it is possible to use this talent in a home business venture.
Unfortunately, many would be entrepreneurs often fall prey to the misleading ads on and off-line recruiting work at home typist....
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A Uniting Culture for the New Multicultural Workplace
Never has it been more important in your organization to have a common language, and never has it been more elusive.
Today’s office typically contains individuals from many different cultures, not just within the US, but from all over the world. People with different customs, beliefs, ways of thinking and different first-languages come together to work together, and the result can be confusion and misunderstanding.
“We need a common language,” a manager from a state education agency told me the other day on the phone. She was inquiring about an Emotional Intelligence program, correctly thinking it might be the “new common language” for their agency. The old one, she said, something about “Steps” had worn itself out.
It is not easy understanding people from different cultures. It’s not easy understand even on person! In the case of different cultures, we bring with us assumptions, stereotypes and generalizations which can get in the way of commonality.
Most of the time the technical vocabulary is understood, but other parts of communication are missed. Up to 90% of any communication is nonverbal, and gestures, postures, and expressions vary widely from one culture to another, as does intonation and phrasing.
It’s easy to misunderstand another cultures expression of respect or warmth. When you meet someone new, the other person may be expecting a slight nod of the head, a quick handshake, a bow or a hug with a kiss on both cheeks. How are you to know?
I was working with a manager the other day who had a problem within the ranks. One of the employees was harassing some women, not all of them, or so the women were reporting, and it wasn’t clear what was going on. When the manager called the employee in and got to the root of the problem, it turned out he assumed that women in marketing would not “mind,” while the
women in the other fields would. Where he got that idea wasn’t clear, but people have their ideas.
We could substitute –
·Men don’t mind
·Asian Americans don’t mind
·Short people don’t mind
·Presbyterians don’t mind
·People who haven’t finished college don’t mind
·Southerners don’t mind
·Rich people don’t mind
·Irish people don’t mind
·Hearing-impaired people don’t mind
Generalities like this simply don’t work.
In “Beyond Race and Gender,” author R. Roosevelt Thomas defines managing diversity as “a comprehensive managerial process for developing an environment that works for all employees.”
And “all” employees are individuals, so there you have it.
There remains the need for a common language, and given the extreme diversity these days, Emotional Intelligence is an excellent tool. I have trained coaches from all over the world in EQ, and the concepts are understood by all. In fact there’s interest in EQ all over the world.
Emotional Intelligence competencies include flexibility, intuition (good for reading nonverbal communication), resilience, interpersonal skills, communication and empathy. They are based on understanding one’s own emotions and those of others, and managing your own and those of others for the best outcome. People from all cultures have the same emotions and want to be treated with respect. Emotional Intelligence can bring the common language and culture that is missing.
About the Author
©Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . I coach individuals in emotional intelligence, and offer EQ programs and cultures for businesses. Internet courses and ebooks available ( http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html ) for a total program of personal and professional development. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.
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