Communicating with Diverse Groups

I unfortunately do find myself interacting differently when I am with different groups of people. Some of these interaction differences are choices that I consciously make to suite the situation, but there are some that I am aware of that I do not mean to continue doing. One of the differences I have noticed is that when I am communicating with African Americans, of either gender, I become very shy. I have a hard time expressing my thoughts and interjecting into the conversation. I also find myself guarding my language and how I describe things when I communicate with Middle Eastern Americans. I tend to give a lot of examples but when I am with diverse people I am afraid to say something to offend whomever. There seem to be a lot of rules and cultural expectations that I am unaware of, and I am unclear if/when I break a rule. My husband was recently employed by a man who has just immigrated from Pakistan. I often felt that I was saying or doing something to offend him but I could not understand what.

Writing this post this week I am reminded of a story my husband told me about himself when he was a teenager. A car stopped by him on the street and asked him for some directions; they spoke with a very heavy French accent. When my husband replied he began speaking in a made-up, terrible, nowhere close to accurate, French accent. He spoke about two sentences, then noticing what he was doing stopped himself and he apologized to them. They all laughed and he started again, without the strange drawl. He mentioned to me later that he had never spoken to someone with a true accent before and he wonders if that is why it just came out? That brings me to my first strategy to use to communicate more effectively with diverse groups..

1. The first thing I should do to increase my effectiveness of communication with African Americans is to find a friend or colleague to talk with. We could do something casual like go to a coffee shop or cafe.

2. Next I should do some research on the Middle East and learn about some of their well-known customs. I think if I knew more about this culture I would know where to start. I also think that I should interact personally with a person from this culture but I would like to learn some basic expectations first.

3. The third step I think that I should take to increase my communication skills with all diverse groups is to continue to practice and broaden my social group to include people from all walks of life. I am comfortable with my communication skills regarding people with diverse needs, but people with diverse cultures is still an area that needs improvement in my life. I think that this aspect could be approached in person as well as viral, or through the internet. I think that there is lot that one can learn and practice via facebook, texting, and emailing about diverse cultures, though the same rules do not always apply in person.