Sure, I’ll share an experience I had with someone who was different than me and there was conflict or difficulty communicating.
I was working on a project with a group of people from different countries. One of the people on the team was from a country with a very different culture than mine. We had a lot of difficulty communicating because we had different ways of thinking and different ways of communicating.
For example, I am from a culture that values direct communication. I like to get to the point and I don’t like to beat around the bush. The person from the other culture, however, was more indirect. They didn’t like to say what they meant directly, and they would often use euphemisms or metaphors.
This caused a lot of conflict between us. I would often feel like they were being evasive, and they would often feel like I was being rude. We would get into arguments about how to communicate, and it was very difficult to get anything done.
I realized that I was contributing to the conflict by being too direct. I was trying to communicate in a way that was natural for me, but it wasn’t working for the other person. I needed to be more mindful of their cultural differences and to try to communicate in a way that was more indirect.
We eventually worked through our differences and were able to finish the project. It wasn’t easy, but it was a valuable learning experience. I learned that it’s important to be mindful of cultural differences when communicating with people from other cultures. I also learned that it’s important to be willing to adapt my communication style to the other person’s style.
Here are some of the things I did to improve communication with the person from the other culture:
- I tried to be more patient and understanding.
- I asked more questions to try to understand their point of view.
- I tried to use more indirect language.
- I was more aware of my own cultural biases and how they might be affecting my communication.
By making these changes, I was able to improve communication with the person from the other culture. We were able to work together effectively and finish the project.
I think this experience is a good example of how important it is to be mindful of cultural differences when communicating with people from other cultures. It’s also a good example of how it’s possible to overcome communication challenges and work together effectively with people from different cultures.
