Communicating to Understand
Kelsey MacDonald // November 2, 2012
My last semester was spent studying Corporate Communications in one of the world’s most beautiful cities: Vienna, Austria. In my travels, I’ve learned some valuable things – one being that you can never have too many souvenir t-shirts. Seriously though, before I left, I realized I was about to learn what kind of person (professionally and personally) I want to become. There are some life lessons that can only be discovered by living them.
When I came home, I realized that my mind was full (yes!) of revelations about what my professional and personal communications should aspire to. I would like to share some of these revelations with you, and hope that they are as helpful for you as they have been for me. Here goes.
The old saying goes, “seek first to understand, and then be understood.” I don’t think this could be more valuable to my fellow students as well when they embark not only on co-op terms, but in all professional settings. There is a relationship between understanding in order to communicate, and communicating in order to understand. For example, during my time abroad, I was able to experience in so many different ways the cultures of the countries that I had the pleasure of seeing and learning in. One of the more prominent things I noticed was that some cultures believe in the community aspect of eating as part of the daily routine. Eating a meal is an important part of their lives because it requires so many different components that, if done correctly, do require some extra time.
The meals I shared while living in Austria and travelling around Europe were just that – shared. Bringing all the elements together to cook as a unit is just part of the everyday routine and time is made to ensure it is enjoyed. In contrast, we North American folk tend to eat purely to fuel the body in order to move onto the next task. Don’t get me wrong, the work always gets done in Europe and there is never a lost sense of productivity; however, work is balanced with equal time to enjoy communicating together.
At the Vienna School of Management and Communications (FH Wien – I can say it in German too!) where I studied, grades come primarily from group work. While studying there, I can count the times on one hand where I had individual assignments. And of course, as any student can attest, working in a group can present its own challenges. On top of constant group work, students at the FH Wien also had to contend with the classes being composed entirely of international students (like myself). There were students from all different corners of the world, with different cultures, beliefs, religions and mother tongues. As you may have already guessed, communicating amongst such a diverse group could often become challenging.
Let me jump back to the Mount. When working on a group project at the Mount, there are a lot of unspoken assumptions about what is expected. This is in part due to groups being made up of primarily Canadian students; in some cases, the entire group is from Atlantic Canada. When this happens, social norms and the culture take over. Even things as simple as how the workload will be divided up or how often the group will meet are assumed.
What I learned during those five months of group projects and presentations in Vienna is that assumptions in any kind of communication are the wrong way to go about business. Communicators can’t assume that the audience reading a news release is of a certain belief just because they live in a certain community or are part of a certain demographic.
Now, I do recognize that when communicating on a smaller scale and targeting a very specific audience, you have the luxury of incorporating jargon, colloquialisms or what have you. But communicating amongst a group of people who have very little in common (except that they are also studying in Vienna for the semester) taught me the true importance of “seek first to understand, and then be understood.”
Understanding first means that you’re listening before you send a message out – communications 101, right? But what seems to make a better communicator and an even better leader, is someone who understands the underlying differences that the group has and addresses those. I found that something as simple as negotiating schedules amongst teammates required this “understanding first” philosophy: I had to understand that there were teammates who would be late, for example, because it was part of their nature and part of their culture.
The second part of the saying, to “be understood”, I noticed when in a leadership role: I would have to communicate to better understand. Once you feel you understand where everyone is coming from, you can say what you mean in the most effective way. When you can’t see a situation from someone else’s point of view, you really miss what communications are happening without being said.
My time away let me see some of the remarkable things the world has to offer. But it was comforting to come home to Canada and have a good ol’ fashioned sloppy poutine, and to be able to buy cheap maple syrup again.
There is no perfect place or perfect culture. But I honestly believe that understanding others is the only way to embrace our differences and to communicate most effectively. If nothing else but to help make the world go ‘round.
