My Christmas present wish list this year has on it the ability to manage my judgement and expectations of others more effectively in the future.
The Christmas spirit certainly exists in many places at this time of year and the old saying of ‘good will to all men’ in these days of political overdone correctness perhaps should read ‘increased understanding of all people’.
Specifically when we feel threatened by their words or actions or simply get the wrong end of the stick.
Within Personal Strengths we have a global community within which the common language is English.
How many times have we sat in meetings and at best, seen the funny side of an alternative meaning of a poorly described or inappropriately used phrase… or at worst cringed at the collection of disconnected words?
Interestingly in these situations offence is never taken – in fact with gentle enquiring tones and even respect for the person’s efforts to communicate with us in ‘our’ language. We tend to seek clarification of what the person was trying to express, quite often allowing the transmitter to persevere so they can add more information until we finally get their true intention.
I have been guilty of reacting in meetings and in general communication where my ‘Quick To Act’ strength has led me to interrupt and not only assume I knew what was being intended but manage to object to it all in one breath!
And yet the situation is basically the same – two or more people communicating using English as the common language but with one big difference.
When listening to someone who does not have English as their mother tongue I do not expect them to communicate perfectly clearly, I do not expect to understand straight away, I do expect to listen more attentively and I do expect to ask for clarification.
So one of my Christmas wishes is to learn to see everyone as having their own unique language and therefore I need to listen more patiently and reserve judgement until I am clear that I understand their intentions and not expect them to speak the ‘same’ language as me – after all it is what it says in this video!
And finally…
As it is a time for sharing, why not let us know what you have put on on your ‘personal management’ Christmas wish list? Let’s see what differences there are between different MVSs!
Hope everyone has a tolerant, non-judgemental and most of all very Happy Christmas!
