Week 7 – Reflecting on Communication Differences
Regarding the communication scale from low-context to high-context, have you noted any communication differences and preferences in your host country? Have you had any miscommunication situations that you have had to overcome? Have you encountered any challenges or differences in communication in your hybrid work environment?
Prompt Response:
In a professional setting, I am someone who values high-context conversations and learning. As a somewhat anxious over thinker, I can often second guess my actions or be uncertain in the work that I am putting forward. I don’t believe that this is a reflection of my confidence or lack thereof when it comes to work, but instead I think that it reflects how much I care about doing a good job. Since gaining more experience in the work force, I have had to learn how to problem solve on the fly, and not wait for exact direction or reassurance. There are moments in a work day where the team does not have enough time or bandwidth to cover your moves. You have to be an independent actor. At first, this realization was hard for me, and there are times when I wish I could be coddled into a role, but that is not reality, so we adjust.
In an experience like this one, we are jumping into a company’s existing system, and only staying for 7 weeks. We are not built into the long-term plan of the company, we can only make the most of the time that we will have. This setup is successful, as we get a lot out of it, but it is not the greatest for fostering an environment of high-context training and information. Normally, in a role similar to what I am doing — which is intellectual disability and support day services, there would be a long period of training and onboarding. In a lot of these roles in the U.S. you need an extensive amount of clearances and approvals, I think if I were to take on a more autonomous role and long-term here I would have needed a longer training period, but because I am only here for a short time I did not have that experience. There was not enough time for me to be completely let in on the inner workings of this company’s information, programs, and processing, so I work on things that are more day-to-day and require a bit less background knowledge.
As someone who enjoys high-context communication and is now in a role where that sort of discourse is not possible, this internship has been a bit of a learning curve for me. Each day I work with different service users – of all different ages and backgrounds – that I wish I could know a little bit more about. While these people are independent adults, our service users are also our responsibility during the time that they are with us each day. They are allowed to make their own decisions, and they should, but when they are with us it is helpful that we know those decisions and why they were made. The area of my role where I would have loved more communication and context is within the information about our clients/service users. I believe I cannot be privy to all of this information as I am just a short term intern, but it definitely would have made my job a bit easier. Each person that we work with has their own desires, struggles, goals, preferences, achievements, etc. Over time here I have come to learn some of these traits, but I still don’t know everything. My first few weeks it was a gamble, figuring out who we were discussing, remembering characteristics and wants about each service user, and trying to support them best as I can. The good thing about this struggle is that my team has been very helpful and understanding when I do have questions, but sometimes I wish that I didn’t have to fish for this information, I think I could work better if it was disclosed earlier on — but I understand the weight of that request and why it is not always possible.
As we are approaching the end of our time here, I think about the ways that I may have struggled in the beginning, or still struggle now, and I am proud of how far I have come. I could have let my confusion in the beginning deter me from being successful, but instead I let it help me grow. Low-context communication experience helps to throw you right into the work that you are doing. I was able to test my own competence and challenge myself to remain calm when things were uncertain. Luckily, in my experience, I was buffered by the knowledge that my team would be understanding if I did make a mistake and need help. Since beginning this work I believe I am an even stronger problem solver than I was when I began this role. I am more equipped to take the knowledge that I have — even if it is minimal — and apply it to the work I am doing and the questions I may have. It has given me the confidence to trust my gut, and know that whatever decision I make, so long as it isn’t a careless one, is one that I made with good intentions and with my clients best interest at heart.
In this line of work, you will not always get it right. The situations that we encounter as social workers don’t have clear, exact answers like a job dealing with numbers might. Each day we are working with people with different needs and attempting to assist them in the best ways we know how. The wrong way to do this job is by being reckless and not looking out for your client. But other than that, as long as you are leading with compassion and support mistakes can happen and be solved and that is okay. I have had to learn to relinquish control. Being okay knowing that mistakes are normal and that we cannot predict everything is sometimes hard for me, but learning this sooner than later is helpful to my overall success. Communication is the helpful tool that we can use to lessen mistakes and confusion, but sometimes it isn’t always possible, so we do the best with what we have. I think I have gained so much from experiencing the ways that my co-workers communicate here in Ireland, and comparing it to the work that I have done in the states. It will be really beneficial to take this knowledge with me to other roles in the future.
Personal Response:
I cannot believe that we are now into week 7 of our time here. Everything has flown by, I have had so much fun and learned a lot. This past weekend my family went back home after a great week of visiting. I got to have so much fun with them & we also got to see a lot of our family friends that live nearby, it was a great reunion. This week was busy with work, but my friends and I were trying to do as much as we could in these last few days as we have less than two weeks left here.
On Monday I met up with my roommate in town and we had dinner at a dumpling place that we really like. Afterward we headed closer toward UCD to a pub in Rathmines that we love to go to. It was a nice weather evening so we thought going to sit outside in the beer garden would be nice, and it was. It got a bit cold into the night so we moved inside, there was a group of musicians playing Irish folk music and it was so lovely. My friends and I played card games and listened to the music — it was lovely. Tuesday was a regular day at work, and then I went into town to do some shopping. After dinner, my friend’s parents are in town so we all met up at a pub to see them and be together. Toward the end of the week I was super excited because this weekend I went to Paris. My roommate and I are also roommates back in Pittsburgh, and we have two friends that are currently in London. When we realized that we were going to be abroad at the same time, we knew we all had to plan a trip. We all really wanted to spend some time in Paris, so that’s where we decided on.