Today started first full day of the 2012 Quad Chapter meeting. After some introductory remarks by a couple of the chapter chairs and a rendition of “Here Comes the Sun,” keynote speaker Souzan Hawala-Druy started her interactive talk about working with diverse cultures and communities, effective communication techniques, and the particular challenges with the Millennial generation.
Highlights from the talk include:
- Remember to ask “What is the part of culture, not personality, that’s affecting that person’s choices?”
- Sandwich your communications with a pleasant tone (bread layer) before getting to the meat (or tofu) of the communication style issue, and end with another positive summary (bread layer)
- Cultural competency involves various theories, such as
- Organizing phenomena of culture (involving time and space)
- LEARN (listen, explain, acknowledge, recommend, negotiate)
- ASKED (awareness, skills, knowledge, encounter, desire)
- Culture doesn’t change easily in older generations but changes easily for younger generations
- Millennials tend to:
- Be civic-minded, trust in leaders, be team oriented
- Are not followers. Prefer to start their own trends
- Turnaround behavior and attitude – hard to change things that don’t affect you
- Their community is the global world