My Role as a Human Services Professional
As a human services professional, I am tasked with the responsibility of helping individuals accomplish their desired goals and objectives. Even though my main focus is on objectives, I tend to align my goals with organizations where I develop best practices that can be used to overcome various issues that hinder their ability to meet their consumer needs. One of my best moments is seeing people succeed in their life endeavors and watching organizations adjust their operational performance to meet the different needs of their consumers. For this reason, I always strive to position myself strategically for individuals to feel free to ask for help without any reservations or holding back.
My profession requires me to establish conversations with people and form healthy relationships where they can gain my trust before I can help them overcome their ongoing problems. Besides, I am well versed with the concept of human development and how it influences the thought process of individuals in overcoming different aspects that hinder people from realizing their desired goals and objectives. I assist individuals and families in handling their problems through the development of viable solutions that enhance their quality of life. I also organize mental health support for victims of different types of abuse.
The Importance of Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity enables individuals overcome their differences while focusing on various issues that enhance their quality of interactions in the community. On many instances, individuals are exposed to scenarios that hinder their quality of interactions because of the various stereotypes, which affect their perspectives towards other community groups. However, cultural diversity dispels these stereotypes and other negative aspects that lower the quality of relationships among individuals (Kamales & Knorr, 2019). For instance, embracing cultural diversity in the U.S. promotes the quality of relationships between the majority and minority population groups because of its impact on neutralizing the underlying factors, which lower the quality of interactions.
Societies and organizations that embrace cultural diversity enable individuals to learn from one another and develop a unique understanding that fosters quality engagements that yield desirable outcomes. For instance, a culturally-diverse organization gains a unique access to the strengths of certain communities and utilizes them in creating innovative solutions that increase their competitive advantage in their immediate environment. Given the nature of outcomes in the contemporary society, cultural diversity ensures longevity and creates an enabling environment for future generations to accomplish their desired goals and objectives. Problems such as racism cannot thrive in a setting that embraces cultural diversity because of the ability of individuals to focus beyond their cultural identities and background.
Understanding Other People’s Perspectives
Understanding other people’s perspectives demonstrates a certain level of tolerance that improves the nature of outcomes in the community. In many instances, people fail to share their beliefs and thoughts for fear of being misunderstood or misjudged. However, understanding other people’s perspectives encourages individuals to share their insecurities and reach out for help, which plays a significant role in handling mental health issues among other social problems (Taylor, Soro, Hong, Roe, & Brereton, 2016). When one fails to understanding another person’s perspective, they may seem rude or insensitive because of their inability to overcome challenges taking place in their surroundings.
Cultural differences pose a huge threat to the approaches used by individuals to interact and solve problems affecting their ability to overcome situations in their surroundings. Importantly, the cultural differences revolve around gender, race, and language among other aspects, which define the ability of individuals to accomplish their desired outcomes. However, people should take time to learn other people’s perspectives before commenting about their cultural identity and ability to overcome outcomes that influence their desired outcomes. In the same vein, individuals should be sensitive about language use and pay attention to the body language, which varies across different cultures.
Strategies for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication
Maintain Etiquette
Different cultures have a standard way of communication that differentiates them from other population groups. In this case, one should maintain the preferred communication etiquette when interacting with different individuals.
Avoid Slang
While the use of slang may be appreciated in progressive countries, individuals from conservative cultural backgrounds may misinterpret the banned words, which may affect the quality of interactions between people.
Speak Slowly
Speaking slowly demonstrates the considerable nature of an individual and their ability to engage other people in the conversation. Importantly, it also eliminates the instances where people have to ask about things you mentioned because of the speaking speed, which discourages them from participating in the conversation.
Practice Active Listening
On many instances, active listening is used in conflict-resolution, training, and counselling sessions where people deserve to be heard. In this case, the listener takes part in the conversation and tries to understand the different points being cast across.
Take Turns to Talk
As a speaker, one should not dominate the entire conversation to avoid discouraging other people from participating in the session meant to be interactive. By asking the audience questions and giving them an opportunity to talk, it becomes easier to eliminate the various issues that influence the perspectives of individuals towards life.
