Sunday, September 11, 2011

All speaking a different language

I've mentioned on many occasions that I live in a houseful of males - so to say communication in our house is challenging would be an understatement.

Boys - big and small - have egos (not that girls don't) and often they say things that may not necessarily come out the way they intend them to.

On the other hand there are many words that go unsaid for many of the same reasons which can be just as frustrating. Some days I feel like my primary challenge is maintaining open channels of communication in my home, or worse that I'm translating everything. We all speak English, yet sometimes we're all speaking a different language.

Teenage boys grunt and groan and have attitudes. Grown men grunt and groan and have attitudes. Often they all clash and I make things worse when I speak up and try to maintain calm. I don't always get it right either and some days it can be exhausting.

If you could take emotion and ego out of the communication process then I'm sure all of us would do a much better job of it. How many of us say words in anger and in frustration and then regret them later. How much of our message is lost because we don't stop and think before we say something and we get carried away by the emotion of what made us say something in the first place.

In my role as a communication lead on the project we have communication plans and we have timed and appropriate communication briefs in suitable formats for the intended audiences. Our communication needs to be consise, appropriately timed, informative and in most cases free from emotion. If only family communication could be so easy.

Are you challenged by communication when emotion and ego gets in the way? Do you live in a houseful of males and feel like you speak a different language?

Cheers, Fi

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place ~ George Bernard Shaw

2 comments:

  1. The answer to your question is very simple.

    Always.

    Always I am challenged by the raw emotion of my response.

    And always, I must measure my response from within to ensure what comes out does not create an emotional response :)

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  2. OH YES! Fi! I am challenged speaking to hubby all the time. When I lived in the household with hubby, my brother and nephew I felt I wa in another world. I would sink. But...of course I usally do communicate with way to much emotion. But I think that is just the way Im always going to be.
    Blessings

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