I’ve come to my very last working day for my placement. In
two days I will begin my 35 hour journey back to Perth. My London placement has
been absolutely rewarding. Working in house for a client of my placement
consultancy has given me a little taste of both consultancy and in house PR
work. This has reinforced my belief that I want to work in a consultancy
environment.
For the month I have been interning I have been dealing with
many people from different backgrounds, therefore I thought I would share my
top 4 tips for successful communication.
1.
Simpler
the better
When communicating cross-culturally or even with the media,
I have found keeping everything short, simple and clear results in the best
response. Once you have established a relationship with a person and know their
personality then you can make messages more personal (include humour etc.).
However until then the simpler the better, especially considering most people
are time poor.
2.
Keep
it Formal
At first I was worried about the level of formality in my
writing even my emails. Every time I communicated I would ponder whether or not
I was too formal. In my opinion it is better to be too formal. It is respectful
and since you are representing a business, you must present yourself in a
poised manner.
3.
Ask
for Help
Even though most people I dealt with could speak English
well, there were still many cultural barriers and phrases that I being from
Australia did not understand. Don’t be
scared to ask for help or for someone to rephrase something, it won’t make you
any less of a person. I was amazed at the many little cultural differences even
between the UK and Australia.
4.
Slow
Down
Australian’s are very well known for being extremely fast
talkers. Even if the base language is the same, accents can confuse people.
Time and time again I was told to slow down so people knew exactly what I was
saying. Annunciate words, be clear and slow down for effective communication.
For those people completing their internship overseas, would
you agree with these tips?
Thanks for reading.
Georgia
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