INTERACTING AND RELATING

Interacting an relating describes the capacity to:

• Set boundaries and respect the boundaries of others
• Use both verbal and non-verbal communication, adapting your style of communication according to the needs of different audiences
• Connecting across cultures by learning, respecting and understanding other cultural groups and awareness of one’s own cultural beliefs.

Spotlight identifies three forms of interacting and relating:

B1. Negotiating boundaries – capacity to set your own boundaries and respect those of others and to influence or negotiate within and across authority lines

B2. Communicating verbally and non-verbally – capacity to respond to and use non-verbal and verbal communication adaptively

B3. Connecting across cultures – capacity to deepen your understanding of diverse cultures and of your own cultural impact and/or to build intercultural relations

Some points to note when identifying interacting and relating skills:

• Job-holders may need to carefully maintain boundaries using skills of negotiation and persuasion. This will have to be done ethically.
• Effective interacting and relating may need to be done not only with people who may have communication difficulties or impairments, but also with successful senior people. Adaptability is an important part of effective interacting and relating.

When interacting and relating with people from other cultural groups it is important to  have a sufficient grounding in the beliefs and protocols of that group.