Dance, Interpreting, & You: Working Together To Better Understand or Improve Your Practice11/7/2022 Exploring the dance experience to understand human interaction and communication in interpreted spaces.
Keywords: dance experience, dance exploration, human interaction, communication in interpreted spaces, modern dance performance, body language Cultivating An Interpreting Culture Of Respect, Accountability & Trust
By: Sarah L. Wheeler, M.Ed., M.S. KEYWORDS: interpreter personality, model communication, interpersonal communications, professional development, training and courses, building relationships, cross-cultural competence, cross-cultural awareness, and sensitivity Encouraging people to share ideas, experiences, and challenges. Cultivating a culture of respect, accountability, and trust with all the people you interact with at work is essential when working with any group of people, but especially for interpreters. Interpreters are in a shared setting—interacting with diverse groups of people and striving to cultivate rapport and cooperation, including coworkers, colleagues, and people from different backgrounds and cultures who all have a shared objective to interact, work together, and create shared experiences. The interpreting profession could learn from Pixar's innovative and creative culture. The brainchild was president Ed Catmull, who believed that intelligent people are more important than good ideas. He wanted to create a culture where people could fail, take risks, and learn from mistakes. Catmull also put a lot of effort into creating an environment where everyone felt valued and respected. He knew that employees couldn't do their best work if they didn't feel good about themselves. He also believed that it was important for Pixar employees to understand each other's perspectives and work together as a team. He set up a system of "Brain Trust" meetings, where anyone from the company could get together and discuss any issue they were having with their work. Catmull didn't allow these meetings to turn into gripe sessions; instead, he encouraged people to focus on solutions rather than problems. Give the people you work with enough room to maneuver or make mistakes - and recommit to continue trying again. How do we create a culture that welcomes mistakes and turns them into growth opportunities? We can learn from author David Liddle as he discusses the 7C's of transformation: Collaboration, Courage, Common Purpose, Communication, Compassion, Curiosity, and Connection. We start by admitting that, as interpreters, we don't know everything. It can often be more beneficial for you and others if you are willing to ask questions, listen and learn from others. When we pretend to know everything, we risk appearing arrogant and being perceived as inflexible when presented with new information (or ways of doing things). When we are open to learning from others, it creates an environment where we can share knowledge and ideas. The more we practice this behavior, the better we become at it. The most important thing to remember is that this can only be done by example. You must model yourself to create a culture of respect, accountability, and trust among your coworkers and colleagues. Working in an environment that promotes a culture of respect, accountability, and trust can be one of the most rewarding experiences in your interpreting career. It must be defined to cultivate a culture on the most basic level. What does respect look like in a workplace? What are the roles, responsibilities, and expectations of everyone involved? Respect is foundational in any relationship, especially when working with people from different cultures and backgrounds. Interpreters can model this by being respectful to others, not only as an individual but also as a representative of the organization for which they work. Respect can be demonstrated by how an interpreter treats others—their colleagues and clients, for example. It means not making assumptions about someone's culture or background but treating people with dignity and respect. Recognize that culture takes time to build. It takes intention and investment to create a culture of respect, accountability, and trust and months to change it. Interpreters should not expect immediate results when trying new strategies or learning new behaviors. Instead, interpreters should focus on building their self-awareness and self-care skills to grow as professionals while supporting others in their organization through these changes. In the same way, interpreting agencies, organizations, and community leaders should recognize that culture is an ongoing process of improvement and adaptation rather than something static that can achieve once and for all. When interpreting agencies, organizations, and community leaders focus on building their self-awareness, they can support the growth of others in their organization while also improving themselves.' While this all takes time, one of the essential things interpreters can do to support their growth is participate in various continuing education opportunities, mentorships, and professional support groups. Professional conferences and workshops can provide interpreters with new ideas, tools, and techniques for building their self-awareness and self-care skills. It's also essential for interpreters to network with other professionals in similar settings to share experiences and learn from each other. There are many ways for interpreters to cultivate welcoming and supportive relationships among their coworkers and colleagues. Here are a few you can start doing today:
Many of you may not know I was in the military. While in, I learned how to use the OODA Cycle to make fast and accurate decisions. The OODA cycle (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) is based on the idea that a situation or problem will occur, and then events will unfold, and your first task should be to observe what's happening. The second task is to orient yourself in the current situation (skip this if you have a good memory of what happened). The third task is to decide based on your hypothesis. The fourth task is you act based on your decision and continue the loop again. Every day, interpreters have to make quick decisions, and with practice in using the OODA Cycle, you can increase your awareness of the situation and environment. The more prepared you are, the better decisions you'll make. The ability to quickly notice, interpret and understand your environment can lead to success. Whether in sports, the military, or interpreting, the OODA Cycle can be used to gain that edge you're looking for.
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November 2023
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