Rethinking Communication: Why It’s Time to Shift (No. 1)
Moving Beyond Labels and Seeing People as Individuals Isn’t a 'Nice to Have' – It’s Now.
In today’s interconnected world, the way we communicate has never been more important. But despite this global shift, the local frameworks we rely on are often outdated, rigid, and overly simplistic. Furthermore, we’re living out the consequences that come from centuries of ignoring the “mess” of being human.
Welcome.
When I started WeCultivate, I envisioned a human-centered approach to language and communications training. A natural perspective from where I was standing, yet I received constant feedback that I was doing something extremely different.
“Taking a human-centered approach is different?” I once asked jokingly, but was met with a serious answer.
“I don’t think you understand how many people don’t want to even open this area, Michelle. It’s too complex. Too messy,” a friend-colleague replied.
Hold on… what?
An Industry Problem: Grouping > Seeing
In the language and communications industry, the space I’ve set up my present-day professional home, we’re stuck on outdated ideas about fluency, correctness, and even what communication truly is. We’re obsessed with the same labels, hierarchies, and rigid definitions of centuries past; so ingrained in profit-driven models that most times, we put the onus on learners to adapt. To pay to prove their worth.
Worse: many continue to uphold a system that prioritizes external divisions over intrinsic humanity. Terms like "native vs. non-native" are treated as markers of value, all the while ignoring the background context of each individual’s story.
In many spaces, language level becomes the sole indicator of a person’s worth or intelligence. But in the larger world, communication is so much more than that.
“Why don’t you just do what everyone else is doing? It seems to be working fine,” says a friend.
Except it’s NOT. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be helping clients navigate the complicated matrix of life x language x culture x society x workplace x career x goals x dreams x education x etc. every single day.
See, grouping people together in broad categories destroys the very essence of what it is to be an individual human being. It trades the deep, personal nuance of having personal stories, experiences, and backgrounds, for the commercialized convenience of stereotypes.
Look, we could make the occasional argument for simplicity, especially for instructional settings, but how did we end up with a world outside of the classroom that acts this way as well? How are so many people rolling language, culture, and personal identity into one convenient bundle?
Put simply: School is one thing, but how did we become SO overly simplistic in real life?
The Shift: Bringing Human-ness Back Into The Picture, Not Avoiding It
It’s time to rethink communication. Entirely.
It’s time to think about communication beyond the academic aspects of language, and in terms of human capacity. In terms of relating.
So much of today’s communication falls short because we fail to see the full person behind the words; our vision obscured by the countless labels we were taught to see in their stead.
Too often, we somehow forget that identifiers like nationality, native language, or culture don’t define who someone truly is.
That even in the same culture, country, and native tongue, people are not even close to being 100% uniform copies. (A sentence I still can’t believe requires repeating.)
We Were Not Meant To Be The Same
To shift the conversation, we must first understand what it means to interact on a basic human level.
It WILL NOT be perfectly uniform, nor homogeneous.
It WILL bring messiness.
It WILL bring discomfort.
It WILL be confusing.
But it won’t be that way forever.
Once we begin to engage with people according to their own roadmaps; learn to listen to their stories, to understand their backgrounds, and to consider the context behind their words, one thing becomes abundantly clear:
Languages are hardly the ‘real’ barrier when communicating.
I know the mission of WeCultivate needs to extend beyond the workplace. Because even if my clients work with me to enhance their professional competencies, the other pieces of lives don’t stop happening. The world doesn’t stop turning.
Because in a time of extreme global division, we are quickly spiraling into the new natural of toxic automaticity—forgetting that most short-form social media was not made to contain deep conversations or to temper reactivity.
We’re in a hybrid world where bad-faith interactions have become a sort of justified norm both on and offline.
Meanwhile, people continue to evolve, mix, diversify, and globalize.
Tell me you don’t feel these two massively dissonant patterns unfolding.
The Work So Far
When I first launched the company, WeCultivate was focused solely on training. However, after watching my clients face these complex struggles on a daily basis, I realized I needed to do more. In December of last year, I launched my very first podcast, and since then, I’ve committed to releasing two episodes per month.
You can find all published episodes in the podcast tab of this Substack.
Video versions are available on our new YouTube channel, and complete audio versions can be found on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.
Full transcripts, show notes, and more are in the podcast tab of the main WeCultivate site.
I’m working hard to create an environment where individuals can be recognized for who they are, NOT how well they fit into the ten million predetermined molds dictated by others.
Through this Substack and more, I want to encourage more people to:
Listen to each person’s story and understand the context behind their words.
See communication as a tool for connection, not a barrier to success.
Recognize diversity in communication styles as a strength, not a challenge.
I want us to break free from the automatic definitions granted by social labels or other surface-level categories. I want more people to understand we are, at this present moment, living out the very dangers of ignoring and avoiding these complexities.
What’s Next?
This is just the start of an ongoing conversation. In future issues of The Communication Shift, I’ll dive deeper into the topics we’ve explored with my guests and share a few personal stories along the way—so you can get a sense of why this work is so important to me.
Join the Movement
How have you experienced communication as an individual, in your home society and others? How have labels and assumptions about your language, culture, and identity impacted your ability to connect?
Join the conversation as we continue to break down these barriers and rethink what it means to communicate in today’s world.
Thanks for joining me for Issue 1! I’m looking forward to see where this will all lead.
– Michelle
"Languages are hardly the ‘real’ barrier when communicating." I agree. Welcome to Substack!