During the spring and summer of 2011, I did a six-month internship in the information services department of a major company in my country, Botswana. Botswana Power Corporation is the sole producer and distributor of electricity in Botswana. As a company with branches across the country, it's easy to see why communication would be critical to the daily operations of this company as a whole. For the sake of clarity, however, I will limit the focus of this article to the information services department where I worked. My internship location was at the company headquarters in Gaborone. As an intern it didn't take me long to realize that almost every department needed the services of the IS department in one way or another. The IS department was essentially responsible for user support, maintenance, repair and upgrade of IT systems and training of company personnel. By far the department's largest responsibility was user support. Employees in departments throughout the complex would report any problems they had with their computers. These issues would be noted on a work order form and handled in due course. For this reason, department staff members needed to have effective listening skills. I realized that when dealing with a user it was important for me to solicit as much feedback from them as possible. I asked questions and paraphrased what they said so I could better understand the nature of the problem. This was important because many times the problem was simply a matter of restarting the computer and could easily be resolved over the phone. When In an effort to get to the root of the problem, it was important to show as much patience as possible with users' often vague responses to my requests. I made a conscious effort not to interrupt them and to refrain from distractions that would hinder my ability to listen effectively. Effective listening was also important because it allowed us to notice paralinguistic cues in a person's voice and allowed us to judge the urgency of the situation. We were also aware of the paralinguistic signals we conveyed to users. We use a friendly voice on the phone, taking care to maintain an even tone of voice. Verbal communication within the department was limited because most of the time members of the department worked outside t...... middle of paper ...... being a white South African I had to be quietly advised to start to greet people. In my culture it is considered rude to start talking to someone without going through the ritual greeting first. Although we were not required to wear uniforms, we were still encouraged to dress smartly. Men were not required to wear ties to work, but were required to wear long-sleeved shirts. This was done so that we could feel comfortable as we moved around the complex but at the same time look professional and efficient. When we had meetings with senior company officials we wore jackets to improve their image. In my country, gender differences in communication are strongly determined by culture. my women are still seen as children. When it comes to important issues, the expectation is that they will be seen and not heard. There are still very few women in top government positions. Being the only women in the department, I often think that my gender limited my communication with my parents.