Cross-Cultural Awareness
Together with a client (large international corporation) I recently attended a workshop looking at, and discussing, cross-culture elements and awareness. I found the workshop to be very interesting and giving, so I figured I’ll try to give a brief recap of it here.
Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one category of people from another
Geert Hofstede
What is Culture? Culture is a shared system of attitudes, values and beliefs. First of all I found it interesting to discuss all the elements that, when brought together, constitutes to what we call culture, and identify all the different types of culture we have:
- National & regional culture
- Corporate culture
- Professional culture
- Gender and age
- Religion
And within these you have different dimensions; direct vs indirect cultures, rules vs. relationship oriented cultures, time, hierarchy, individualist vs. collectivist cultures, non verbal communication. All these types of culture we can break down to many elements. Just think of the differences in language, dress code, food, public holidays, way of thinking, beliefs, attitudes and values. All these elements are important factors that contribute to a diverse community. And for an international company it’s important to both be aware of, respect and take care of the different dimensions in this. Building and preserving a corporate culture can, in my opinion, only be done by respecting each employees personalculture.
Now, working together in a corporation like this does demand that you are able to sort out the different dimensions of this. Escpecially being aware of the non-verbal communication is extremely important. It’s not a secret that working together across boundaries like language, time zones and different tools for communication can cause misunderstandings and discontent . Being aware of this is half of it. The other half is adapting and contributing to adjustments in a positive way.
Imagine that you have a project with project members and stakeholders from United States, Brazil, UK, Germany, Norway, Russia, Malaysia and Japan. Most of the meetings are probably over web or phone, so the project teams are more or less “virtual”. Communication will be only in written or orally and you will seldom see any body language unless you use video conference. It’s quite likely that during your project you will face more than one challenge due to cultural differences and misunderstandings. Just trying to arrange a meeting that works well in each timezone will be a challenge. We also need to think about all the hidden messages in what we say. Some cultures are more direct and some have more hidden expression. Just look at the possible meanings of these statements:
| I hear what you say | I disagree, I am doubtful, I don’t have confidence in your proposal |
| With the greatest respect… | I want to disagree, I think you are mistaken, I have lost confidence in you |
| Not bad | Good / very good OR mediocre/ average |
| Very interesting | Great point OR think this is rubbish |
| I’m sure it is my fault | It is your fault, but I am not going to make a fuss about it |
So being aware of the cultural filter of each other and the fact that when we say something we “encode” it, and the receiver doesn’t necessarily “decode” it the same way, is very important. Another important thing is also to be aware of the pitfalls of stereotyping and generalizing. However, looking at the different ways of decode/encode messages it was interesting looking at the Lewis model which in fact “stereotype” this in National Cultural Profiles. This is a way of looking at the majority of certain countries and how you can expect to experience the different types of behaviour and leadership.
Looking at these different profiles we can clearly see how one can misunderstand one another as there are so clear differences in how we:
- talk vs. listen
- network through official channels or through connections
- plan in details or in general principles
- show or hide feelings
- do confrontations logically, emotionally or not at all
- handle direct truth vs. diplomacy
Let us remember it doesn’t have to be another country. You can easily find cultural differences, for instance between a project manager and a programmer. Being a project manager I see some clear benefits of being aware of these issue and try to be open about them when managing cross-cultural teams:
- Bring cross cultural communication up as an issue at a very early stage and let the team be aware of it
- Define basic project team culture and rules
- Make team members curious to learn about the others
- Prepare agenda and do action minutes with deadlines in your meetings
- Limit number of participants and include the “silent” colleagues
- Avoid criticism in public and do not dominate
Cross-Cultural Awareness is a very large topic and not easy to summarize in a workshop, minutes or a blogpost. But it is important for each of us, both in working with other cultures and in our everyday life. So…
- Know yourself
- Be open and curious
- Get to know the other
And by that
- Improve effective communication and cooperation
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Impressed you have norwegian words at all! That is great! I also appreciate that you take the time for commenting.
I absolutely agree with you on the importance of valuable coaching rather than “brain-dead” training without CQ, under the opinion that everything in Asia is the same, or equivalent in other parts of the world . But when you break this discussion down it is really all up to each individual, their own CQ and EQ. Being the “pompous idiot” is quite international and they can be found in all nationalities. On the other hand you experience people from everywhere with CQ, EQ and respect for new experiences. Those may not even need that much coaching because they will automatically try to both adapt, learn and explore their new neighborhood with respect. But in the end I think we all could use some guidance in how to breathe in new cultures and not go around expecting everybody else to behave like “back home”..
Sorry for this, Jacob. I omit to mention that there IS a possibility of finding the common + middle ground in the workplace. It is called the Third Culture which of course different companies have different strategies.
I develop and facilitate such programmes, so I am happy to share what I know with anyone on how they can implement such in their own workplace
And what you said about: “understanding the “local culture of running late to meetings” or as basic as knowing their public holidays or understanding basic parts of their religion so you don’t step on someones toes unintentionally”
You hit the nail on the head. It is through such understandings that people can, again, draw a common ground from. Or make them think. But sadly, none of the Tools mentioned on my previous comment ever touch on such. But then again, they are designed by non-Native self-appointed Experts so it is not surprising.
Greetings Jacob
God dag og tusen takk [these are some of the few Norse words I know, sorry!] for your warm welcome! Also, the clarifications. Yes, I agree that it is a tad difficult for, to quote you, an accountant or a project manager to possess Cultural Intelligence — much less a rudimentary knowledge of the other. As not everyone does or should be expected to.
It is a bit too idealistic to expect organisations to hire or second CQ employees over to their overseas operations. However, what they can do is to put them through cultural coaching. Again, many companies though took the easy way out by putting them on Pre-Departure *Training*. Which is silly at best, as how can one possibly anticipate potential problems.
[U.S and Dutch trainers are pretty good at developing those Tools that only serve to reinforce existing prejudices: "The Chinese being Asians emphasise relationships so don't rush them to sign the deal, they dislike losing face etc etc.. So, take note when dealing with Singaporeans because they are Chinese [sic]!!]
But what really galls me is many Western companies hiring another Westerner or any other Asian to *train* staff on Working with Singaporeans or Singapore Do’s and Dont’s!! [Believe me, much of the content being recycled myths and half truths -- as evidenced by my contacts. Also see above on "Tools"]
Simply because, get this, Singapore is but another **Asian** society. So no different from China, ain’t it? They all are the same, so what’s the problem?
Or worse, a former trailing spouse with experience in Thailand and Indonesia *training* expatriating couples on Singapore. Well, all of these countries are Southeast Asian, so what’s the problem?
It is no different from me hiring a British *trainer* for my stint in Germany or France for example. After all, both are of Anglo-Saxon stock [in the case of Germany] or shared similar history [the English once owned a piece of huge real estate in France, no?] ain’t it? So what’s the problem?? Ah yes, but I would be laughed out of town.
But I digress
However, a growing number of Cross-Cultural / International Management + Organisational Pyschology researchers have had emphasised on the dual importance of Cultural Intelligence [CQ] + selecting Culturally Intelligent [or potential by leveraging their cross-cultural competency] employees for overseas deployment.
That is why I emphasise the CQ element through my programmes
BUT of course, through my experience, I have had come across several individuals who resisted coaching [again, to these people, meaning of coaching and *training* is interchangeable] because they disliked being told to HOW TO BEHAVE in the correct manner towards us.
The truth is, the great discrepancy between Western and Eastern cultures / cultural practices stresses them out. Apart from the perceived “immoral” practices of the latter. It is more convenient to trot out the utterly lame “I’m afraid of offending them Singaporeans, so it’s best to AVOID them at all cost!” statement.
I apologise for going on at length, but I will follow you on Twitter soon — found you via @moue
Thanks once again, Jacob and you take care too!
Greetings Ange
Thank you for your comment. I think I understand what you mean here, and to an extent I can agree; One should be very careful of accepting “training” as the way to understand other cultures. For that one need to open the eyes and ears and experience it. However, in a “corporate world” where you for instance hire an accountant or a project manager for his/hers professional skills you can not expect that person necessarily to have much experience with other cultures unless they have been in a large corporation before or travelled abroad. So in that setting I think there is a value for both the employees and for the company to somehow build an awareness of the cultures that they are working together with. That can be understanding the “local culture of running late to meetings” or as basic as knowing their public holidays or understanding basic parts of their religion so you don’t step on someones toes unintentionally. If I understood Valentina correct, her point was that while everboy tries to adapt to the other customs and cultures you can actually get some confusion and misunderstandings. And I think that is where a corporate culture often comes in. I also think she means that even though you try to adapt, every individual is different and will act differently no matter what culture. We should obviously be careful of accepting all “training” as the truth because that, as you pointed out, only serves the opposite, but also accept that on a certain level it can be helpful to get some knowledge on other cultures as long as you take it for what it is. Take care – and please come back
@Valentina:
“I have the feeling that the more everybody gets trained on how the others are “supposed” to behave, the more complicated it gets”
That’s what the average person thinks: TRAINING = SUPPOSED TO BEHAVE IN A CERTAIN MANNER. That not only defeats the entire purpose of cross-cultural awareness, but only serves to reinforce racism + bigotry + xenophobia.
If you open your mind to the possibility of learning something new AND accept that not everyone is the same as you, you would not even think this way
But I cannot blame you as the word “training” already gives a certain connotation. And I am much aware of the curricula of many Cross Cultural “Trainers”. That is why I emphasised that what I do is *coaching*. You only train monkeys and dogs
Maybe it is also due to the fact that I grew up in an already established multi-cultural and multi-lingual society like Singapore. Which is a blessing, and that NOT everyone elsewhere can get their heads around in spite of.
Hi Valentina
Nice to hear from you again!
I can certainly see that everything is not always as easy as a blogpost (like mine) might illustrate but, you know, we are often quite good at creating problems for ourselves that really isn’t there. Myself, as a project manager, have an occupational illness of ALWAYS being on time, and most of the time fifteen minutes early. It used to drive me crazy when other people wasn’t. I still think it is a nuisance, but now I sit back, enjoy my coffee and the fifteen minutes of spare time I just got. I know you know and you know that I know that you know… Take care – and please keep commenting 
I guess you have a point here, although I ask myself the question whether you really need to adapt to the spanish way.. Why not bring your coffee (either from your local coffee shop or the machine in the office) to the meeting room ON time, sit down and wait… If your colleague is on time – great ! If he is late – even better ! Then just sit back, sip your coffee, start a new blog post or just enjoy the silence
And then it gets really tricky when you try to tune in the way your business partner thinks. For example, I am German, so people “know” that I will be always on time. Now, I “know” that my Spanish colleagues will be at least 15 min late. If I now adjust to the Spanish way, staying a little longer for coffee while my Spanish colleague shows up on time to show she respects me…
This happened to me several times
I have the feeling that the more everybody gets trained on how the others are “supposed” to behave, the more complicated it gets. I know you know and you know that I know that you know… etc. This can make things even more complicated.
And I have not found a solution yet, but a hearty smile and “sorry”