Cross Cultural Issues
Multinational companies have the great advantage of working in and with different cultures to make their products and services accessible to a far wider community.
Cross-Cultural Issues Differences Problems and Solutions
The Good News
Multinational companies have the great advantage of working in and with different cultures to make their products and services accessible to a far wider community.
The impetus for reaching beyond their own borders makes commercial sense.
The Less Good News
When multinationals develop into or with other countries there may be an assumption that because everyone within the company is working for the same goals and to the same values, they will automatically communicate, think and view the world in the same way.
When multiple cultures begin working together, problems or difficulties arise that many people within these companies are not skilled or adept enough to deal with effectively. This can simply be because they’ve never had to deal with the issue before.
Language is often the least difficult cross-cultural issue to breach. When we know there may be language differences, we have a greater awareness of the potential for problems. However, much more often it’s a completely different way of seeing things and an inability, or unwillingness, to see what the other person is seeing that causes the difficulties.
Misunderstanding Is Normal
At Impact Factory we say that ‘misunderstanding is the norm’. We assume that because the other person knows our language (or we know theirs) that we speak the same language. Often we don’t. Even when our ‘Mother’ tongue is the same, we don’t speak it the same way.
When we work with other cultures, it’s easy to be influenced by common stereotypes, misconceptions and prejudices about our new colleagues. Without realising it, we carry those misconceptions and stereotypes into meetings, conferences, training or even social gatherings which can make communication difficult and hard work.
In Our Own Culture
In our own culture (where we feel at ‘home’), we are all individuals with a host of differences; yet there are so many similarities that the cross-cultural issues can seem negligible. There appears to be more in common than may actually be so, but somehow we absorb and adjust to the differences.
When we are abroad, or even in our own home territory working with others from abroad, the differences are far more apparent and it becomes much harder to see the similarities.
Feeling Comfortable
‘Home’ is the place where we feel most comfortable. The landscape looks familiar and we know the signposts that tell us where we are. When we are away from ‘home’ we may try to recreate that landscape: we surround ourselves with people who are like us; we join clubs where we’re all similar; we may even try to get the ‘aliens’ to be more like us so that we feel more comfortable.
Not only that, if we start having difficulties with someone, it seems easier to focus on the differences and to start gathering ‘evidence’ to support our case about how difficult they are, than to look for the common ground which might lead to a resolution. We might even create a hurdle out of a hillock!
Persuading Others To Change
Life would certainly be a lot simpler if other people would just shape up and see things our way!
As ridiculous as that statement looks when written out, that is often what we think when things aren’t going well, particularly when communication starts breaking down. We wait for the other person to change so we’ll be all right (‘If only he’d listen to me I’d be fine.’ ‘If only she’d be clearer I could get my work done more efficiently.’).
All of us at some time or another have thought of something similar.
Change You Not Them
The reality is that the only person you can change is you.
When you are the ‘interloper’ you can’t afford to wait for the other person to change and see things your way. If you are in trouble and it feels as though people won’t meet you halfway unless you change and do something different, communication will continue to disintegrate.
Even if you aren’t the interloper but are working at home with someone from another culture, waiting for the other person to change could mean a long wait.
The really good news
The really good news is that something can be done about these difficulties that doesn’t require you to change everything about yourself.
It is far easier to make small adjustments and tweaks to become a more effective and aware communicator when working cross-culturally. This can be valuable for all levels of the business, but particularly for new line managers.
On an Impact Factory Cross-Cultural Issues programme delegates:
- Examine how to look after themselves whilst changing the outcome of difficult or complex communications.
- Practise how to be in charge of the way communication happens.
- Look at some of the things that separate cultures and create unnecessary misunderstandings.
- Discover how they can adapt their behaviour without being in conflict with who they are.
A Cross-Cultural Programme Looks At:
- Diversity or Difference
- Terms of Reference and Language
- Assumptions
- Projection and Perception
- Images (media, historical)
- Beliefs and Traditions
- Avoiding Avoidance
- Finding Common Ground
- Spheres of Influence
- Blame vs. What CAN I do
- Conflict Resolution and Negotiation (Creating Win/Win solutions)
- Dealing with Misunderstandings
- Getting what you want
- Delegate’s specific situations and difficulties
Companies that have asked us to include material on cross-cultural issues have been concerned that the vital work of their companies can get compromised (or at least, slowed down) if problems (or potential problems) are not brought into the open and addressed.
Cross-Cultural Issues Skills and Development
Impact Factory runs
Open Communication Skills Courses
Tailored Training Designed for You
Five-Day Intensive Communicate With Impact Workshops
and personalised
One-to-One Cross-Cultural Skills Training
for anyone who is interested in
