Are you building a global team? Are you an expat working in a senior position in an offshore team? Are you working in a multinational organisation?
If you answered “yes” to any of these, chances are you have faced one of the many challenges cultural diversity brings.
What makes a good communicator or leader in one culture does not automatically transfer when working in another culture. In fact, it could create conflict!
In our Cultural Intelligence program, one of our topics covered is the key theoretical framework of cross-cultural communication: High context v low-context. What is high v low context?
High-context communication is experienced largely through non-verbal cues, inferences and shared commonalities and understandings rather than explicit verbal communication – essentially, a lot of reading between the lines and discovering what is meant rather than what is said.
Low-context communication is exactly the opposite, it focuses on what is said rather than what might be meant. Explicit verbal messages carry more weight than what might be hinted with non-verbal communication.
So, what does this mean if you have a mix of both communication styles in your team?
If you are from a low context culture, which commonly includes Western, Anglo-Saxon countries, chances are you may perceive high-context communicators as secretive or lacking transparency. Conversely, if you are from a more high-context culture, commonly including Eastern countries, and PNG, you may perceive low-context communicators as blunt or patronizing for stating the obvious.
Here are 3 examples to display exactly how communication can go wrong without awareness and intelligence of how the two communication styles interact:
- Culture 1: “With all due respect” (actually means: “I think you are wrong”) | Culture 2 interpretation: They are listening to me!
- Culture 1: “I’m sure this was my fault” (actually means: “It’s not my fault”) | Culture 2 interpretation: Its their fault!
- Culture 1: “That is an original idea you’ve put forward” (actually means: “I don’t think it will work”) | Culture 2 interpretation: They like my idea!
If you work with teams that include both communication styles, its important for you to be able to recognise not only how different cultures communicate, but for you to understand cultural relativity, that is, where your home culture sits in comparison to the culture of your colleagues. They’re communicating from their culture, you’re hearing in yours!
This is only one facet of diversity of culture, but, with appropriate training, multicultural teams can thrive with innovation, creativity and growth!
If you want to find out more about cultural intelligence and our Cultural Intelligence program, get in touch with us today to chat with me, Gary Blair, Principal Consultant, Learning and Development.