Improve Your Cross-Cultural Communication
One of the basic guidelines for good cross-cultural communication is to avoid acronyms. Despite this:
- Some businesses seem to love acronyms
- Some people seem to want to have entire conversations stuffed with these short little letters
- Some people even seem proud to speak this secret language
Simply put, acronyms build barriers to effective cross-cultural communication. Different people may have different meanings for the same acronym which leads straight to confusion. Acronyms always lead the conversation away from clarity.
Acronym Confusion Almost Stopped All Contact
I had an interesting incident earlier in January. As I was arranging to schedule a phone meeting with an American based out of California, he set a time at 6pm CET. He has offices elsewhere in the States.
I thought that this Central US Time and was in the middle of the night my time. So I said that I could only make it at an earlier time. He pushed this time again. As this was a preliminary contact I almost cut off the relationship. I do not want to start any business relationship where they get me up in the middle of the night. My brain does not function well living like that.
It took about six emails back and forth before I realized that for this person CET means Central European Time.
Acronyms Created By Others
Now, I have lived and worked in international environments here in Europe for almost three decades and I have never heard of this. When I have used acronyms for time, I have only ever used GMT – for Greenwich Mean Time. So France is GMT+1.
CET shocks me even more. Here in France I just do not feel as if I live in Central Europe. Everywhere else I see France referred to as part of Western Europe. CET definitely seems out of place. It has the feel of American fabrication… of someone sitting in an office somewhere… far from where I am. And this did not leave me with a good impression of the person who used it.
Take The Opposite Route
Instead of using acronyms, spell everything out. In practice I always spell times out as much as possible:
- 18:00 my time in Paris – noon your time in New York.
I like the 24 hour clock because there is no place for confusion. But it is true, that I have run into many North Americans who cannot see what time this means for them. So I occasionally use “am” and “pm”, but only for North Americans who have not traveled.
Shorty after this incident I had an email to set up a phone call, where the person mentioned three different time zones and put in so many abbreviations that I could not follow what she wanted.
The reason why I like to spell meetings dates and times out in full, is through habit of communicating with clarity. Good cross-cultural communication requires systematic clarity anywhere there might be confusion. This way there are two pairs of eyes that can pick up a mistake in time or place.
More On How To Improve Your Cross-Cultural Communication:
- Do You Have Any Culture Tips To Share?
- Where Cultural Miscommunication Happens
- 7 Tips For Easy Cross-Cultural Encounters
- Avoid Acronyms For Better Cross-Cultural Communication
- Better Cross-Cultural Communication – Rephrase, Don’t Shout
- Cultural Dimensions – A New Tool
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