Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews

You need strong cross-cultural skills when you travel or live abroad and when you work or interact often with people from different cultures.

It’s not always easy to develop your cross-cultural skills because it requires a fair amount of personal work to get to know yourself better. But the rewards are often worth the effort.

Here are some tips from the Cross-Cultural Twitter Interview series.

21 Tips To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills

1. Understand that EVERYTHING in life is culturally coded from when we were very young. So we all think differently about things: our meanings for things are deeply buried in our unconscious mind, what is a business for? how we think about our boss; what is luxury; quality; love; etc.  Individualism in Far East seen as immaturity- @deborahswallow
2. Research and appreciate the cultural diversity of the market you are preparing to visit before you travel there – @ohh_la_la
3. 1st, understand your OWN culture -> try to be understanding of others’ backgrounds. Now meet half way for common ground.- @HoeferleConsult
4. Visit the countries, get to know the people, try and see the world through their eyes. Learn from the experts including @CindyKing- @dkiernan
5. Immerse yourself deeply into other cultures by living & working in their country for at least six months- @transdomo
6. One tip to improve your cross-cultural skills…Know thyself–>Listen & Observe–>Communicate… in that order! – @culturematters
7. Be less self-righteous than who you are dealing with. The more humble you are, the more you are going to gain.- @PicSeshu
8. Travel, as “bare” as possible. When you are in need of something, you see how people react to your misery. Discovering people when out of your comfort zone is the greatest lesson ever! – @tdebaillon
9. One tip to improve cross-cultural skills is understand your own values & attitudes 1st so you can compare & contrast – @DR4Ward
10. Develop ability 2 appreciate historical backgrounds Honor experiences that might contradict ur way of looking @ life – @XCulture
11. Put yourself in the other culture’s shoes and think about what stereotypes exist about your own culture. – @jackyan
12. Learn a foreign language. Language and culture are so intertwined that… to fully understand the psyche of another nationality, you must know the language… – @CotterHUE
13. Learn another language – @wisequeen
14. Practice patience & never underestimate power of observation & ability to listen; if u make an effort … prepare to be pleasantly surprised; people care about you when you care and are genuinely interested in them – @DoreenatDMS
15. Be flexible when facing different values – try to understand what reasons lie behind other ways of thinking – @pocketcultures
16. Get out there amongst it! As a global village most people have many ethnicities within their community~and then there is the Internet~Skye, chat rooms, online classrooms, forums, blogs, email, video etc – @psitutor
17. Travel & try to understand local cultures. That open minds, changes perspectives & creates cross-cultural skills. – @culturalrealms
18. Adapt to the occasion, learn different languages, respect other cultures AND don’t hesitate to ask. – @mintblogger
19. Take the jump and just “do it,” i.e., travel and move abroad. – @lyceum
20. “Common Sense”, and all our underlying assumptions about everything are learned, and vary between cultures. Interact with different cultures with the knowledge that things you take for granted as true, are not universal. – @SeanJamesOliver
21. Other ways of doing & thinking just might be better so enter with an open mind – @DavidComp
22. I’d say be curious. If you’re curious, you’re observing, listening, questioning, reflecting and learning – @CateBrubaker

What Is Your Tip To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills?

Which one of the tipdo you like most?

• Do you have a favorite?
• Does one stand out and resonate with you?
• Do you have another one to add?

Share your 1-word definitions below.

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

21 Tips To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills

Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews

After looking at some great definitions of culture, here are some even shorter definitions. This time in one word only. These are answers from Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews of the people I recommend you follow on Twitter for cross-cultural and international insights. These Twitter interviews are carried out in the spirit of having fun, so these one word definitions are not to be taken too seriously.

Of course, it’s difficult to come up with a definition of culture that resonates with everyone.  And it’s impossible to come up with a one word definition that appeals to everyone. This is part of the fun and depends on what you see in this one word.  But I do think this exercise helps us to see “culture” from different perspectives and broadens our understanding of how others perceive culture.

This is why I like combining several one word definitions and coming up with different associations to come up with a variety of different meanings.  This helps me to broaden my own understanding of culture.

One of the responses on Twitter was: Culture is Zappos.  Of course, this isn’t the best definition, but it certainly got me thinking.

21 Definitiions Of Culture… In One Word

1. Culture is reflection - @matthewbennett
2. Culture is a CODE - @deborahswallow
3. Culture is Life - @ohh_la_la
4. Culture is communication - @HoeferleConsult
5. Culture is values - @dkiernan
6. Culture is creativity - @transdomo
7. Culture is relative - @culturematters
8. Culture is infrastructure – @tdebaillon
9. Culture is communication – @DR4Ward
10. Culture is awareness – @XCulture
11. Culture is us – @jackyan
12. Culture is vital – @CotterHUE
13. Culture is life – @DoreenatDMS
14. Culture is identity – @pocketcultures
15. Culture is language – @psitutor
16. Culture is ethos – @culturalrealms
17. Culture is strength – @mintblogger
18. Culture is sense-of-life – @lyceum
19. Culture is shared/learned – @SeanJamesOliver
20. Culture is interesting – @DavidComp
21. Culture is perspective – @CateBrubaker

What Is Your 1-Word Definition Of Culture?

Which definition do you like most?

• Do you have a favorite?
• Does one stand out and resonate with you?
• Do you have another one to add?

As usual, please share your 1-word definitions below.

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

21 Definitions Of Culture In One Word

Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews

Culture impacts the way we live. It shapes all aspects of our lives. And yet, we often forget we have a culture. It’s only when we are confronted with different cultures that we realize it exists. With all of the differences in our perceptions of what culture is, it’s not surprising there are many different definitions of culture.

What is culture exactly?  What is culture?

This is the first question I ask on the Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews I regularly conduct with the people on my list: Cross-Culturall & International People On Twitter. The answers are short and limited to a tweet or two.

Here are some great definitions of culture taken from these Twitter interviews in answer to the question: “What is Culture?”

21 Definitions Of Culture

1. Culture is the sum of a given society’s common history and its ability to reflect on itself. - @matthewbennett
2. Culture is the HEARTWARE of the Soul and the SOFTWARE of the Mind - @deborahswallow
3. Culture is a country’s culture entails attitudes, beliefs & values. Those shape each generation & are influenced by a multitude of factor – @ohh_la_la
4. Culture is the lubricant of daily life. A set of shared values & attitudes in a social group. An inherent code of communication. – @HoeferleConsult
5. Culture is how we relate to each other with respect to our beliefs and values - @dkiernan
6. Culture is created when the soul is rooted in tradition, the heart is learning by paradigm & action is influenced by society - @transdomo
7. Culture is everything we don’t talk about that we “know” is right - @culturematters
8. Culture is the ground over which we build our individual and collective behaviors – @tdebaillon
9. Culture is a way of life. The shared beliefs, attitudes&values of a group that are passed on, often without thought – @DR4Ward
10. Culture is the tapestry of our world. It contains our main points of reference and ways of relating to other people. – @XCulture
11. Culture is the collective achievements and societal norms of humankind – @jackyan
12. Culture is the foundation of a society. Everything done, everything said is because of the culture…  Culture affects language and business, family… every level of a society. You must know the culture to succeed. – @CotterHUE
13. Culture is a collective of shared values, customs, and attitudes; beliefs expressed through action, artistic or otherwise – @DoreenatDMS
14. Culture is a lens which filters how we see the world – @pocketcultures
15. Culture is meaning making through shared values and patterns of behaviour – @psitutor
16. Culture is a set of human interactions & tangible creations, based on learned skills, knowledge, values and behaviors…shaped historically, geographically, economically, socially, and individually. – @culturalrealms
17. Culture is a belief, a practice within a community without which nation will cease to exist. – @mintblogger
18. Culture is “the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men.” Ayn Rand – @lyceum
19. Culture is the cumulative set of learned values and behaviors humans acquire, both intentionally and unintentionally. – @SeanJamesOliver
20. Culture is a shared way of living defined by the arts, communication, values, beliefs and history – @DavidComp
21. Culture is shared, learned, invisible, dynamic, created, transmitted …I like the “software of the mind” idea when thinking about what culture is – @CateBrubaker

What Is Your Definition Of Culture?

What do you think about these definitions?

• Do you have a favorite?
• Do any stand out and resonate with you?
• Do you have another one to add?

There’s more space below that on Twitter, so let it rip.

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

21 Definitions Of Culture

Cultural Perceptions

Women have to pay close attention to cultural differences in perceptions. Many times when you make a cultural blunder you don’t realize you’ve made one until much later after the damage is done. Sometimes you never learn of your mistake. And often you’ll realize your mistake when you see the damage it’s done. This is particularly true of non-verbal cross-cultural communication challenges.

I’ve had a couple of reasons recently to think about the cultural differences in how women are perceived and I’d like to share one of these stories with you. I’m fairly sure the woman in this example did not realize the different perceptions people had of her photo.

First Impressions Online Go Farther Abroad

We all know the importance of the  first impression we make.  And when you have a successful online presence it’s natural to want to reach international audiences too.

But what happens when you’ve jeopardized your international success just because you did something too close to the line of what is socially acceptable in your own country.  And it turns out to have a different impact in other cultures.

Wrong Assumptions

First here’s a little background information to keep in mind. As you can see, I’m a woman and I grew up with American television.

You might think that I react to American women the same as other Americans.  Well the trouble is that I’ve worked with many different nationalities and I’ve learned to understand how others perceive things differently.

At the time I started blogging I noticed another woman who also started at about the same time.  She was in the same networking sphere as I was.  So naturally I stumbled across her blog a few times and clicked on her about page.

Too Much Skin Sends Clear Signals

There was a rather seductive photo of a woman… it was a head shot taken from an angle above.  You could see lots of bare skin.  She was obviously wearing a strapless dress, except you just couldn’t tell there was a dress in the way the photo was taken.

The photo clearly stated that this blogger wanted to appeal to men.  And the men in my social networking group liked her.  But I was not who she wanted to connect with.

Sorry guys. I don’t have a link for you. The photo is no longer there. Besides I just don’t like giving press to people unless I really like them. This is yet another way where my culture differs from others.

When Different Cultures Pick Up Different Signals

This presentation of herself would have impacted both men and women from other cultures in different ways.  Of course in many cultures she would have had a certain popularity with the male readers.  But popularity based on what?

Some cultures may simply consider it an artistic photo that did not match the content of the blog.

In Muslim countries this particular photo would probably have been considered pornographic.

The rules of seduction vary in different cultures and these rules of seduction can impact all of our communication.  I personally do not take offense with a photo of a woman in a sleeveless dress.  But a woman in a sleeveless dress in a very suggestive pose does tell me that she is after someone else to read her blog and I lose interest.

Success And A Change In Direction

Almost 2 years later, this blogger is still there and her blog is growing very nicely.

I revisted her blog recently and noticed the bare skin photo was gone. There was extra text: text describing an “all American girl” type lifestyle.

She’s obviously trying to change her image. The trouble is that I still remember the bare skin photo just a short while ago.  There was a disconnect.

I wonder what challenges she’ll face in adjusting the first impressions her original readers had.  And I think she’ll have more troubles establishing credibility for this new image within the international community.

Show Respect For All Of Your Audiences Right From The Start

This raises the question of showing respect and following basic cross-cultural communication guidelines to all of your audiences right from the start.  Here are two things that could have made a difference in my eyes.

Clarity helps wrong assumptions on both sides. If this photo was a photography class assignment, a short mention of this together with some explanation on the connection to the rest of the blog content would have helped. It would have helped to keep a good impression with at least a portion of the international audience.

Maintain consistency for better credibility.  The stories I got from the two different about pages did not seem to come from the same person.  There’s probably a good explanation, but the transition was too brutal to maintain credibility.

This is just a little bit of effort to make to protect your reputation and credibility with a larger international audience.

What do you think?

• Do women have a harder time to manage their online credibility?
• As a woman, when would you wear sleeves online to avoid offending a wider international audience?
• Do you consider an online photo in a sleeveless dress a cultural blunder?

More on Cultural Perceptions:

• Cultural Perception Of The Use Of Information
• International Perceptions Of Obama’s Inauguration News Coverage
• One Eye Gives Vision, Two Eyes Give Perspective

More On These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• Connect With Your International Markets
• Culture Customized Content
• Cultural Web Tools

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Cultural Perceptions Of Women Online

Cross-Cultural Differences

Cultural mistakes can happen when doing something as simple as setting an appointment. This follows on from by recent article on cultural confusion about the date of a deadline.

Here are five cultural differences in how we communicate times and dates that can lead to misunderstandings.

1. Fun With Half Hours

Some cultures use expressions where a “half hour” can mean 30 minutes before the hour referenced and not after the hour. This can lead to confusion when “half nine” means 8:30 and not 9:30.

This can happen when a non-native English speaker uses literal translations from their own language which uses such expressions.  But there are even native English speakers in some parts of the world who use similar expressions.

This type of mistake usually happens when speaking as most people write out the numbers.

Takeaway: Always be clear in how you say the time.

2. At Ease With 24 Hour Clocks

Here in Europe most businesses refer to time using the 24 hour clock.

The trouble is that there are many areas of the world where people are not at ease with this.  It takes them too long to calculate 16:00 as being 4pm. Confusion rarely happens with this, but it does make things easier for everyone and shows a bit more respect if you take the time to verify that everyone has the right time.

Takeaway:  Pay extra special attention to all references to time when dealing with people who may not be familiar with the 24 hour clock.

3. Different Dates

You also need to pay attention when writing numerical dates.  If you have an international audience it is much wiser to spell out the relevant month.  Instead of writing either “01.12.2010″ or “12.01.2010″ use either “12 January 2010″ or “January 12, 2010″

Most of the online forms have now solved this problem.  The confusion today is related to people not being aware of their global audience.

Takeaway: It is probably best to get into the habit of spelling the month when you can and then pay attention to clear instructions on all of the places where you have to use numerical dates.

4. Confusion With Next Tuesday

Another area of confusion is how some people refer to upcoming days of the week. If today is Monday December 28th and I refer to “This Friday” most people will understand Friday 1st January 2010.

The trouble is that not everyone would use the words “This Friday”. Some people would refer to Friday 1st January 2010 as “Next Friday”. It the next Friday to come.

Now I know there are grammar rule books that give the “proper’ way of saying this.  But you still need to communicate with different people who do not use the same rule book.

Takeaway: Use a date and if you do not have a calendar handy, explain what you mean.  ”Next Friday, in 4 days time” or “next Friday, at the end of next week”.

5. Acronyms For Time Zones

Navigating time zones for international meetings has become more complicated.   Not only do countries change the acronyms for their own time zones, but I have also encountered companies who use different acronyms for far away regions.

This can work within a company, but you cannot expect those far away regions to understand your own acronyms.  I won’t give any acronyms here because you should avoid them in all cross-cultural communication.

Speaking for time zones, if you are familiar with Greenwich Mean Time, did you notice that it now changes every summer?  So London is no longer on Greenwich Mean Time all of the time.  And did you notice how different countries use different start and end dates to change their summer time  zones?

Setting appointments across international time zones has become such a minefield that I now like to state the nearest big city for all people concerned when I confirm times.  This means there is no mistake with acronyms and the time for big cities can be found quickly online.  

Takeaway: Create a time on an easy to read global online clock and share the link.  Once you enter in your own time, let everyone check the time themselves.

Where Is Your Audience

Many people only think about the people they are interested in reaching.  There are also many people online who are not used to communicating with international audiences. And let’s face it… you need to pay attention to many little details if you want to communicate with international audiences.

But let me leave you a good reasons why you should remember to pay attention to these little details the next time you set up appointment with people who do not live next door to you.

Building trust across cultures is much harder to do.  You can lose it in a second… and you don’t always realize when you have lost trust.

People notice your cultural differences and these little mistakes stand out.  Your trust building capacity takes a hit when someone feels frustrated at having to make the extra effort to get an appointment right, or when someone feels hurt at having missed an appointment due to a cultural blunder.

No matter how much you appoligize and how well they seem to take it, cultural mistakes like these always make all of the other cultural differences stand out. The perception of dealing with foreigners is strengthened. And this is not the best environment to conduct business.

It’s just not worth it. A little discipline at this early stage can go a long way in building good international relationships.

Now over to you…

• What other cultural differences have you noticed people making that lead to confusion when setting up appointments?
• How do you make sure your international meetings are well organized?
• Do you have a favorite online world clock?

More on Cross-Cultural Differences:

• A Comparison Of Words In Different Cultures
• Cultural Differences In Doing Things
• Culture Changes How Brains Work
• Different Countries = Different Rules
• Different Eye Tracking For Different Cultures
• Free Courses, Content And Culture Scams
• Music In Cultural Differences
• Why These Colors?

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• Connect With Your International Markets
• Culture Customized Content
• Cultural Web Tools

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

5 Cultural Differences In Understanding Appointments

Cross-Cultural Differences

I recently got myself into a little bit of trouble in misinterpreting instructions on a deadline. Now this is my fault because I tend to scan most of the information I consume online. But the instructions were not very clear and explicit either and I naturally assumed the most obvious interpretation to me. This is the problem with reading like this.  Scanning favorizes assumptions and assumptions can lead to errors.

Different Meanings In How You Use The Word Deadline

My downfall came because people can use two ways of giving deadlines:

• Deadline December 23rd = meaning this is the last day for you to take action
• Deadline December 23rd = meaning you need to take action before this date. In this case your last day for taking action would be December 22nd.

And I navigate almost exclusively in circles where people use the first example with the deadline date given is the last day to take action. But there are people who give the date to mean the first day after you must take action. And this is what happened to me. I had left taking action to what I thought was the very last day, but I was already one day too late.

Different Ways Of Communication

Let’s look at some differences in language:

• By December 23rd
• Before December 23rd

What do these mean to you? I have actually met different people who use either of these examples with the two different meanings above. This is why setting and interpreting deadlines is not as straightforward as it seems.

Clarify Your Deadlines

When you set deadlines for people who speak a different language, you usually make sure to communicate with extra clarity.  But when setting deadlines for people who speak English too, it’s easy to lose that clarity and assume everyone uses your own communication style. This was a reminder to always clarify deadline dates even within cultures where I expect easy communication.

An Inconvenient Outcome For Both Of Us

Fortunately I was able to get this resolved. But this incident was inconvenient to me for 3 reasons:

• It required 2 hours of my time to resolve this which I would happily have avoided
• It was not resolved properly and brought extra attention to myself
• I hate getting myself noticed like this and feel a small degree of resentment for this service provider’s sloppy instructions for putting me in this situation

The embarrassment and inconvenience was slight, but I will remember this incident in any other future miscommunication. And it’s a shame for this service provider to lose trust points through such a small lack of clarity. As it turned out I was not the only one who had a different interpretation for deadline dates. The instructions were simply not clear enough.

More on Cross-Cultural Differences:

• A Comparison Of Words In Different Cultures
• Cultural Differences In Doing Things
• Culture Changes How Brains Work
• Different Countries = Different Rules
• Different Eye Tracking For Different Cultures
• Free Courses, Content And Culture Scams
• Music In Cultural Differences
• Why These Colors?

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• Connect With Your International Markets
• Culture Customized Content
• Cultural Web Tools

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Cultural Differences In Understanding Deadlines

How To Develop Your Cross-Cultural Skills

E arlier this week I tried to help someone on a forum, but I ran into some communication hurdles. Now, there is only so much you can do in writing and there is only so much time I can spend on a forum. So, when after a few attempts I realized that this person had some “baggage” creating barriers to our conversation, I decided to drop it. This was not the time and place to go any further. We really needed a face to face discussion to have a meaningful conversation.

This incident reminded me of the importance of getting acquainted with your own cultural baggage.

The Interference Of Baggage

In the case above, this person lived with a painful disease and she had created ways of dealing with this pain that impacted her communication in general. In addition, her baggage came in the way of others wanting to interact with her.

You know what I’m talking about right? If you pay attention, you will occasionally notice people with “baggage”.  You may know of people who have gone through a lot and who have not yet finished the healing process.  And there might not be challenging life experiences behind this baggage. Some people carry baggage that impacts their communication because they consider themselves too short, too tall, too skinny, too fat. It can be anything really.  But the point is that communication is not easy because this person has baggage that gets in the way.

Now that you have an idea of what I’m referring to with regards to “baggage”, let’s move on and look closer at cultural baggage.

What Is Cultural Baggage?

Of course we all have cultural baggage that comes with our own culture.  Although this can lead to some interesting observations, let’s look at cultural baggage as it impacts cross-cultural communication. Along the lines of what I outlined above.

The main problem with our culture baggage is that we tend to make wrong assumptions. We have assumptions about ourselves, our family, friends and the world around us.  These assumptions are based on our own experience. And we tend to think this is the only way of doing things. We rarely question our assumptions because they seem so natural to us.  These assumptions relate to what we find polite, kind, respectful, friendly… you get the picture.  And they also relate to our own life experiences, as I mentioned above.

Because these assumptions are based on our cultural background, heritage and environment, they can quickly become unnecessary baggage and get in the way of cross-cultural communication.

You have two options to deal with these assumptions.

1. First Develop Awareness For Your Own Cultural Baggage

The first step is to realize and acknowledge the cultural baggage you carry around with you and to identify the specific pieces of baggage you hang onto that impact your cross-cultural communication.

The cultural baggage you carry with you impacts:

• How others perceive you
• The quality of your communication
• The success of your international business relationships

So you need to be aware of how you come across to others. And this means developing a keen awareness of the the cultural baggage you carry with you. This will help you to see when others have cultural baggage that interferes with your communication.  This knowledge will help you to understand other cultures and also to find the suitable path for effective communication.

2. Learn When To Unload Your Cultural Baggage

It’s natural to assume that you must get rid of all of the excess cultural baggage interfering with your cross-cultural communication.  But this is not the solution.

You don’t need to give up who you are in order to be good at cross-cultural communication.

Knowing your personal boundaries. With practice you will learn to identify your personal boundaries for what feels comfortable to you.  There are no rules except good cross-cultural communicators know their boundaries well and learn how to avoid getting so close to these boundaries to stir up negative feelings.  This might be feelings of aggression, dislike and not accepting to be associated with someone.

Placing your cultural baggage aside. Curiosity is often a good way to forget your own cultural baggage.  As you focus on the other person it is often easy to keep your own cultural baggage within.  But in some cases you may need to temporarily set a cumbersome piece of baggage down for a moment or two.  All you need is a few minutes.  Enough time to find the right path of mutual understanding and direct your communication into easier areas.

Sometimes your cultural baggage can be helpful to you. This is usually the case when you have let the communication go beyond the boundaries you are comfortable with. Although you can find comfort in holding onto your cultural baggage in these circumstances, this does not help you to improve your cultural skills.

To improve your cross-cultural skills you need to make the effort of learning more about your boundaries and how to put aside the most cumbersome pieces of baggage for just a moment.

And you can also progressively learn to carry less baggage with you.

Lighten The Load

Cross-cultural communication is not always easy in business.  You have little choice in who you have to deal with.  For some people the path towards developing the right mindset to build strong international relationships is a long one.  And it can be tiring in a profession where you have to constantly adapt to different cultures.

The good news is that the more international experience you have, the more you’ll understand different cultures. And this understanding helps you to learn more about yourself and your own cultural baggage.

If you encounter the same or similar communication problems, spend some quiet time thinking about the baggage you bring to the encounter and how this impacts your cross-cultural communication.  As you progressively acquire more self-knowledge you can lighten the baggage you carry with you little by little.

Once you learn to recognize cultural baggage you’ll also notice how the people with strong cultural skills master their own cultural baggage very well so that it does not impact their cross-cultural encounters.

What do you think?

• Have you ever had a conversation turn sour because the other person had too much baggage?
• How familiar are you with your own cultural baggage?
• Do you know if your cultural baggage is raising unnecessary hurdles in your cross-cultural communication?

More On How To Develop Your Cross-Cultural Skills:

• Getting Beyond Visible Cultural Differences
• International Exposure To Develop Cross-Cultural Skills
• How An Open Mindset Increases Confidence
• International Exposure To Develop Cross-Cultural Skills
• Morphing Into A Foreign Culture
• Prejudice – A Cross-Cultural Business Barrier

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

• Connect With Your International Markets
• Culture Customized Content
• Cultural Web Tools

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Getting Acquainted With Your Cultural Baggage

Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Personal Development

This is Day 4 of the 30-day challenge to focus on your personal development in cross-cultural communication. Each day there is one short topic to reflect on.

Day 4 – Communication Skills for Cross-Cultural Competence

We previously talked about:

• How your own mindset and where you begin your cross-cultural communication is important
• How curiosity is the key to beginning cross-cultural communication
• How empathy is the foundation of all cultural skills

And before we go any further we must look at the subject of cross-cultural competence right in the face.  You need to have good communication skills for cross-cultural competence.  The stronger your communication skills the more competent you will become in international business.  You own communication skills are the tools you use for communicating effectively across cultures.

Communication To Connect Across Cultures

There is no universal ideal way to communicate.  Our communication style depends on may different factors: our culture, education, personality to name a few. We can all become good at cross-cultural communication.  The key to do this is be aware of:

• The different levels of communication

In cross-cultural communication we tend to focus on the language, but don’t forget that communication is much more than just language.  Becoming competent in cross-cultural skills involves becoming proficient in listening, reading and communicating on all of the different levels of communication.  This is why communication skills are so important.  Because there are many different communication skills.

Steps Towards Developing Good Cross-Cultural Communication Skills

Here are some practical steps to take to improve your communication skills.

First, remember that although you do not feel “weird” in any way, you will appear “different” to other cultures.  So pay attention to your own communication and  pay special attention to:

• Clarity in what you communicate
• Consistency in what you communicate

Next, begin slowly by paying attention to different aspects of the communication:

• Body language
• What is said
• What is not said
• How things are said
• When things are said
• Who says what

Learning how to filter all of this information at once and make sense of it takes experience. Learning exactly what to pay attention to also takes experience.  The main takeaway here is to know that you need to look for communication on many different levels.

Good Communication Skills

There are many great benefits for people who take the time to improve their communication skills.  Good communication impacts just about all aspects of our lives.  For us here it:

• Improves all aspects of international business
• Improves cross-cultural communication
• Avoids cross-cultural blunders

Main Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges

For beginners the main challenges to improve your cross-cultural communication skills are when you:

• Are unaware of obvious communication difficulties
• Assume others understand you perfectly.. and continue
• Make wrong assumptions
• Do not take the time to open your ears and listen – hint curiosity helps you here too

Always Verify Understanding

There is a simple trick to help you as you become more skilled in cross-cultural communication

• Regularly verify mutual understanding

Now sometimes people get over zealous with this.  You don’t want to appear too fearful and raise any doubts about anyone’s communication abililties.  There is a skill in making this seem natural.  If you listen well enough you will know when it is wise to double check everyone has the same understanding.

And remember the same words spoken by two people does not mean they have the same understanding.

Your Actions Today

Here are a few tips to start with:

• Take things slowly – find the right sequence for your communication
• Ask questions
• Ask questions when something seem slightly odd
• Summarize your understanding at regular intervals and ask if this is right.

Where To Get Your CCCC Tips Every Day:

• Here on this blog: Four Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges In 2009
• Follow me on Twitter in March, June, September and December

Need Cross-Cultural Business Coaching?

Do you need help in navigating the cross-cultural minefields of international business? Sign up for confidential one-on-one coaching sessions.  Email me and ask to set up a call.

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Personal Development In Cross-Cultural Communication – Day 4