Clarity In Cross-Cultural Communication – Tip 1

Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Get Extreme With Clarity

Clarity In Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 1

This month is the second Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge.  The first challenge in March gave you 31 tips to Expand Your Mindset. Each day in June, you will find a new tip here on this blog to help you get extreme with clarity in your cross-cultural communication.

Why Do You Need To Get Extreme?

Clarity in communication is important, and in cross-cultural communication it is critical. For international business it can be the reason behind success or failure.  International businesses need clarity simply to get international sales. Any lack of clarity can:

• Slow down an international sales process
• Cost you more in sales support
• And, even kill sales

We all overestimate the clarity of our own communication. After all, we understand what we are saying.  And usually our colleagues, friends, neighbors and everyone around us also understand us. It is when we try to communicate across cultures where the communication gets bumpy and we learn to seek even more clarity in our communication.

Listen To Improve Clarity

Over the next 30 days we will look at little ways to improve clarity in cross-cultural communication. These 30 days are broken down into 6 sections of 5 days each.

• Listen
• Don’t Assume
• Be Aware
• Simplify
• Explain
• Global Vision

Our tips on clarity begin with improving our listening skills. This should come as no surprise.  When you listen carefully to your cross-cultural communication you can:

• Identify areas where there is a lack of clarity
• When you need to give more details
• See patterns when communication needs further explanation

Clarity In Cross-Cultural Communication Tip 1

Let’s get started… here is today’s tip:

Open your eyes, ears and your whole mind… and follow all aspects of your cross-cultural communication.

All international professionals have strong skills in being aware of what is going on.  The more experience you have in different cross-cultural environments, the more you will understand what this means.  You can say it is multi-tasking with all of your sensory capabilities turned on high.

It all starts with listening. So try to improve your listening skills, especially when you are with people from other cultures.

Use this tip as a starting point. Think about what this means to you. Not sure what you think about this? There are a few links below to some suggested reading to get you started. Follow each of these tips this month and you will improve your cultural skills.

Further Suggested Reading & Viewing

• 7 Tips For Easy Cross-Cultural Encounters
• Can You Prevent All Cultural Blunders?
• A Different English For Your International Audience

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Tagged as: 30-day challenge, clarity, Cross-Cultural Communication, cultural skills, International Business, International Sales, listen

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