Mindset In Cross-Cultural Communication
Studying different habits and learning how to shake hands in different cultures has a value. But this is not this skill that will help develop your international business.
Cross-cultural vision and an international mind-set will give you a skill set to communicate better with your international clients. This skill set will also help you to evaluate your international business potential in foreign markets. Here is how this will help you:
- The ability to see from different cultural points of view
- An increased ease of adapting to different cultures
- An understanding of different forms of politeness
- An understanding of cultural differences in respect
- An awareness of different professional behaviors and their meaning
- An ability to adjust your own behavior to these cultural differences within seconds
- The ability to navigate through different cultures without communications, and business, coming to a halt
Brush up your international skills…
Read more on Mindset In Cross-Cultural Communication:
- Communication Across Cultures Is Better With A Whole Brain Approach
- Cross Cultural Vision Is More Important Than Learning International Habits
- How An Open Mindset Increases Confidence
- How To Acquire The Right Mindset For International Sales
- How To Identify An International Mindset
- The Secret Of Successful Intercultural Communication
Mindset Is Key To Your International Success In More Than One Way
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree. Often clients ask me for a laundry list of do’s and don’ts when dealing with foreigners. I suppose many people think that by knowing some of the idiosyncrasies of these foreigners, they can then minimise the chances of offending these foreigners.
There are many problems to this approach, even if you can remember the endless list of things to take into account.
Developing a “cross-cultural vision”, or understanding frameworks and dimensions, is far more useful in navigating cultural differences
Kenneth –
It really is all about taking one step towards the other persons culture, isn’t it.
It is sometimes hard for us to do. So much easier to stay in our own little cocoon, and let the other person take all the steps if they want to.
Sometimes, rarely, but it does happen – I look at the cross cultural “friendships” I have where I seem to be taking all the steps to meet the other persons culture, and he or she doesn’t make any effort.
But, hey, the other person might be making some effort somewhere that I didn’t see….
One of my clients had a big problem. His Japanese
partner always invited him to a bar…(with girls)
My client is German and he doesn’t like such contacts.
It was not easy to find a solution. But here it comes:
He told him: “..I can’t do it…because of religious reasons…”
What do you think about it, Cindy ?
Hi “Tessen”,
It is interesting to hear about this sort of problem. I have often been in situations as a woman. An important part of cross-cultural skills is having an intimate knowledge of oneself. And going beyond knowledge… sort of like knowing that you have just as much right to take up the space you take up and according to your own values.
The first times these situations occur it is easy not to be as smooth as you would like. A serene knowledge of who you are and what you represent will help you find the right “tone” in all circumstances… It is a quiet confidence and not pushing your beliefs onto others. A truth unto yourself.
Most people have trouble when they do not know themselves well enough to know where their personal boundaries are and when they need to steer clear of them. Without these personal boundaries you can let yourself get into situations where things do not end well. With the right inner confidence of this self knowledge you can easily avoid the embarrassing situations.
Hope this helps. One of the things that helped me was recognizing people with strong cultural skills and watching them in action. It’s always smooth. They never let themselves get into situations where they feel personally under aggression.