International Business Networking

International networking plays an important role in international business.  It’s how we discover international opportunities and avoid cultural blunders.  It’s how we learn to do business in other cultures.

One of the important things about international networking is that it needs to be done consistently.  You cannot jump in and network for a month or two and stop because you think you have all the answers you need to take action.  The risk of making a cultural blunder is too great.  Consistent networking ensures that we stay current and it’s how we make sure the understanding we have of international markets is accurate.

This might be why I’ve become a creature of habit when it comes to networking.  In fact, I particularly like networking habits to become second nature. And this is how I approached international networking online.

Daily Skype Calls To Connect With New People On Twitter

At the beginning of last year I decided to implement a new habit, regularly speaking to interesting people I meet on Twitter. It was simple: I tried to Skype one person every day as often as I could.

This may seem a lot, especially when you consider calls almost always last more than 30 minutes and often a full hour. But I’m lucky, the time difference plays in my favor. You see, I try to schedule these calls late in the afternoon just before wrapping up and mornings on the other side of the Atlantic.  And I although I’m fairly flexible on the time, I always keep the calls limited to an hour.  So I aimed to spend an hour every day whenever possible to connect to someone I had never spoken to before.

The first 6 months of last year I probably averaged about 3-4 calls to new people I met on Twitter each week. And I also started regular Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews where I called and got to know each person before the Twitter interview.

In the second half of the year I paid less attention to how many new people I connected with. This was partly because I started speaking to several people on a regular basis and did not keep track of how many new people I spoke to during the week.  And after 6 months of consciously choosing to spend an hour to reach out and connecting with people on Skype it simply became a habit at the end of my day.

The results?  To put it simply: this works. While networking like this I meet valuable people to add to my international business network. I don’t add everyone I speak to.  But I now have a great list of valuable business contacts.

Weekly Guest Posts To Connect With A Broad Audience

As last year’s networking tactic has now become a habit, I’d like to start using another networking tactic on a regular basis. The habit I’d like to install this year is weekly guest posting. As you may know, I already write content on a regular basis for several different blogs:

• Social Media Examiner
• Top Sales Experts
• ClickInsights
• Bloggertone
• Sales Bloggers

But I’d like to add a bit more variety to this mix to fit some of my other online activities.  Two things happened recently to make me take this decision.

Guest Posting. This is an ebook by Chris Garrett which explains how to guest post and why you should do it. It costs about $10 and yes, this is an affiliate link.  After reading this ebook I was convinced of the value in adding more variety to my guest posting.

My Blog Guest.  This is an online community created by Ann Smarty where you can both ask for guest posts and also find blogs open to publishing your guest posts.  It’s also a great place to share guest posting tips and experiences.  Ann has set up a grading system for the blogs open to accepting guest posts.  I have to say I’m impressed with how this is set up and the quality of members there.  My Blog Guest makes it easy to find guest posting opportunities.

My Guest Posting Plan

So this year I aim to write at least 1 guest post a week in addition to my current activities.  Why?

• To reach a wider audience
• To also write articles on 2 new web marketing activities: WishList membership sites on WordPress and product launch management

My core expertise is international marketing and sales strategy for international business development through social media.  But there are several different domains of competence in what I do and I need to stay current to apply these skills online.  So I get my hands dirty and have fun experimenting with different aspects of online marketing. I like to bring my traditional international marketing skills and apply them to specific web platforms and tools.

I’ll share more about these new activities later. But this is why I’ve decided to use guest posting to expand my international network within these new areas.

What about you?

• What tactics do you use to grow your international network?
• Do you think guest posting would help your online business?
• And… would you like me to write a guest post for you on membership site marketing or business networking for product launches?

More on International Business Networking:

• 2 Habits To Grow Your International Network
• The Biggest Mistake In International Networking
• Follow Up With Your First International Clients
• Online Business Networking When Cultural Communication Styles Clash

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

2 Habits To Grow Your International Network

Cultural 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.

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 jeapordized 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 Differet 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 manager their online credibility?
• As a woman, when would you wear sleeves online to avoid offending a wider international audience?
• Do you consider a photo in a sleeveless dress a cultural blunder online?

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

When Women Create Havoc In Cultural Perceptions

Twitter Interviews – #CKinterview

Today’s Cross-Cultural Interview is with Cate Brubaker . Cate is the person behind the Twitter handle @CateBrubaker.

Cate Brubaker specializes in intercultural education. By day, Cate is a Cross-cultural Program Development Manager for an international education organization. By night, she’s a blogger, author, and consultant. Cate is also co-founder and President of SIETAR-NC and Marketing Co-chair for the 2010 SIETAR-USA conference. She is based in the U.S. but has lived in Germany and traveled throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

This is a 2 part interview:

• Part 1 – The Blog Interview
• Part 2 – The Twitter Interview for 10 Cross-Cultural & International Questions

Cate Brubaker – Part 1

Hi Cate, for those who don’t know you, can you please tell us something about yourself?

Cate Brubaker : Hi everyone! I grew up among the evergreen trees of Oregon and now live in the land of barbecue and sweet tea, otherwise known as North Carolina. I’ve also lived in Germany and the Midwestern U.S. – places where winter lasts entirely too long.

I’m married, and although my husband and I would like to live abroad again, we’re enjoying getting to know the “the South.”

My career path so far: candy store, catering, English teacher, German teacher, grad student, study abroad, intercultural trainer…

I’m trying to figure out how to be a professional round-the-world backpacker.

How did you pick up your cross-cultural skills?

Cate Brubaker : Experience. Study. Mistakes. Lots and lots of each.

As a kid I was drawn to anyone who wasn’t from “around here.” I remember being really, really curious about the rest of the world. I wanted to explore and understand other countries on their terms and turf.

At 16, I got my chance, thanks to the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program. The year I spent living in Germany – my first time traveling outside the U.S. – was difficult, exhilarating, and the reason I’ve worked cross-culturally ever since.

I studied German in college and grad school, spent a couple more years in Germany, and traveled whenever I could. I spent a lot of time trying to understand my (sometimes negative) reactions and interpretations…but I often felt stuck, and sometimes I just couldn’t understand or even explain the cultural rifts I encountered.

When I was teaching, and especially when I worked for a study abroad program in Germany, I noticed that many of my students had similar difficulties. I wanted to learn how to guide my students (and myself) into deeper cross-cultural learning. One thing led to another, and I discovered the field of intercultural communication. I felt like a whole new world had opened up to me. I dove into studying everything I could get my hands on.

Nowadays I strive to maintain a balance of keeping up with theory and putting myself in cross-cultural situations that stretch me. Developing cross-cultural skills is a life-long endeavor.

How do you use your cross-cultural skills in your job?

Cate Brubaker : My job requires me to walk my cross-cultural talk every day. Some days I’m more successful than others!

In my day job, I not only have colleagues from around the world, I also facilitate workshops for intercultural audiences. My job sometimes takes me outside the U.S. (I’ve worked with educators in Europe, the Caribbean, and Central and South America).

One thing I’ve learned in my current job is that my cross-cultural skills aren’t only applicable in situations where I’m working with people from other countries – they’re also useful when working with my U.S. colleagues who sometimes have very different communication styles, backgrounds, and perspectives than I do.

One example: early on in my current job I was moved into a department I really didn’t want to work in. One I didn’t think I belonged in. I remember feeling like I’d moved to another country because everything seemed so foreign. Then it hit me: I could put my cross-cultural skills to work, even though everyone on my team was the same nationality as me.

During the year I spent in that department I strove to understand my new department’s perspectives, communication styles, and values. Was it a difficult year? Yes. But I’m so grateful for the experience because I gained a deeper understanding – and respect – for the work my colleagues do.

Can you tell us about your blog?

Cate Brubaker:

Isn’t it interesting that we all grow up learning a culture? And even more interesting, that school is one of the places where we learn it?

We at CulturallyTeaching are fascinated by this connection between education and culture. A favorite elementary school teacher, a student’s interaction with her host mother, even a photo of a school lunch – these stories communicate culture.

Our mission is simple: document stories about education across cultures.

CulturallyTeaching is run by a team of 3: me – from the U.S., Anamaria, who is originally from Romania but lives in the U.S., and Pamela, a teacher who just returned home to Argentina after 3 years in the U.S.

Here are a couple CulturallyTeaching posts your readers might enjoy:

43 cross-cultural quotes for the classroom
Sleeping in school – a cultural thing?
I’ve ‘turned on my Romanian’

Our goal is to create a community of educulturalists – people interested in the intersection between education and culture. We’re always looking for people to share their experiences with CulturallyTeaching, so if any of your readers are interested, please contact us. Don’t be shy, we’ll make it as easy as possible for you to share your story. We believe everyone has a story to tell.

I have a couple of lists I’m building here on this blog, and wonder if you have anything you would like to share.

Do you have a favorite movie that could help people understand cultural issues?

Cate Brubaker: A few of my favorites: L’auberge Espagnole (captures some universal elements of studying abroad), Good Bye Lennon (humorous take on the fall of the Berlin wall), 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (drama set in 1980’s Romania)

Do you have a book you could recommend to help others improve their cultural insights?

Cate Brubaker: Lost in Translation: Life in a New Language by Eva Hoffman – a powerful book that’s also a delight to read.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Cate Brubaker: What I love about blogging and being on Twitter and Facebook is connecting with people all over the world. Even though I’d love to spend a year traveling the world and documenting people’s stories about education and culture in person, I really enjoy engaging with and learning from people online.

I’d especially love to connect with people from parts of the world I don’t have as much experience with as I’d like – Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Oceania.
Thanks for interviewing me, Cindy. I’ve enjoyed reading the other interviews you’ve done, and I’m thrilled to be part of the series.

Cate, thank you for sharing so much with us in this portion of the interview already. I’m looking forward to hearing your answers to the 10 Cross-Cultural Questions on Twitter with you later today.

Cate Brubaker – Part 2 – The Twitter Interview

This is an interview series of the people I recommend you follow on Twitter for the cross-cultural and international business insights in their tweets.

More Twitter Interviews

• Martin Lindeskog – @lyceum
• Rajeev Edmonds – @mintblogger
• Rossitza Ohridska-Olson – @culturalrealms
• Charmayne Paul – @psitutor
• Lucy Chatburn – @pocketcultures
• Doreen Iannuzzi – @DoreenatDMS
• Donna Jackson – @wisequeen
• Chris Cotter – @CotterHUE
• Jack Yan – @jackyan
• Silvia Cambié – @XCulture
• Bill Ward – @DR4WARD
• Thierry De Baillon – @t_de_baillon
• Seshu – @PicSeshu
• Neil Urquhart – @culturematters
• Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle – @transdomo
• Donagh Kiernan – @dkiernan
• Christian Hoeferle – @hoeferleconsult
• Caroline – @ohh_la_la
• Deborah Swallow – @DeborahSwallow
• Steve Roesler – @steveroesler
• Matthew Bennett – @matthewbennett

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Twitter Interview With Cate Brubaker

Book Reviews

A friend of mine, Shane Gibson sent me a digital copy of Sociable! the book he wrote together with Stephen Jagger and it’s just come out today, so I thought I’d share some thoughts about it here today.

There is a quote in Sociable! that jumped out at me:

“Change happens in an instant, it just takes us a while to adjust” – Anthony Robbins

I think this is how most people feel about social media. Shane and Stephen have written a great book for businesses who are having difficulty adjusting to the change in how people want to do business today. Sociable! shows you how to approach social media and mix it with live encounters with your audience to really get the benefit out of the time you spend on social media.

And the best part is the action plan at the end of the book with detailed guidelines for businesses to implement social media marketing and social networking.

What to know more? Here’s an audio MP3 of the first chapter of Sociable! to give you a sample.

Curious about why Shane and Stephen called the book Sociable? Listen to the audio interview here where Shane shares insights into some Canadian colloquialisms.

Read more Book Reviews:

Communication

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with communication for international sales:

• A Writer’s Guide To Powerful Paragraphs By Victor C. Pellegrino
• Content Rich By Jon Wuebben
• Get Content Get Customers by Joe Pulizzi & Newt Barrett
• Letting Go Of The Words – Writing Web Content That Works By Janice Redish
• Stories That Sell By Casey Hibbard
• The Culturally Customized Web Site By Nitish Singh And Arun Pereira
• The Magic Of Pre-Writing By Steven Osborne
• The Secret To Writing A Successful And Outstanding Blog By Liz Strauss

Sales

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international sales:

• All of the Little Sales Books by Jeffrey Gitomer
• Asinine Advertising By Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Influencer: The Power To Change Anything by Kerry Patterson – Joseph Grenny – David Maxfield – Ron McMillian & Al Switzler

Web Marketing

Here are reviews of the books I have read recently to help me with international web marketing:

• Bit Literacy Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload By Mark Hurst
• Dotcomology The Science Of Making Money Online By Stone Evans
• How The Internet Works By Preston Gralla
• How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders By Catherine Seda
• Landing Page Optimization By Tim Ash
• Mastering Online Marketing By Mitch Meyerson
• Multichannel Marketing By Akin Arikan
• Online Competitive Intelligence By Helen P. Burwell
• ProBlogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett
• Stats Faceslap By Ed Rivis
• The Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy By Ed Rivis
• Website Optimization by Andrew B. King

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Sociable! By Shane Gibson & Stephen Jagger

Resources

Darren Rowse over at Problogger asked for readers to share a list of bloggers relevant to their industry. A few readers have already shared some good lists.  I particularly liked reading the list of Translation and Localization bloggers.  So I decided to share the list of bloggers I read to stay current.

UPDATE: Darren Rowse has now compiled a list of 47 Lists of Bloggers to Watch in 2010 – well worth looking at!

Cross-Cultural & International Bloggers

You need cross-cultural and international business skills in order to develop your business internationally. What’s interesting is that I find these same cross-cultural skills also help me in social media.  Strong people skills are always useful.

No matter how strong these people skills are you still need to nurture them.  And it’s also important to do this to stay competitive in today’s changing international business environment. This is why it’s a good idea to follow a variety of blogs to help maintain these skills.

Here is the list of bloggers with strong cross-cultural or international profiles that I like to follow.

• Some of these blogs are focused on personal relationships or travel. although this may seem to have little to do with international business, the truth is that you can often learn a lot by observing these different situations.
• Some of these blogs are very business focused, usually with a specific topic. And again, they often give insights into cultural barriers for international business.
• Some of the bloggers are new to international business and some are old pros.

This mixture works for me.  Let me know what you think.

1. Ad Sheik – this is a blog for advertisers who want to reach multicultural audiences
2. All About Race – a blog on race in America to share, discuss, argue, learn, teach, laugh and understand
3. All Things Workplace - Steve Roesler is an international management consultant and also blogs about topics with international insights
4. American German Business Blog – Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle are Germans based in the US helping businesses go international
5. Anastiasia Ashman – Furthering the Worldwide Cultural Conversation
6. Asia Biz Blog - Rich Kuslan blogs on China business and law
7. Bella’s Boliva Blog – a blog with trivia and news from the eastern region of Bolivia
8. Career By Choice - Megan Fitzgerald blogs to help expatriates improve their careers
9. Chanda Communications - Silvia Cambie blogs on cross-cultural connections
10. Chinese & Chosen – An interactive report on the intersection of Chinese & Jewish in NYC
11. Cross-Cultural Moments – Elizabeth Abbot’s blog on transforming international living into personal and professional progress
12. Cultural Realms – Rossitza Ohridska blogs about cultural discovery, the business of cultural tourism, emerging destinations, internet strategies and world travel
13. Culturally Teaching – Cate Brubaker share lots of cross-cultural insights here, not only for teaching or teachers
14. Deborah Swallow – Deborah Swallow blogs on intercultural communication
15. Dot Global – Joe Kutchera’s blog on marketing to Spanish-language consumers
16. Family On Bikes - Between North & South Poles, a family biking and blogging from Alaska to Argentina
17. Fluent In 3 Months – Benny Lewis’s blog of unconventional language learning tips as he travels the world
18. From Power To Poverty – interesting blog by Duncan Green, Head of Research for Oxfam GB
19. Fusion View - Yang-May Ooi’s blog on cross-cultural topics
20. Global Business Perspectives – Beverly Cornell interviews people with international profiles
21. Global Coach Center - Margarita Gokun Silver blogs about being a cross-cultural coach
22. Global Voices – A vibrant global community of more than 150 active volunteer authors and translators and more than 20 freelance part- time regional and language editors
23. globalEDGE International Business Blog - to keep current on international business and global trade
24. Gori Girl – A blog on interracial relationships and advice by a white girl with an Indian husband
25. Intercultural Eyes – Bettina Hansel’s blog with a geographic & interculturalist perspective
26. Intercultural Talk – The blog where Deanna Shoss teaches us to engage & delight in cultural differences
27. International Higher Education Consulting Blog – This is where David Comp blogs about studying abroad – great resource
28. International Trade Law News – Where Doug Jacobson blogs about news, analysis and information on export controls, sanctions, customs law, FCPA, antidumping and other international trade issues
29. Investing In Africa – Ryan Shen Hoover’s blog on Africa is an interesting read
30. Jack Yan – The Persuader – Jack has a strong cross-cultural background and shares a wide variety of interests on his blog
31. Maidsfield Blog – Donagh Kiernan blogs about partnering into international markets
32. Matthew Bennett – Matthew blogs on culture, law, business and politics in the UK and Spain, as well as the Spanish and English languages, English-Spanish translation and Spanglish Lex
33. Original Wavelength - Rana Sinha’s blog on cross-cultural issues, culture, psychology, inter-cultural management and communication, international business, team-working and human resource development and management (HRD and HRM).
34. Pocket Cultures – a great group of bloggers from all over the world
35. Racialicious – Carmen Van Kerckhove blogs at the intersection of race and pop culture
36. RW3 Culture Wizard – An interesting blog, stimulating cross-cultural skills for business
37. Southeast Schnitzel – Christian Höferle blogs about cultural topics and German business
38. Technicultr - Jessica Faye Carter’s blog on multicultural social media news
39. Textappeal – Elliot Polak shares insights on Culture Shocks in global media and marketing
40. The Art Of Nonconformity – Chris Guillebeau blogs about his travels and his cultural insights can help you open your own mindset
41. The Four Hour Work Week – Tim Ferris often shares unique insights about his travels on his blog
42. The Global Small Business Blog – Laurel Delaney’s blog helps small businesses go global
43. The International Entrepreneur - Becky DeStigter likes to blog about international business
44. Touch Points – Steve Finikiotis has extensive international business experience and often shares useful insights on his blog
45. Translator Power – Amadou M. Sall is an active cross-cultural online connector and this is his blog

And don’t forget this blog: CindyKing.biz

There’s More

You can also find some more links to interesting websites on the Resources page.  And if you want an easy way to connect with these bloggers, have a look at the Twitter Resources page for the links to the Twitter handles and Facebook & LinkedIn profiles for many of the bloggers listed above.

What about you? Do you have any favorite cross-cultural and international bloggers not on this list?  Please share them in the comments below.

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

45 Cross-Cultural & International Bloggers To Watch In 2010

Cross-Cultural Differences

My recent article on cultural confusion about the date of a deadline also brings up another common area of misunderstanding: references to times and dates.

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

Twitter Interviews – #CKinterview

Today’s Cross-Cultural Interview is with David Comp. David is the person behind the Twitter handle @DavidComp.

David currently works as the Senior Adviser for International Initiatives in The College at The University of Chicago. He has also consulted on several international education related projects for a variety of institutions and organizations in higher education. He currently serves on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Studies in International Education (JSIE) and edits and maintains International Higher Education Consulting Blog.

Additionally, he has co-authored several book chapters and reports on international education topics. His research focuses on the use of international education for soft power and public diplomacy efforts; methodology of data collection on global student and scholar mobility and on the history of international education exchanges.

He currently serves on the Committee on Outcomes Assessment of the Forum on Education Abroad and has served on multiple task forces and committees for NAFSA: Association of International Educators including his current role as special adviser to the Research and Scholarship Subcommittee.

He received his B.A. in Spanish and Latin American Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, his M.S. in Family Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is currently at the dissertation proposal stage in Comparative and International Education at Loyola University Chicago.

This is a 2 part interview:

• Part 1 – The Blog Interview
• Part 2 – The Twitter Interview for 10 Cross-Cultural & International Questions

David Comp – Part 1

Hi David, for those who don’t know you, can you please tell us something about yourself?

David Comp: I’m originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and currently in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. I’m a husband and father of three young children (Gabriela at 8 years, Andres at 4 years and Lucas at 15 months).

In my day job I work in the Dean of Students Office at the University of Chicago as the Senior Adviser for International Initiatives. In my spare time I find myself thinking about my dissertation proposal in Comparative and International Education at Loyola University Chicago.

When I was 15 years old I was afforded the opportunity to be an exchange student in Rosenheim, Germany through my high school. I enjoyed that experience so much that I participated in the same exchange program again the summer after I graduate from high school.

I majored in Spanish as an undergraduate student and studied in Valladolid, Spain for a semester during my junior year in college. Unfortunately, my Spanish language skills are not what they once were but I can understand when spoken to, for the most part. I have always identified myself as being from Milwaukee with predominately German and Polish heritage.

How did you pick up your cross-cultural skills?

David Comp: My time as an exchange student in Germany and studying in Spain certainly started me on my path to understanding and respecting cross-cultural differences but I think it’s been my continued exposure to and my interest in different cultures that has helped develop my cross-cultural skills.

I, like most people I imagine, continue to hit bumps along the way but I work hard to continue to develop these skills and, most importantly, to instill these skills in my children. For example, my daughter is taking Classical Indian dance at her school and she loves. Her participation in Classical Indian danced impressed the people working the Indian booth at the Milwaukee International Holiday Folk Fair so much that they spent extra time showing her how to write her name in Hindi.

How do you use your cross-cultural skills in your job?

David Comp: I use my cross-cultural skills every day in my job. I work with undergraduate students from all over the globe who come to the University of Chicago to study. Additionally, I work with both domestic and international faculty and staff and my interactions with these colleagues add another level to the cross-cultural skills I must use in my job.

Can you tell us about your blog?

David Comp:

I started International Higher Education Consulting Blog (IHEC Blog for short) in February 2007.  To be honest, I can’t remember my exact motivation for doing so but in many ways it simply serves as an archive for the types of posts/messages I had been sending to the international education community, via a few key listservs, since I entered the field in 2000.  IHEC Blog has given me a place to share and archive ideas I have or items that I find of interest.  A side benefit of IHEC Blog (which led to me joining the Twitter movement back in February 2009 and the Facebook movement back in October) is all of the wonderful contacts I’ve made, both in the field of international education and outside of the field, that I most likely would not have made otherwise.

My favorite IHEC Blog post was “List of Movies/Television Programs where the Characters go Abroad” from August of this year.  Not only was this blog post my most trafficked and commented post ever, it allowed for me to connect with many people.  This blog post is really a continuation of an earlier post from April entitled “Portrayal of Exchange Students in Movies and on TV in the U.S.”  My perception is that exchange students/or young sojourners are often times portrayed in movies and television in a negative light.  My motivation for these posts was to engage my audience in a discussion on this topic and to compile a list of movies and television that can be used in training to demonstrate both positive and negative cross-cultural interactions.

My latest project was the creation of an IHEC Blog YouTube Channel which is really a clearinghouse of sorts for any and all international education related YouTube channels.  It was very easy to set up and has been received really well so far.  The best place to connect with me online is to search my Google Profile at: http://www.google.com/profiles/international.ed.consulting. My next project is to set up a much better and vibrant website that integrates IHEC Blog and my other online activities but due to time and three little mouths to feed that project has been tabled for the moment.

I have a couple of lists I’m building here on this blog, and wonder if you have anything you would like to share.

Have you come across any cultural stereotypes that bother you, or you find inappropriate?

David Comp: Probably the most troubling cultural stereotypes that I have witnessed have been directed towards the Muslim community (both here in the United States and abroad) which has substantially increased since September 11th and the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Do you have a favorite movie that could help people understand cultural issues?

David Comp: With three little kids in the house I haven’t seen a movie in such a long time.  Occasionally, we do let the kids watch television and I have found the children’s television show “Toot & Puddle” to be a great show for my kids.  If I was posting to Twitter about Toot & Puddle it would go something like this “A kids TV show w/ 2 pigs who travel the globe where they learn about different ways of life and points of view”.

Do you have a book you could recommend to help others improve their cultural insights?

David Comp: Oh, there are too many out there to pick one to recommend and most of my current reading is in academic journals.  I must say I find my spending much time at the Intercultural Press booth at every NAFSA conference!

And finally…

Is there anything else you would like to share?

David Comp: The year 2010 marks the 40th birthday for my wife and me as well as our 15th wedding anniversary so we are trying to plan a major family vacation to an international destination. Any recommendations? The destination has to be little kid friendly!

I’m looking forward to retirement with the goal of living for an extended period of time outside of the United States…

David, thank you for sharing so much with us in this portion of the interview already. I’m looking forward to hearing your answers to the 10 Cross-Cultural Questions on Twitter with you later today.

David Comp – Part 2 – The Twitter Interview

This is an interview series of the people I recommend you follow on Twitter for the cross-cultural and international business insights in their tweets.

More Twitter Interviews

• Martin Lindeskog – @lyceum
• Rajeev Edmonds – @mintblogger
• Rossitza Ohridska-Olson – @culturalrealms
• Charmayne Paul – @psitutor
• Lucy Chatburn – @pocketcultures
• Doreen Iannuzzi – @DoreenatDMS
• Donna Jackson – @wisequeen
• Chris Cotter – @CotterHUE
• Jack Yan – @jackyan
• Silvia Cambié – @XCulture
• Bill Ward – @DR4WARD
• Thierry De Baillon – @t_de_baillon
• Seshu – @PicSeshu
• Neil Urquhart – @culturematters
• Klaus & Flavia Westerwelle – @transdomo
• Donagh Kiernan – @dkiernan
• Christian Hoeferle – @hoeferleconsult
• Caroline – @ohh_la_la
• Deborah Swallow – @DeborahSwallow
• Steve Roesler – @steveroesler
• Matthew Bennett – @matthewbennett

Copyright © Cindy King 2006-2010 - Cindy King

Twitter Interview With David Comp

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