Personal Development In Cross-Cultural Communication – Day 1

Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Personal Development

This is Day 1 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 1 – The Right Mindset for Cross-Cultural Competence

The very first place you need to start when developing your cross-cultural competence is by having a look at your own mindset.

It is so easy to blame others for being different. There differences can create cross-cultural communication barriers. But our own starting point effects everthing. This is why we must be aware of our own mindset.

The Right Mindset For International Business Success

In international business this usually means that we must be aware of how our own personal baggage interferes with how we carry out our business tasks and the decisions we make.

The trouble is that it can be difficult to acknowledge that we have cultural baggage that can handicap our international business success. So it is important to look internally and identify the cultural differences we carry around with ourselves.

As we get to know ourselves better it becomes easier to turn towards others and engage with them.

Steps Towards Developing The Right Mindset

Here are a few things to think about. The right mindset:

• Is open to different ways of doing things
• Begins with curiosity
• Strives for empathy
• Chases away assumptions
• Seeks to understand the other person

Dangers Of Wrong Mindset

You must learn more about your own cultural baggage and how this impacts your own mindset. Because if you don’t and you begin with the wrong mindset you will simply not be able to connect with people from different cultures in any meaningful way. This leads to several possible outcomes:

• You could come away with the wrong conclusions
• You could make decisions based on erroneous information
• You could lose an international business opportunity

Beware Of Personal Baggage

It is not always easy to see our own personal baggage because of our own cultural filters. When you try to learn more about yourself it is not always easy to do because you are in a familiar environment where people have similiar cultural filters.

Even if you have good intentions, you will not get very far in developing your cross-cultural communication skills with a wrong mindset.

Keys To Opening Your Mindset

This is why developing the right mindset is something that often requires personal development over time. Most people need to work at it in small doses as they have cross-cultural encounters.

Finding the right mindset is simple enough. It just takes a little effort and some time.

Your Actions Today

Once you acknowledge how your personal baggage can impact your cross-cultural communication, it becomes easier to:

• Start by giving clear and simple explanations of why you do things as you do
• Show respect
• Restrain from showing your negative reactions. Instead assume you have made a wrong assumption
• Ask why others do things differently

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.

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