Cindy King's International Business Blog » anthropology

21 Tips To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills

Cindy King — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:00:14 +0000

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

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

Research and appreciate the cultural diversity of the market you are preparing to visit before you travel there – @ohh_la_la
1st, understand your OWN culture -> try to be understanding of others’ backgrounds. Now meet half way for common ground.- @HoeferleConsult
Visit the countries, get to know the people, try and see the world through their eyes. Learn from the experts including @CindyKing- @dkiernan
Immerse yourself deeply into other cultures by living & working in their country for at least six months- @transdomo
One tip to improve your cross-cultural skills…Know thyself–>Listen & Observe–>Communicate… in that order! – @culturematters
Be less self-righteous than who you are dealing with. The more humble you are, the more you are going to gain.- @PicSeshu
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
One tip to improve cross-cultural skills is understand your own values & attitudes 1st so you can compare & contrast – @DR4Ward
Develop ability 2 appreciate historical backgrounds Honor experiences that might contradict ur way of looking @ life – @XCulture
Put yourself in the other culture’s shoes and think about what stereotypes exist about your own culture. – @jackyan
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
Learn another language – @wisequeen
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
Be flexible when facing different values – try to understand what reasons lie behind other ways of thinking – @pocketcultures
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
Travel & try to understand local cultures. That open minds, changes perspectives & creates cross-cultural skills. – @culturalrealms
Adapt to the occasion, learn different languages, respect other cultures AND don’t hesitate to ask. – @mintblogger
Take the jump and just “do it,” i.e., travel and move abroad. – @lyceum
“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
Other ways of doing & thinking just might be better so enter with an open mind – @DavidComp
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.

21 Definitions Of Culture In One Word

Cindy King — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:00:01 +0000

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

Culture is reflection - @matthewbennett
Culture is a CODE - @deborahswallow
Culture is Life - @ohh_la_la
Culture is communication - @HoeferleConsult
Culture is values - @dkiernan
Culture is creativity - @transdomo
Culture is relative - @culturematters
Culture is infrastructure – @tdebaillon
Culture is communication – @DR4Ward
Culture is awareness – @XCulture
Culture is us – @jackyan
Culture is vital – @CotterHUE
Culture is life – @DoreenatDMS
Culture is identity – @pocketcultures
Culture is language – @psitutor
Culture is ethos – @culturalrealms
Culture is strength – @mintblogger
Culture is sense-of-life – @lyceum
Culture is shared/learned – @SeanJamesOliver
Culture is interesting – @DavidComp
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.

21 Definitions Of Culture

Cindy King — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:00:43 +0000

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

Culture is the sum of a given society’s common history and its ability to reflect on itself. - @matthewbennett
Culture is the HEARTWARE of the Soul and the SOFTWARE of the Mind - @deborahswallow
Culture is a country’s culture entails attitudes, beliefs & values. Those shape each generation & are influenced by a multitude of factor – @ohh_la_la
Culture is the lubricant of daily life. A set of shared values & attitudes in a social group. An inherent code of communication. – @HoeferleConsult
Culture is how we relate to each other with respect to our beliefs and values - @dkiernan
Culture is created when the soul is rooted in tradition, the heart is learning by paradigm & action is influenced by society - @transdomo
Culture is everything we don’t talk about that we “know” is right - @culturematters
Culture is the ground over which we build our individual and collective behaviors – @tdebaillon
Culture is a way of life. The shared beliefs, attitudes&values of a group that are passed on, often without thought – @DR4Ward
Culture is the tapestry of our world. It contains our main points of reference and ways of relating to other people. – @XCulture
Culture is the collective achievements and societal norms of humankind – @jackyan
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
Culture is a collective of shared values, customs, and attitudes; beliefs expressed through action, artistic or otherwise – @DoreenatDMS
Culture is a lens which filters how we see the world – @pocketcultures
Culture is meaning making through shared values and patterns of behaviour – @psitutor
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
Culture is a belief, a practice within a community without which nation will cease to exist. – @mintblogger
Culture is “the sum of the intellectual achievements of individual men.” Ayn Rand – @lyceum
Culture is the cumulative set of learned values and behaviors humans acquire, both intentionally and unintentionally. – @SeanJamesOliver
Culture is a shared way of living defined by the arts, communication, values, beliefs and history – @DavidComp
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.

Cultural Perceptions Of Women Online

Cindy King — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:00:57 +0000

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?

5 Cultural Differences In Understanding Appointments

Cindy King — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:00:29 +0000

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?

How Culture Impacts An International Business

Cindy King — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:00:33 +0000

Culture In International Business

Cross-cultural differences impact all interactions. Today we are going to look at how they impact the organization within a business.

Many readers may not quite be here yet. But I thought this would be interesting to look at.

Are There Differences?

What makes an international business different?
Does an international business function differently from one that is not international?
Are there international growing pains?

Apart from the legalities of operating an international company, it is hard to identify any tangible differences.

In my personal experience, the differences are nuanced. They center around collective “soft” skills. This obviously stems from the nature of “international skills” and “cross-cultural skills”.

Cultural Influences

There are some obvious ways culture influences an international business:

The way how we present ourselves
How we express opinions
Assumptions based on the environment and context
Perceptions of voice, and other personal physical details

When you work inside an international company, you learn to adapt to these cultural differences. They stop interfering with communication.

Cultural Conflict Within A Company

Some people may think that conflict within an international company is a result of the confrontation between cultures.

Although cultural personality issues and misunderstandings do happen, it is difficult to identify how culture influences teamwork within a company.

Most people learn to adapt to the different cultures and this enhances personal growth, interpersonal relations and intercultural interactions.

And this is where there may be differences in an international company and a company that is not international.

Most of the employees in an international company will be at a comparable level of personal growth. They will have similar interpersonal and intercultural skills.

And in a company that is not international, there could be wider differences in these areas.

Better Practices

Beyond soft skills…

What I have noticed from working with international companies, is that they seem to strive harder to implement standard and industry best practices.

Best practices seem to lessen the clash of cultures within a company. These best practices are more widely accepted. They can also help to create a collective identity.

Best practices can also lessen the clash of cultures outside the company when dealing with international clients. It does not matter where your clients are from, they also appreciate dealing with people that follow standard best practices.

In the end it all comes down to working with good communication and within good business practices.

Cross-Cultural Web

Cindy King — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:00:38 +0000

Cross-Cultural Marketing

I have been doing a lot of work on how to bring cross cultural marketing expertise to your website.

Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools

What amazed me is just how easy it is to find “tools” to respond to different cultural communication needs.

We all respond to different things when communicating. These things are often subtle and can also involve totally different outlooks on life itself.

Each culture has developed its own form of communication using communication platforms common to all cultures. Company websites are communication platforms. So it is interesting to see how different cultures use the same platform to communicate in accordance with their cultural needs.

Politeness And Friendliness

I am no expert in Chinese websites, but I remember reading an interesting discussion on how difficult is was for certain Chinese dialects or languages to communicate effectively online. Many of the difficulties apparently stemmed from different rules in politeness.

It is true, as a cross cultural specialist, I have always found politeness and friendliness to be difficult to acquire when communicating with different cultures. Even with lots of practice and intimate knowledge of the culture it is easy to sound off cord with these two things if you are not a native.

Web Tools Get Across

Despite these few difficult areas, there are several “tools” you can use on your website to help you communicate better across different cultures. By tools I mean ways to use this communication platform in a way you can adapt to different cultures.

Can this really help your website communicate better in different cultures? It is easier to answer the question in reverse.

It is very easy to push foreign clients away if you are not using the right web tools to speak to their cultural needs.

This is very obvious. Afterward it is really a question of getting your cross cultural communication right. Web tools can help you communicate better with international clients. But there are many other factors involved.

You need to spend time tweaking your selection of web tools and your website communication. You can outsource your foreign communication to specialists, but I also believe you have to be intimately involved in the process.

Learn More About Cultural Behaviors

This week I start a series of articles on Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools over at Get International Clients. This is to accompany the series on the differences of cross cultural behaviors currently being reviewed in the weekly newsletter.

Different Countries = Different Rules

Cindy King — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:19:09 +0000

Cross-Cultural Differences

I am often surprised by some questions and rants some readers have with regards to doing international business. There is not one established world legislation ruling above every country’s import and export legislation or all international finance.

Legislation Evolved Differently In Different Countries

The world is made of different countries with different rules, regulations and laws. Within each country the rules, regulations and laws for that country apply. Your country’s legislation does not apply to any other country. Another country’s legislation does not apply to your country. Different countries have different rules.

When you first begin an international business you may be surprised at how much the different rules in different countries can effect your business.

Here is an illustration everyone should understand. Disposal of nuclear waste is a business. The companies in this business have to comply with the legislation in any country the nuclear waste is transiting through. It is easy to understand that you wouldn’t want a nuclear waste truck to break down in front of your local primary school. But some countries have stricter rules regulating the transport of nuclear waste than others… or different rules.

Different rules evolved because in different countries there are different habits, different ways of life. Countries have different histories, they developed differently. We can safely assume that from their point of view their rules, regulations and laws are better suited to their country than yours are. And that these rules, regulations and laws may well be different, or approached differently, or interpreted differently, or carried out differently.

Here are two things an international business needs to do.

International Agreements

Check for any international agreements that concern your international business.

Although international agreements do work most of the time in making life easier for international businesses, they are not always straightforward and you would still be advised to seek appropriate legal advice.

Here is the problem:

Sometimes countries interpret these agreements differently.
Sometimes countries have different ways of operating or doing things, so agreements many not be so straight forward to implement.
Some countries do not sign certain international agreements.

This is why you need to check, and double check what these international agreements mean for your business. Be sure to use more than one source of information. Here is one useful resource I found:

World Trade Organization – Regional Trade Agreements – Or RTAs, help promote trade in certain areas.

Research International Legislation

If you want to sell your product to an international market you need to do some industry research. You will need to check the rules and regulations in all countries concerned. Get as much information as you can from the relevant sources. And keep all of the contact details so that you know who to contact quickly in case you need expert answers quickly.

This research to learn more about the different rules and regulations in your foreign market is more important than you may think. Of course, it helps you to set up your international business the right way. But this research also helps you to deepen your understanding of your international clients.

Theses different rules are there because the culture is different. When you understand the reasons behind these differences, you have a stronger competitive advantage.

Check out the other useful International Business Resources – I add to this list as I find other links that could be of interest to you. Please let me know if you have any others to add to this list.

Do Your Preparation

Although this may seem complicated, remember, it is your responsibility to know the rules, whether they are your rules, or the rules that apply to your foreign market. You must ensure you comply with your own country’s import/export and international trade legislation, as well as that of all other countries concerned.

When you dig a bit deeper and try to understand the reason behind these different rules, you may stumble across the key to a deeper knowledge of this different culture. On a personal level, this new-found understanding improves your cross-cultural skills. On a business level, you can use this to develop your international business.

What different rules and legislation have effected your international business?
When have you learned more about a different culture by understanding the differences in their legislation?
Why is it difficult to understand the different rules in different countries?

Cindy King's International Business Blog » anthropology

21 Tips To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills

21 Tips To Grow Your Cross-Cultural Skills

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

21 Definitions Of Culture In One Word

21 Definitiions Of Culture… In One Word

What Is Your 1-Word Definition Of Culture?

21 Definitions Of Culture

21 Definitions Of Culture

What Is Your Definition Of Culture?

Cultural Perceptions Of Women Online

First Impressions Online Go Farther Abroad

Wrong Assumptions

Too Much Skin Sends Clear Signals

When Different Cultures Pick Up Different Signals

Success And A Change In Direction

Show Respect For All Of Your Audiences Right From The Start

More on Cultural Perceptions:

More On These Get International Clients Business Guides:

5 Cultural Differences In Understanding Appointments

1. Fun With Half Hours

2. At Ease With 24 Hour Clocks

3. Different Dates

4. Confusion With Next Tuesday

5. Acronyms For Time Zones

Where Is Your Audience

More on Cross-Cultural Differences:

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

How Culture Impacts An International Business

Are There Differences?

Cultural Influences

Cultural Conflict Within A Company

Better Practices

More on Culture In International Business:

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides:

Cross-Cultural Web

Cross Cultural Communication Web Tools

Politeness And Friendliness

Web Tools Get Across

Learn More About Cultural Behaviors

More On Cross-Cultural Marketing

Different Countries = Different Rules

Legislation Evolved Differently In Different Countries

International Agreements

Research International Legislation

Do Your Preparation

More on Cross-Cultural Differences:

More In These Get International Clients Business Guides: