Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Build Trust
This is one of 5 tips on showing respect to build trust in cross-cultural communication. Here are the other 4 tips:
- Adopt a respectful attitude
- Do not be self-centered
- Show yourself respect
- Understand what to say and when to say it
In the previous tip we looked at how we need to adopt a respectful attitude during international business encounters. Today we are going to dig a little deeper.
Show Respect
Showing respect in an appropriate manner in cross-cultural encounters can be like walking on eggs. Respect is different in different cultures and there are many little nuances you need to be aware of.
There is one aspect you must pay particular attention to:
- You should always be receptive to any signs of being perceived as showing a lack of respect.
This tip gives you some guidelines on how to remain receptive for feedback on respect and how respect is perceived within a cross-cultural environment.
Trust In Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Tip 22
Listen with respect
If someone would have challenged my ability to listen with respect before I first moved abroad I would not have felt overly concerned. I naturally thought that I knew how to listen with respect as best as most people could. But I left the Bahamas when I was 18 and I had to adjust to many different cultures:
- I moved to a foreign country – Switzerland, it was cold, the fish was tasteless, there was no sea and no black people
- I studied German at night school, but all of my free time was spent in Swiss German and my circle of friends was huge and covered all Swiss dialects.
- And I spent my days working with Malaysians, attending several PR events with other ASEAN countries every week
Things went smoothly and luckily I did not have many issues learning how to adapt my listening skills. But after 4 years of living like this, my response to someone questioning my ability to listen with respect would have been much different.
Our Own Listening Barriers
I shared this story with you because I know it is easy to think that listening is something we do well. The truth is that in international business your listening skills usually need to move up a few notches. There is simply lots of information you need to listen for.
Active Listening
The listening process is not a checklist. It is not static. In cross-cultural communication you need to:
- Listen to what you hear
- Listen for small signs that could mean some form of misunderstanding
- Listen for what is not said
The listening process is a monitoring process to make sure there is effective cross-cultural communication.
Respectful Listening
However, it is also listening with respect. This is not an easy notion to grasp because we all have different interpretations for respect. But the idea is to keep the listening respectful even if it is active.
Some people become over enthusiastic with their communication skills, even their listening skills. Perhaps there are too many direct questions or something not quite right with your listening process. Respect is often the missing ingredient or the ingredient that needs to be adjusted.
Respectful listening means that you take the time to try to understand the other person’s style of communication. Respectful listening show that you care about connecting with this person.
Questions for you…
- What cross-cultural blunders in international business could have been avoided by listening with respect?
- How does listening with respect help you in international business?
- When do people need to listen with respect the most?
Please share your stories in the comment area below.
Connecting With Other Cultures
Communication is both listening and speaking. When faced with foreign languages it easy to focus on the speaking half of communication and to forget about the listening half. But the listening half of the communication is very important. Most people first learn how to show respect when speaking, but there is also an art is listening with respect.
Get All Cross-Cultural Communication Tips:
- Read more about all of the 2009 Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 1 – Expand Your Mindset
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 2 – Get Extreme With Clarity
- Cross Cultural Communication Challenge 3 – Build Trust
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| Mindset | Clarity | Trust |
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| Expand Your Mindset | Get Extreme With Clarity | Build Trust |
