Trust In Cross-Cultural Communication – Tip 1

Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Build Trust

Today starts the 3rd month-long Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge. When you first begin international business, you can feel challenged by how the cultural differences impact all aspects of business… and how funny little things can become important to good communication. No matter how much you read prior to your first cross-cultural business encounters, you can still feel uncomfortable.

Now, I’m not going to give you lists of things to do and not to do within each culture. If there is one thing I have learned more than anything else in my 25 years in the field as an international sales and marketing executive, it is that cross-cultural skills in international business requires a unique skill set. International professionals need to:

• Operate with flexibility and adaptability
• Process multiple sources of information at the same time
• Have a sound fundamental understanding of their business

So, I would like to give you simple tips on how to broaden your perspective by breaking things down and focusing on one part of cross-cultural communication at a time.

There are many different aspects to developing good cross-cultural communication skills. This year I decided to dig deep into the 4 aspects I found the most useful in international business.Build Trust

During the first challenge we looked at how to expand your mindset to prepared for good cross-cultural communication. This is where you need to start… and you never realy stop working on mindset either.  Our own mindset is the biggest hurdle in developing cross-cultural communication skills.

In the second challenge we looked at how to get extreme with clarity for great cross-cultural communication.  Clarity comes second in importance in a business environment.  Simply because so many initial contacts in international business do not get any results simply because they lack clarity.  So many businesses cannot get their foot in the door simply because others cannot clearly grasp what is asked of them.

This month’s challenge is focused on how to build trust in cross-cultural communication.  Trust is a huge issue in cross-cultural communication for international business.  The main reason why trust is such a critical issue is because it is so quick and easy to lose in cross-cultural encounters.  It is natural to mistrust:

• Things you don’t know
• People you don’t know
• Different ways of doing things

In many cross-cultural circumstances, it is not trust that is the issue, it is the mistrust.  Most professionals know how to use trust-building tactics to get business.   International professionals learn to get proactive in:

• Responding to common areas where mistrust can kick in
• Avoiding to create situations which favor mistrust
• Building trust… consistently, continuously and even in ways that can appear to be insignificant

This is why we are going to look at how to build trust in cross-cultural communication this month.

Smooth Cultural Differences

The first 5 tips on building trust will be on how to smooth out the cultural differences.  Let’s smooth out the differences to avoid mistrust.

After this we will have a better foundation to work on building trust.

Trust In Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Tip 1

Keep your body language open to dialog

The first cultural differences people notice are the visible ones. Of course, there are some things we cannot change.  But culture can influence our body language and people from different cultures will notice these differences in body language.  So what can you do?

1 – Know Your Own Cultural Body Language

Instead of focusing on what you find “different” with other cultures you need to become aware of what other cultures notice in you.

Now, I don’t really believe everyone needs to go through cross-cultural training to understand this, and I hesitate to give any broad generalizations. There are so many differences in body language within any given culture. Different generations usually have differences in body languages. Education and social background also play a part in who we are and can show up in our body language.

The best way to learn what your body language portrays is to:

• Meet up with people from different cultures
• Pay very close attention to what you do
• Ask cross-cultural friends
• When you notice differences in others, look at what you do and explain why you do things like you do

2 – Adapt A More “Neutral” Body Language

It is almost always a good idea to try to soften any cultural differences in how you hold your body.  This really depends on personal preferences, but most people who become aware of what they do that marks them culturally will try to soften the impact.

Here are some general areas to pay particular attention to:

• The distance you feel comfortable from the other person and the distance they appear to want to keep
• The placement of your arms… and theirs
• Your facial expressions
• The tone of your voice
• How you hold your body compared to how others hold their bodies

3 – Adopt An “Open For Communication” Body Language

Even if you do nothing else, remember to follow the basic guidelines for a body language that is open for communication.

• Do not fold your arms across your chest
• Have a welcoming smile
• Use the right level of eye contact

Don’t Start With Mistrust

The foundation for mistrust can be established before you even say one word.  Remember to be aware of the image you project to others.  Instead of focusing on how the other person is different from what you are used to, pay attention to the response you see in them and how they react to your body language.

Although your body language plays an important role in allaying fears and mistrust, it is really not that difficult to get right.  With a little practice, it is easy to find the right way to approach international clients and business partners.

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
Expand Your Mindset	Get Extreme With Clarity	Build Trust

Tagged as: 30-day challenge, body language, Cross-Cultural Communication, cultural differences, mistrust, trust