Cross-Cultural Communication 30-Day Challenge – Build Trust
This is the last tip on how to smooth cultural differences to create a good foundation for trust in cross-cultural communication. These 5 tips are by no means the only ways to smooth cultural differences. Do you have any others to add? Please leave them in the comments below.
Smooth Cultural Differences
This last tip on smoothing cultural differences brings us back to our mindset. Yes, cultural differences can create havoc in cross-cultural communication and should not be ignored. But one of the best ways to approach this is with the right mindset.
Instead of noticing the cultural differences, focus on the person behind the obvious cultural differences. People with solid communication skills will always find a way of connecting with others. Why? Simply because they put their energy into finding the way to making that connection.
Trust In Cross-Cultural Communication Challenge – Tip 5
Focus on connecting with the other person
In the first 4 tips we focused on ourselves. Today’s tip is about both sides of the communication. Ourselves and the person from the other culture. It is about our own mindset and how we connect with the other culture.
What you focus on in a cross-cultural encounter matters. It can make the difference between a successful international business meeting and an unfruitful one.
The Right Mindset
When you focus on connecting with the other person this naturally helps you to put aside any residual cultural baggage you may have. We all have a hard time thinking that we have cultural baggage. But we do. All of us. This is what makes us who we are. And our own cultural baggage can get in the way of what we focus on in cross-cultural communication.
Most people acknowledge that a cross-cultural mindset is willing to open itself up to different cultures. A person with a cross-cultural mindset is also someone who is able to put aside his own cultural baggage long enough to connect with people who are different. This makes it easier to connect with different cultures.
Focusing on communication with others is part of the process of the right mindset for good cross-cultural communication.
Connecting With People
This is particularly important to remember in an international business environment. The business deal may be logical. It may appear to be an easy sale. But in international business, you need to remember that you are dealing with people. It is a person who signs the contract.
It helps to try to connect with a person… and not with a different culture. Put the culture aside and find the person beneath the cultural differences.
Again, when you focus on connecting with a person, it is much easier to put aside their cultural differences.
Finding the person despite the cultural differences and connecting with that person is almost an exercise. And exercise in communication.
Trust Happens Between People
Another good reason to focus on connecting with the people instead of focusing on the cultural differences, is that this helps you to build a good foundation for trust. Even in business, trust happens between two people. The personal relationships count. In some cultures they count more than others. But relationships count more in cross-cultural business because people need to be reassured more when dealing with cultures they are not familiar with. This is how trust is built, and business relationships are tied.
When you make an authentic connection with someone from a different culture this helps to smooth away the cultural differences and avoids the issues of mistrust. In addition, this begins to create trust.
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 |
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