by Gaël Malin

When working as part of an international team, culture shock is
bound to happen during meetings and more informal situations such as office small
talks. Cultural differences have always been seen as potential hurdles in
business, even more so in today’s globalised environment. Whether you intend to
face those hurdles and make cultural diversity an asset to your team and your
company is a crucial question.

As Erin Meyer put it in her book ‘The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business’, efforts on the part of managers to address cultural differences between their employees often fall short. To bridge those differences requires a firm grasp of where a country stands on several scales defined by Meyer, namely communication, feedback, leadership structure, decision-making, trust, conflict resolution, and planning.

Once put together, these scales reveal a comprehensive picture of a country—i.e. its cultural mapping—and can be used as a basis for comparison. Most team members from Asian countries tend to be very high-context when communicating and therefore not repeat themselves often. They convey meanings implicitly through their words, which can be interpreted as trying to hide something by their fellow low-context workers. At the other end of the spectrum are the US, with Americans being much more low-context people and showing a strong tendency to be explicit, straightforward, and reiterate their points. Having that in mind, there is no doubt that such a gap will have a serious impact on communication, trust, and teamwork as a whole, if cultural differences remain unacknowledged.

Cultural differences are likely to nurture misunderstanding or even conflict
in the worst cases, but deciphering what the things are that make people feel
so different is the key to more effective communication. Cultural awareness
results in a boost of confidence among employees, better workplace
relationships, and plays a pivotal role in developing a successful
international business strategy. By opening conversations with workers to
address their concerns, you become more aware of any cultural divides and can
take action to reduce them and find a middle ground. In the case of a team
comprising people from both low-context and high-context cultures, encouraging
high-context people to be more explicit in their message will help clear things
up for low-context people and build their trust. At the same time, suggesting
that low-context people do not go over the same points again will make
high-context people less likely to feel condescended. This will result in more
fruitful meetings and conclusive discussions.

It is not a stretch to say that localisation and translation are
similar to this process in some ways. Managing culture shock through
intercultural management does not seem so different from localising a product
or service to target a foreign market. When expanding internationally,
companies are faced with the urgent need to translate their content so that it
will appeal to and engage potential customers by connecting with the culture of
the targeted country. Speaking the same language as your target audience is
simply not enough of an international strategy in a globalised environment.
That is where translators come in. They are instrumental in ensuring your
message comes across perfectly, smoothly, and as intended, and that it is
relevant to the local culture.