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.
The ‘Country Mapping Tool’ by Erin Meyer relies on seven scales regarding cultural differences in business (www.erinmeyer.com)
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.
The way cultures perceive one another depends on their position on the cultural scales. The further apart two cultures are, the wider the gap between them. (https://www.thnk.org)
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.