I’ve worked with many people from various countries that have a different culture to my own. One of the most important things I’ve learned is that there are many differences in how we understand and interpret what each other says and does. When people from different cultures work together, issues such as managing, efficiency, productivity, understanding how trust is built and decisions are made are all important daily challenges. This is very relevant when it comes to using English in cross-cultural scenarios. So, what exactly are some of the issues of cross-cultural working?
I see you with my eyes
At our default level, we look at people with our understanding of how our culture works. In other words, we understand what someone is saying or doing based on our understanding of our culture. This is called ethnocentrism. The danger here is that we have a strong belief that our way of doing or saying something is the right way of doing or saying something and this can cause issues. Often, barriers go up as we start to see people as different to us based on how they speak and the way they do things. Here is an immediate issue, especially in the workplace where there can be many people from different cultures all trying to work together. When barriers go up, productivity breaks down, communication fails and problems occur. We need to understand more of how the other thinks and operates so we can properly interact and understand clearly what the other is saying or doing.
Stereotyping
We’ve all heard the comment that the British are too polite, the Americans too rude and the Dutch too direct. These are stereotypes that do nothing to actually help us understand how one culture interacts with another in an effective, collaborative and productive way. In fact, the stereotypes that exist for a particular culture may be completely different for you, depending on where you are from. Stereotypes may be humorous for small talk situations, but going beyond the stereotypes to look at how one culture can interact well with another culture is much more productive than focussing on the clichés that get thrown around at the water cooler. It’s also well worth noting that within cultures there are individuals, and not all individuals conform exactly to the norms of their culture. This opens up the topic of personal and cultural differences which often get blurred.
Imagine you’re Spanish and you work in a team where English is the language of choice, you may not feel confident using English and withdraw and not contribute as much as you could. Does this sound like you?
Language Barriers
If you’re an American working in a Spanish team, there is an immediate barrier of language, especially when team members from the same language speak predominantly in that language and when they do speak in English, it feels like there are not quite getting to the point. This creates a social distance. Imagine you are Spanish and you work in a team where English is the language of choice, you may not feel confident using English and withdraw and not contribute as much as you could because your colleagues are far too direct and appear rude. Does this sound like you? Being able to speak English is important in this scenario, but also for teams that have native and non-native speakers, there needs to be training to give team members understanding and strategies to promote team cohesion. It won’t happen by accident and staff need skills to ensure they can work well together. There is research to show that staff turnover in cross-cultural teams is reduced when those teams have training to work cross-culturally.
So, there are a few issues that are commonly associated with cross-cultural working. Language is a key one and at Sankofa English we provide training to help team members understand and appreciate how the other speaks, and how they respond to certain situations and what their expectations may be. We also train team members and HR on many aspects of cross cultural working including understanding how to work, communicate, lead, manage and interact with people of other cultures. Understanding each other ensures that we can work better together. When we work better together staff turnover is reduced and productivity is increased. It’s a win win!
Cross-cultural training is not just important, it’s a necessity for teams that comprise members from different cultures.
