Today’s the first meeting with your new product development team after the merger. Energy is high as three of your team members settle in around the conference room table and the rest pop up on the screen. You take a deep breath and start introductions. An hour later, things are going off the rails. Your French project manager keeps interrupting, your Japanese subject matter expert hasn’t said anything yet, and your German purchasing coordinator keeps checking his watch. Finally, your American engineer turns to you and says, “See, I told you! We have to set this up differently.”
What’s going on? And how can the team work together to turn things around?
In a globalized world where international collaboration and multicultural teams have become the norm, understanding cultural differences and working effectively across those differences can make or break a critical project, negotiation or company merger.
But what does this look like in practice? In this article, we’ll explore a common denominator we’ve noticed among our clients who successfully work across borders: intercultural competence.
Intercultural competence is the ability to effectively interact with people from different cultures. It involves actively understanding each culture’s values, behaviours, and communication norms and adapting how you communicate, listen, and act based on this cultural context.
Intercultural competence is often considered a complementary skill, but it’s actually a strategic factor in successful international collaboration. Contrary to popular belief, just speaking the same language isn’t enough for global teams. Implicit cultural differences are just as likely to cause conflict and tension as language barriers, so understanding cultural norms is essential.
While individual differences in behaviour are linked to our family circle, our education, our profession, and our personality, our behaviour is also strongly influenced by the cultural context of the country in which we live. What seems natural and normal to us can feel confusing, dishonest or impolite to our colleagues from another culture.
Principles to Keep in Mind
We sometimes fall into the trap of stereotypes and prejudices when talking about different cultures and behaviours. That’s harmful, both to our business and, most importantly, to the people with whom we interact. Instead, it’s helpful to understand the following principles:
- There are no good or bad cultural traits. To say, for example, that Germans are more punctual than the French does not mean that they are more reliable. A person who “measures their time” will arrive on time but will also leave work on time. A person for whom “time is flexible” may arrive late but will also be willing to spend extra time to deal with an emergency.
- There is always variation within a culture. People from a particular culture typically have similar tendencies, but everyone also has their unique ways of being. For example, when we say, “Germans are punctual,” we mean that “many Germans tend to be punctual.”
- There will always be more to learn. Exploring your culture and the cultures of people around you is a lifelong endeavour. The important thing is to open your eyes, your ears, and your mind (and perhaps to close your mouth… 😉).
Main Cultural Gaps
There are six main dimensions of culture that impact how we interact with others.
- Interaction
- Discussion
- Negotiation
- Decision-making
- Coordination
- Motivation
Each dimension has three continuums representing different norms and behaviours. For example, in the case of our product development team meeting, the French and Japanese team members were on different ends of the verbal enthusiasm and mastery of silence spectrum. For the French project manager, interruption showed their enthusiasm and interest, while the Japanese SME was waiting for a pause in the conversation, her way of showing respect and contributing to an orderly discussion. These fall into the interaction dimension.
Meanwhile, the German team member felt anxious that the meeting was running long because he had another appointment right after and thought it would be inappropriate to be late (flexible time to measured time continuum in the coordination dimension). Finally, the American’s blunt comment that things needed to be organized differently aligned with the U.S. culture of explicit communication (explicit to implicit continuum in the discussion dimension).
How to Develop Intercultural Competence
- Explore your own culture, behaviour and attitudes
- Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open
- Get research-backed, practical intercultural training
- Practise new skills in everyday business and personal interactions
- Rinse and repeat
Looking for a solution to help your team stay on track and get stuff done?
Avoid misunderstandings, streamline communication, and boost team performance in multicultural environments with The Culture Decoder by ITC Global, powered by Gapsmoov.
This innovative online training platform helps you and your team work effectively with counterparts in more than 80 countries. It features interactive assessments, short video capsules, and more developed by intercultural experts. Plus, it’s accessible on any device.
Learn more on our intercultural training page.
