2 | Building Cross-Cultural Intelligence
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Building Cultural Competency
Savvy cross-cultural workers take the time to build
their cross-cultural competency in order to form
productive working relationships. The first step
is getting to know the partner culture. To build
knowledge, consider:
• Reading about the country: Good sources
of knowledge come from the local library;
bookstores such as www.interculturalpress.
com; and websites such as www.adbi.org
(for information about Asia and the Pacific)
and www.executiveplanet.com
• Reading about cross-cultural business.
Helpful resources include When Cultures
Collide: Leading Across Cultures by Richard
D. Lewis and Cultural Intelligence: People
Skills for Global Business by David C.
Thomas and Kerr Inkson
• Watching foreign films from that culture
• Reading novels by people from that culture
or set in that culture
Also important is to increase knowledge about
American, or home, culture. That will help raise
awareness about what we take for granted. As
Americans, we have cultural norms and values
such as maintaining a fast pace, risk-taking, direct
conversation, acting on hunches, individualism,
and egalitarianism that can get in our way when
we work on global teams. For example, a Mexican
team may be shocked by informal and democratic
decision-making styles. A Spanish group may be
offended when a meeting begins without taking
the time to talk about family or when an American
insists on starting the meeting at 2 PM sharp, even
if everyone hasn't arrived. Having knowledge
of our own cultural norms and values as well as
those of our partner culture helps us identify and
resolve cross-cultural conflicts.
The next step is to be mindful when working with
that culture. It's important to remain aware of how
cultural norms and values might be showing up
in the work. Clues that a cultural conflict may be
present are:
• Body language: People look uncomfortable,
even if they agree verbally.
• Lack of follow up: People agree, yet don't
take action.
• Absenteeism: People don't attend meetings
or return calls.
Once we have some clues that a cultural conflict
may be present, we can evaluate how to manage
it. Our response will be situational, based on our
norms, the norms of the partner culture, and the
context.
The final step is to adjust behavior. Small behavior
changes can go a long way toward building
cross-cultural productivity and performance. For
example, taking the time in Japan to carefully
study a business card honors the card giver
and shows respect. Many of these behavior
adjustments are country-specific. However, there
are some general principles to follow:
Avoid idioms and acronyms. Americans use
an incredible number of idioms in the English
language, such as "let's nail it," "low-hanging
fruit," "line of sight," and "hit the bulls-eye." These
idioms can be baffling for one not accustomed
to American slang. In addition, many American
companies seem to be addicted to acronyms:
CMM, MBO, P&L, GAAP, and so on. Taking the
time to choose words and define acronyms
goes a long way toward building common
understanding of goals and expectations.
