Do you know the English expression, “There’s tension in the air?” It means that people feel cautious, due to a concern that something unexpected or unwelcome may happen. If you work within intercultural business contexts, I’m sure that you have felt such tension during meetings, presentations and video or phone conferences. When cultures mix there are many unknowns, such as…read more →
In last week’s post I wrote about becoming aware of intercultural communication blind spots. Once you can see aspects of communication that you couldn’t see before, you have gained what I call intercultural communication insight, which will help you when communicating across cultures. However, insight alone is not enough. That is why simply having knowledge of how other cultures are…read more →
For most of us, language is transparent. In other words, we do not see what it is or how it works. That is what I call a communication blind spot. If you are blind to what is going on when you communicate in your own language, imagine how much you do not see when communicating in English as a second…read more →
You cannot avoid building an identity. Thanks to everything you say and do on a daily basis, your colleagues are forming opinions about who you are and what you can do professionally, regardless of their cultural background. This happens automatically and is something that all cultures share. How actively do you participate in building your intercultural identity? I find that…read more →
In last week’s article, I invited you to look at where you learned about expressing opinions. The influences included family, education, culture and profession. But few of us have learned how to adapt our habitual way of expressing opinions when working across cultures. Building awareness of language and the role it plays in both building harmonious relationships and inspiring trust…read more →
The exchange of opinions is both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity within intercultural businesses is that differing opinions about everything is the norm: how to be an employee, how to be a manager, how to perform a particular task, how to sell, how to negotiate, how to run a meeting, how to give a presentation, and so on….read more →
In the previous four articles I encouraged you to explore intercultural trust from a variety of angles. I suggested specific actions you could take to cultivate, evaluate and inspire intercultural trust. This fifth and final article on trust is about how to ensure you are making clear requests and promises. The foundation on which trust is built or broken is…read more →
People typically agree that keeping your promises is always the ‘right’ thing to do. However, everyone falls short of this in practice. I will recommend to you what I recommend to my clients who work across cultures — keep your promises to everyone 100% of the time to build trust. I can already hear you objecting, as my clients often…read more →
As I pointed out in the previous article about evaluating intercultural mistrust, we have double standards with regards to trust. We expect others to trust us automatically, even when we are not willing to trust others automatically ourselves. When stated so directly, you can see how unrealistic an expectation that is. In this article I will show you how to…read more →
In the previous article I had you look at unreliable criteria for deciding whether to grant or withhold trust in an intercultural context. In this article I am going to suggest three criteria that are more precise and verifiable: sincerity, competence and reliability. I will explain each in turn and how they relate to mistrust. Sincerity We have the opinion…read more →
This is the year you have decided to become a more effective intercultural communicator? Bravo! You can purchase and download my eBook, along with an 80-page workbook. Not sure? Read a free extract. Questions? Just ask.
