What are the best ways to respect personal space across cultures?

Trabajo híbrido y el rol del líder: Es interesante ver en las noticias empresariales del mundo, como grandes compa?ías toman decisiones de regresar a las personas a sus oficinas físicamente de forma masiva. Te remiten esas noticias por chat, esperando una opinión o contradicción al respecto de cómo lo estás haciendo tú, o tú CEO o tu CHRO. La paradoja del regreso o no y la discusión de la productividad alrededor de esta paradoja, se centra en mi concepto en un reto para el liderazgo. Estamos ante una Crisis de Liderazgo? No nos hemos entrenado o entendido cual debe ser nuestro rol como líderes luego de la pandemia? Debemos cambiar la fórmula o receta del líder? Mi opinión, la respuesta ante estas preguntas es SI. Nuevos Liderazgos

Best way to respect personal space across cultures - I think one of the best ways is to educate yourself before travelling or interacting with people from other cultures. Also observe, how are other people you are interacting with doing it? To be on the safe side, perhaps an error on the side of giving more space may be advisable until you learn. Additionally, I will ask people in the country/ culture you are experiencing, about their expectations and be prepared to be flexible. Another nuance is considering cultural differences around gender dynamics.

Being constantly aware of your environment is key and crucial for survival. Not adapting. I would not advise pushing against own instincts trying to mimic behaviour that could be pretentious to a specific context but not the entire geography or culture. There is a risk of ‘adopting’ wrong behaviour as a standard setting that would not work in other contexts. In the Netherlands people have no feeling of personal space so they end up crouching on yours and it used to drive me mad as a Russian used to living in Moscow with high people density so avoiding each other was innate ability to avoid physical collision. It used to drive me mad and I got over it by accepting not adapting.

Examine your own cultural assumptions and biases, and be open to learning and adjusting your behavior in accordance with the cultural norms and contexts you are working in.

Listen-communicate-listen-communicate-liste-communicate-listen-communicate-listen-communicate-listen-communicate-listen-communicate-listen-...

La identidad personal es tan importante como la de otros por lo que el respeto a su cultura a su forma de interacción es esencial a la que tengo que adaptarme sin dejar de ser yo mismo. Una de las formas de respetar el espacio personal del otro es escuchando música con audífonos, usando perfume con olores discretos no invasivos, hablando por teléfono en un tono moderado, no tomando las cosas de otros, no hablando mal de nadie y manejando una comunicación verbal y no verbal asertiva. La cordialidad es una cualidad que nunca pasa de moda y se debe ofrecer siempre sin perder la postura de autoridad y seriedad.

When it comes to how to deal with cultural differences, here is the best advice I've ever received: "Don't treat people how you want to be treated but rather how they would treat themselves." In other words, if you share the same beliefs and norms (culture), treating them as you would yourself is usually fine.

I don’t think this is fundamentally different from being flexible and respectful as suggested by one of previous points. I think being open minded and aware of others differences is what both points come down to.

To respect someone is to have a feeling of consideration towards them, to treat them with special consideration, to accept their opinions and their differences even when we do not agree with them or with their ideas. The culture of respect in general goes beyond the person, we also talk about respect for rules, deadlines, politeness, punctuality, etc.