IN FOCUS: Bridging Cultures

"Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field, I'll meet you there." (Rumi)

Anny Tubbs met interculturalist Robert Gibson, author of 'Bridge the Culture Gaps', while doing research on the impact of Brexit on British nationals in Belgium for the film 'Here We Are'. Robert helps people understand the reasons for - and implications of - cultural differences. His book provides user-friendly tools to address these in corporate settings and beyond. Robert reminds us that individuals can have multiple cultural identities: they may struggle to reconcile these if a specific dimension is rejected by others. We also see this in the film, which portrays 'British Europeans' adjusting to a post-Brexit world.

How did you become and interculturalist? Ever since my school days I've been fascinated by different cultures. In 1985 I moved from Britain to Germany to teach English and Cultural Studies at the University of Munich. I found that there were interesting developments in the business world and some time later was fortunate to get a job at a large multinational company running intercultural training courses.

What is a culture gap? The working definition of culture that I like to use in my work is ‘a shared system of attitudes, values, meanings and behaviour.’ When people from different cultures come together there are inevitably differences in how they see things and behave. This is the ‘culture gap.’ When I talk about cultures, I am not just talking about national cultures but also many other types of culture like regional, professional and corporate cultures. ?

What are the practical effects of culture gaps? When different cultures meet there can be clashes, but things are usually not so dramatic. In most cases there are minor irritations: some people call this ‘cultural noise.’? This works on different levels. At the individual level, it can happen when someone moves to a different country or marries a partner from another culture. Multicultural teams are often faced with coping with different attitudes to communication, decision-making and leadership. Organizations need to consider possible cultural differences when they want to change or merge with other organizations. Cultural noise?can lead to misunderstandings and tensions in relationships, which waste energy and result in unsatisfactory outcomes if not identified and addressed early on.

In the film, individuals open up about how Brexit affects them. You explain in your book that rejection hurts - literally? New technology is making it possible for neuroscientists to gain new insights into how the brain works. An interesting experiment was carried out in the USA using MRI scanning. Test persons were given an unpleasant heat sensation and the reaction of the brain was recorded. This was compared to their reaction to being excluded without warning from a computer game. The reactions were very similar, leading to the conclusion that our brain makes little distinction between physical pain and social exclusion. So, as you say, it hurts when you feel that you don’t belong or you are rejected.

But we have to accept that everyone's starting point is based on personal experience? Of course. Our brain cannot process all the stimuli it is confronted with every second and so is highly selective. Most things we do are automatic reactions. They are shaped by cultural filters built up over our lifetime. As everyone’s experience is different, so we all have different filters or reference points. What is ‘common sense’ for one person is ‘uncommon sense’ for another.

So knowing this, what does it take to bridge culture gaps? I see the ability to bridge cultures as the highest level of intercultural competence. People who bridge cultures are not only aware of differences but they are able to go beyond them and use them actively to reach a common target. They can leverage diversity for mutual benefit.?

What other intercultural insights do you see emerging from the film? I find the film interesting not just because it gives a platform for a neglected group of people to voice their experience of Britain leaving the EU, but also because it has important things to say about identity, loss and belonging. It shows the pain of people whose complex cultural identities are not recognized or even understood. This is a pain which can be experienced by many different types of people who move between cultures. I hope that the film can be used as part of a healing process which will help people to discover their identities, be understood and move towards building bridges across cultures.? I feel that the ability to build bridges is vital in many settings, not just something for diplomats but for anyone trying to reconcile conflicting interests in the family, the workplace or in society in general. To counterbalance increasing polarisation we need mediators who can bring people together.