Think Global, Act Local

Managers in a global economy need to communicate with people of various cultural backgrounds, as well as ensure that their employees are also equipped for these communication challenges. Adaptation to cultural differences is important but can only be accomplished with an understanding of the cultures with which you’ll be interacting. Often there are subtle differences that can be easily overlooked when studying other cultures, such as simple gestures that may mean one thing in one culture and something different in another. At any time when an employee is required to engage in communication with those of another culture and hasn’t properly had the tools to begin such communication a misunderstanding is inevitable.

Business communications protocols in the United States are largely geared towards a process where a manager seeks input before making business decisions. Open debates can often occur in such meetings because Americans' value openness and understand that collaboration can often lead to direct communication with their manager. Many cultures, especially eastern cultures, will find this to be extremely rude.

In the United States there is an importance placed on prompt action and timeliness which many cultures don’t understand; being punctual isn’t expected and isn’t insulting.

For example, an American businessperson in Brazil may become offended if a Brazilian is half an hour late to a business meeting (which is the norm in Brazil). This can lead to tension before even conducting business, all due to a simple cultural misunderstanding.

Americans' are also overtly friendly, especially during first introductions, and as a result many cultures initially find Americans to be friendly and engaging. Such overt friendliness is part of the American social and business protocol and can create a paradoxical situation. Imagine a foreign business contact expecting such overt friendliness begins a negotiation and the American begins to debate via robust and direct questioning. Many cultures may view as anti-productive and a break-down of communications while the American may view such a situation as positive progress. This can lead to extremely confusing situations as both parties report back to their respective managers.

Even seemingly similar cultures can clash without understanding our differences. Collective cultures, such as those found in Northern Europe, exhibit people that are often part of large tight-knit groups where the expectation is that everyone in the group helps to take care of each other. People in collective cultures often have strong feelings of loyalty to these group. In the United States, Australia, and other more individualistic cultures the individual is expected to take care of themselves and their immediately families only. In a business environment this can create issues when interacting with colleagues or customers that don’t understand these differences.

It's important for the international business person to realize that not all members of a culture will follow their culture's norms. Direct, open, and honest communication is important to determine the values of individual people and groups of people with which you’re engaged with.