Why your team needs better Intercultural Communication skills in 2020

What are Intercultural Communication skills? 

Intercultural communication skills are the skills we need to communicate with people from other social groups, from other cultures, from other countries. This includes people who speak the same language as you, as well as those who speak other languages. 

Intercultural communication looks at how the culture and society we grow up in affects the way we communicate, both verbally and non-verbally. Understanding these nuances can have a huge impact on how well we transmit and decode messages. 

Once you know the rules people follow, and the logic they operate by, everything else falls into place

Who is Intercultural Communication training useful for? 

Intercultural Communication training is for everyone, but can be especially useful in a business context for

1. People who have clients or offices in different countries - regardless of whether that country also speaks English
2. People who work in multilingual and/or multicultural teams

By learning how people understand the world differently, we can understand each other better

What are some of the benefits to businesses who are competent in Intercultural Communication? 

Some of the demonstrated organisational benefits of a more multicultural team are: 

• Innovation
• Efficiency
• Inclusion 

Other benefits to being effective at understanding intercultural nuances and differences are 

• Quicker sales due to a reduction in misunderstandings and time-wasting
• More integration - better client and staff retention, as well as happiness 

What are some of the risks of not being effective at integrating and accepting different cultures?

• Reputational damage – doing things incorrectly can have a potentially huge negative backlash 
• Loss of opportunities or income – missing out on opportunities simply because you can't read the signs or don't know how to manage the situation 
• Conflict within teams – not knowing how and why conflict occurs or how to deal with it can cause problems when looking to resolve issues

So what can we do to improve intercultural communication skills? 

1. Learn about intercultural communication and the differences between cultures 
2. Learn more about the areas our clients/staff/team work in and/or come from 
3. Learn about our language and how we use it – is it hindering clear communication? Once we have learnt to overcome any potential cultural boundaries, we need to consider the words we use to express our message, these can also create further problems.

By knowing ourselves, we can better understand others

If you found this interesting, read my other related articles:

• Mistakes we make when working with foreign staff - available here
• Building more inclusive workplaces - available here

Want to know how this can help your company? Contact me to see what solutions I can offer for your business – [email protected]

If you’re looking for a longer written introduction to this topic, there is a well-written article available on Businesstopia.