Coaching Across
Cultures
BY
PATRICIA WEILAND, PCC
When I began working
with Helen, the first thing I
noticed was that she was
incredibly bright, ambitious
and intolerant of those
she deemed ”stupid.”
She always had a plan.
Although she had been
with her company for less
than a year, she already
believed she should be
What I didn’t see right away was Helen’s cultural context as a Chinese
promoted. Her boss was
immigrant working in an American organization. As it turned out, this
hands–off, which gave her
information was the key to understanding her situation. Early in our
license to step in and take
a leadership role, especially
when she felt frustrated by
her colleagues. Outside of
work, she taught Chinese
(her first language), studied
Japanese, sang opera and
took violin lessons.
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Coaching World |
August 2013
coaching engagement, I interpreted her tone, word choice and overall
conversational style as tough, angry and abrasive—the same things
her colleagues and supervisors were hearing. However, as I learned
more about her recent immigration to the U.S., I realized that much of
the tension between Helen and her peers—and between Helen and
me, for that matter—was the result of different cultural norms and
conversational styles. When I listened closely, I could hear that her
communication style, tone and use of pauses were different from the
rhythms of her American coworkers’ conversations. Thinking in terms
of cultural difference, we talked about how she was perceived by