MODERN WORKPLACE
this process is led from the top with
management “Walking the talk,” and
leading by example with resourcing
to at least get the process underway.
Here are a few useful tips as a
guideline toward building effective
cross-cultural communication in the
workplace. These assume a genuine
willingness and commitment to
engage and collaborate to find ways
staff can all work more productively
together for the business, as a
team. The focus is on interactive
engagement towards achieving a
shared business goal rather than
a transactional exchange between
strangers.
By its very nature building effective
communication has its challenges
anyway – culture adds another layer
of complexity and interest which
is a bonus that makes workplace
interactions richer and more
interesting.
1
It begins at a personal level
with two people talking to each
other with a genuine desire to get
to know the other person better, an
area of common ground. This is
particularly important in the context
where a workmate(s) may come
from a more collective cultural
background. This is highly likely
with an international workforce as
more than 70 percent of the world’s
cultures are collective cultures.
For many of these cultures there
is likely to be a stronger emphasis
on building a relationship as a
precursor to working together than
a more immediate transactional
focus on simply a brief introduction
and achieving the task as fast as
possible.
2
A genuine conversation
and interest in the other
person, can lead to the start of
building stronger personal, collegial
and team relationships that deepen
and strengthen over time and
contribute to the company in the
pursuit of shared business goals.
An example of this is illustrated in
a highly successful global software
company within a close knit team,
four Russian software developers
teaching their South Korean
colleague teaching each other to
speak Russian and Korean during
their lunch breaks.
3
HOW things are said
matters - when it comes
to building effective working
relationships in cross-cultural teams,
more often than not, it is HOW things
are said rather than what is said that
matters.
In their book, “Louder than words:
Non-verbal communication,” Alton
Barbour and Mele Koneya, identified
that identified that some 55% of
communication between people
is achieved non-verbally through
facial expressions and other body
language, 38% verbally, through
volume, pace, pitch and rhythm and
7% through the words.
The non-verbal communication also
includes silence, personal space,
touch and eye contact which assume
different levels of importance in
different cultures and which can
also be interpreted differently. For
example averting direct eye contact
in high power-distance cultures is a
sign of respect whereas direct eye
contact can be seen as a sign of
defiance or disrespect.
1. Patience - people need to have
an awareness of loudness, pitch,
pace, tone and intonation and to
allow workmates whom English is a
second or third language more time
to process, translate, retranslate and
then respond.
2. Politeness - Universally,
conversation is a two-way taking
turns process. Not imposing a
viewpoint and allowing other people
within the team to have their say is
important.
3. Clarify for understanding
- Seek and give clarification and
being politely explicit if you have
any concerns or worries using
‘teach-back’ processes to check for
understanding.
Having an awareness of, and
an appreciative insight into
the communication styles
of other cultures can help
improve understanding, reduce
misunderstanding and to forge more
effective relationships and increase
productivity in workplace teams.
Holona and Trish Lui specialise in
building cross-cultural effectiveness to
support high performance in teams and
organisations to achieve their business
goals. They design and deliver coaching
and facilitation of cross-cultural
communications programmes for the
workplace.
October 2016
ModernBusiness
7