Working Across Borders Developing Successful Intercultural Communication

1. Leading management and communication providers Working Across BordersDeveloping Successful Intercultural Communication

2. • Who made the borders (barriers)? Personal and cultural constructions • How can we break down the barriers? Effective intercultural understanding and communication

3. Who made the barriers?

4. There are truths this side of the Pyrénées that are falsehoods on the other.”

5. The scary alien on the other side of the border

6. Stereotypes (Scare-o-types) ignore individuals Stereotypes are ways we generalise (patterns and repeated) behaviour. Usually, different (negative) behaviour to ourselves. Personality Behaviour / Action Situation Culture

7. Personality and Culture Do cultures affect personality? Are some people / cultures more ……… Task Relationship

8. Unpeeling the personal layers Personality (Is it separate or part of culture?) Think Sensation Intuition Feeling “Am I rational analytical thinker and is that the kind of culture I come from OR Am I a synthetic intuitive thinker?” ME

9. Words and Expressions Personality Clothes Ethics and morality Experiences Tastes Feelings Memories Individuals are like icebergs

10. Unpeeling the groups layers Group culture Behaviour Rituals Beliefs & Values Symbols

11. Language Appearance Food Communication style Beliefs Values Attitudes Perceptions Culture is like an iceberg

12. Personal and cultural factors That make personal and the culture Kaleidoscopes Laws History Traditions Perceptions Food Memories Philosophy ME Religion Communication Senses Relationships Climate & weather Geography Preferences Language Education Race Contacts

13. What we see, hear and evaluate are filtered by our own perceptions and understanding of the world.

14. How can we break down the barriers? Work towards common and shared objectives. Build relationships through effective communication.

15. Build relationships -develop rapport Support Trust Talk Respect Loyalty

16. What is the level of rapport best for contact? (Professional or social) Seduction Hot Cosily warm Warm Empathy Understanding Lukewarm Neutral Cool Cold Sufferance

17. Language and communication across borders Personality Situation Cultural variations Speaker Audience Relationship Socio-linguistic Type & style Barriers Media

18. Many cultural (hidden) influences impact on effective cross-border communication • Approaches to completing tasks (task-relationship dimensions) • Attitude to time • How we see things • Communication styles • Language and linguistic variations

19. How we see thingsWhich 6 characteristics would you like to find in an ideal work colleague? Be from the same culture and speak the same language! Humour Diplomacy Willingness to compromise Modesty Sense of fair play Pragmatism

20. The trouble with the British Humour May be seen as unprofessional in a business context Modesty May be taken at face value, seen as lack of expertise Diplomacy May be seen as being dishonest or too indirect Willingness to compromise May be seen as lack of conviction Pragmatism May be seen as lack of intellect & logic

21. How we see and interpret things - Perception “Never assume the obvious is true” William Saffire Be open to different interpretations

22. Language helps us think, interpret things and decide on meaning “The limits of my language, means the limits of my world” Ludwig Wittgenstein “He gave man speech, and speech created thought. Which is the measure of the universe.” Prometheus Unbound, Shelley

23. “I think, therefore I am.” If Shakespeare had been a Frenchman “To be or not to be, that is the question. But the question is badly formulated.” René Descartes

24. I know you believeyou understandwhat you think I said, but I am not sureyou realise that whatyou heardis NOT what I meant Language and communication style WHY?

25. • Words used •The way the message is sent & received• Understanding cross-cultural processes and procedures

26. Words used and word choice • French - English • Eventual (possible) • Actual (now, at present) • Agenda (diary) • Sensible (sensitive) • Assist (participate) • Japanese - English • Maybe (NO) • Swedish - English • Protocol (minutes - meeting) • Personnel (personal) • Insulate (isolate) • House (building)

27. The way the message was sent and received • Personality of the voice Stomach, heart or brain • Music Intonation, stress, rhythm, pacing and pausing • Body language Hand and body movement, eye contact

28. Understanding the process(to reduce misunderstanding & misinterpreting the process) • Silence Agreement? Thinking internally? Nothing to say? • Listening without interrupting (passive/active) Respectful? Help the communication process?(support, check & clarify) • Choice of words- ‘the lagom line’ nice -lovely - great - fantastic - amazing

29. • Limitation of words available‘paint a a black & white picture’ (mother tongue - translation) OK Also Get (få) • Language context (High - Low) • Emotional expressiveness (juntelagen) • Consensual Hierarchical agreement power Precise, direct, logical, blunt, definitive and transparent Indirect, circuitous, evasive, tactical, ambiguous,opaque, even evasive Contained and Neutral Embarrassment and stress from show of emotions Emotional and Expressive Few inhibitions

30. Reduce borders and break down barriers • Avoid assumptions. • Have self-awareness (prejudices and stereotypes) • Listen carefully and show empathy. • Be patient, be humble and be flexible. • Tolerate and accommodate differences (perception, reality and outcome). • Relax, be open and honest - build trust and relationships. • Do not assume that what you communicate (say, write, etc.) is understood in the way you meant. • Do your homework - know the differences that matter (be aware, collect information, analyse) • Each situation is separate - interpersonal and intercultural factors affect communication.

31. To know, yet to think that you do not know is best. Not to know, yet to think that you know will lead to difficulty. It is by being alive to difficulty that you can avoid it. Lao Tzu