Infinite dimensions

As the initiated will know, there is a little controversy around Professor Hofstede and his research into Cultural Dimensions, first published in 1980.

For those who aren’t aware, Hofstede took survey results from IBM and from the identified 4 “dimensions of culture” (he later added a fifth), to distinguish between nationalities. There is a large amount of criticism aimed at his research methodology – not being an expert, I’m not really in a position to comment too much on that, however I can use an analogy and let people draw their own conclusion. There are 2 adults and 2 children in my family. Our average ages are 24.5. Can I therefore claim that the members of my family are around 24.5 years old? If I am unable to survey one member of the family, the average age will be significantly different. Hofstede took the average score across the various dimensions to be representative of a national cultural identity!

Please consider another situation. If an alien were to visit the earth to do some research into each nation, and were to ask humankind to choose a single specimen from each nation, what sort of person would you choose to represent Japan? (*Answer below)

One of the current views of culture that has gained a lot of credibility, especially among “social constructionists” is that we “do culture”. In other words, we create our own identity which is negotiated continually depending on the situational context. There are certainly national elements to this negotiation, but it is implausible to claim that the national is the most important feature in any context (in some it may be, however hard it might be to identify). Social constructionists and current interculturalists believe that an individual has an infinite number of cultural identities, none of which are fixed or stable, and represent all our past experiences, observations and perceptions. For example we behave very differently when we are with our children and/or parents than when we are at business meeting, and we will portray a very different worldview.

Hofstede presents a very practical, easy to use model of culture, and the alternative is infinitely harder to confine and present (especially if you’re an intercultural trainer trying to sell your services to business), however the intercultural model that pre-supposes infinite, negotiated, unstable cultural identities presents us with an approach that is of much wider benefit – instead of learning the dimension score for each “national culture” and devising a specific approach for each, we can start looking at a more universal approach that is not limited to one situation.

It’s an area I have only just come across (better late than never, I suppose) but after a strict diet of measurable and easily identifiable national culture, it is a fantastically interesting approach!


*Answer to the above “typical” Japanese – if you take just the statistical average, you would choose a 46 year old woman, with only high school education, living in a suburb, who has never joined a union, and probably works in retail

The British at Work...

Reserved and Repressed or Resourceful and Released?

It is a fascinating challenge to introduce newly-arrived employees from abroad to what they might expect to encounter in the workplace during their stay in Britain. Many have a stereotyped view of the British at work, perhaps based on films or John Cleese training videos. Whilst operating in a wide range of work cultures and environments, they will be in a better position to anticipate and understand the behaviour of their fellow workers if they can appreciate some of the major changes that have taken place here in the last five to ten years.

Change is continuous
The only constant likely to be common to all their employers is continuous change, and a drive towards reduced costs and increased profits to satisfy the stock market. Mergers, takeovers, management buy-outs and flotations will have meant new strategies, restructuring, re-engineering, decentralisation and a variety of performance-enhancing methodologies. These will often have led to downsizing, outsourcing, lean and mean management structures and many new books to describe it all! For some this will have meant genuine empowerment and a release of their skills and inhibitions. For others it will have produced fear, stress and new behavioural patterns, creating new words such as 'presenteeism'.

Winners & losers
Winners in this tough change environment will probably welcome the new arrival from overseas, be keen to learn from them and prepared to develop a real relationship. Losers though could feel threatened and jealous, resulting in obstructive behaviour and thinly disguised anger. New arrivals may be surprised to discover how these fundamental changes in the workplace have affected the famous British reserve, with open expressions of enthusiasm, passion and real anger as employees react to new incentives, environments and continuing pressures. It might be less of a shock to them if they can understand some of these major workplace changes, and also reflect on why so many people apparently dropped their emotional masks after the death of Princess Diana.

Exporting to the USA

Love it, or hate it, the USA should not be ignored. The economy is larger than the whole of Western Europe. Individual states have economies larger than many countries. California equates to the UK or Italian economy in size. New York State equates to China and Brazil.
Since 1948, the USA has been one of our top five export markets. It is our largest single market for both visible, and invisible exports. The UK and the US is each the largest investor in the other.
The biggest mistakes that new exporters to the USA make are:

• Underestimation of the sheer size of the country.
• Insufficient dedication of adequate management time/resources.
  

To succeed, concentrate management resources to win.
This requires planning and research. It is best to choose one state where there is a potential concentration of business, and then expand in gentle concentric circles. It takes time to enter the most competitive market in the world. Think in terms of ten years and plan for five.

Suggested methodology:

• The home page of the US Small Business Administration (www.sbaonline.gov) gives access to good pro-forma business plans (see Starting, Expanding, Marketing buttons).
• Use the gaps identified as a basis for your research.
• Define your potential target organisation closely.
• Identify the US Trade Association to which they belong. Obtain the directory.
• In which state are the membership concentrated?
• Is there a trade show(s)/convention that the Association sponsors?
• Amongst the associate members, are there candidates for distributorships, or consultants that could provide in-depth industry research?
• Is there a trade press issue that is a gazetteer of the industry?
  

Some useful do's and don'ts:

• Use US legal advisers for your GTS, distributorship, other agreements.
• The US is litigious. Their legal system and language is different.
• Obtain adequate product liability coverage.
• Can you sell your product in seven words? Americans have a short attention span.
• Everyone targets the US. Buyers are only interested in cheaper supply, a better technology, but demand commitment to the market.
• Quote only in US dollars, c.i.f. to their doorstep.
• Metric measurements are alien to most Americans.
• In all communications, avoid English colloquialisms. They will not be understood.
  

To be successful you will need three essentials, the right product, sufficient financial capital and adequate management resources. If you are missing one, my advice is don't attempt the market. If you have them, go for it!

Bob Smeaton is an occasional lecturer at Farnham Castle International Briefing Centre. He is also an Export Promoter, i.e., an external commercial adviser, for the North America desk of Trade Partners UK, the export branch of the Department of Trade and Industry with more than 30 years of direct experience with the USA and Canada including working and living in California, Texas and New York. May 2002.

Home visits

Great article at http://www.batgung.com/expats-trips-home-from-Hong-Kong#comment-5298

Well worth looking at

"‘We care locally.’
That three-word profundity comes from a weblog written by Joe Posnanski, a sports writer whose work I enjoy.
Joe has just returned to the USA from Japan after covering Japanese baseball’s version of the World Series. He made the comment in reference to the deeply uninterested reactions he received when he tried to convey to his associates the wonders he’d witnessed in Japan. He actually was there to see the unprecedented phenomenon of two pitchers combining to throw a perfect game, and it --
Let’s stop right there: thanks for reading this far, but you don’t really care about Joe, or the Japanese World Series, or what I think about either of them, do you? You didn't follow those links. You’re wishing already that I move on to some more interesting and relevant topic.
Well, that’s just the point: for most of us, our range of interests is relatively narrow, and we’re far more interested in the places we live, or at least have visited, than we are in even the most exotic place we’ve never seen.
This can be an unpleasant lesson for expatriates to learn......"

Full article at http://www.batgung.com/expats-trips-home-from-Hong-Kong#comment-5298

Raise your virtual hand if you know the answer...

This is the brave new world of the integrated global e-economy. Widespread access to the web will solve all our business and learning needs. The fact of the matter is that key decision-makers including, of course, the readers of this article, were educated in a traditional manner and their interpersonal and management skills have come from human experience, not from any virtual world.

The message is that we need to remember the human amongst the glare of technology in this increasingly virtual world. We need to find the right balance between the silicon chip and human behaviour.

At the start and end of every communication and transaction - from a handshake or smile to an email or contract - is a person. That person is a unique creation of their culture and environment and far more sophisticated than any machine or software. That person is our client or partner or manager and we need to make at least as much effort to understand that human being as any technology with which we communicate.

Like it or not, we are in an increasingly borderless world and new cultures and new ways of thinking are coming our way. Today you might work for a national company and tomorrow find yourself part of a multinational group. Your clients and colleagues might be next door today and half way round the world tomorrow. To effectively work with these people from different backgrounds we all need to learn about the cultural psyche that drives these people. What are you going to do to survive?

The answer is to learn, and learn well.

The next logical questions therefore concern where and how to learn? Will new electronic learning replace traditional methods? Does the Internet really offer a better solution than plain old-fashioned hands-on experience? Is the internet some kind of new magic solution that means we can forget that human relations are both essential and hard work?

Let's look at a few answers to these questions.

With its vast content of electronic data, the web seems set to replace face-to-face education and training, we are told. Time will tell, but in the meantime the demand for old-fashioned non-virtual education services, offered by specialist training centres and universities the world over, continues to grow rapidly.

Also, it is hard to deny that using technology to learn is exciting compared with the idea of squeaking chalk on a blackboard and the repetitive chanting of simple mathematical formulae or simply doing some hard work in personal learning and development.

The idea of video conferencing with the latest high speed connection and digital imaging seems much more modern than travelling and sitting down with your business partners.

The internet has allowed humans to get access to data and to enter into discussions and interact without the need to actually meet anyone or make friendships and relationships. I would again draw a cautionary note from the past about such attempts to ignore the hard work needed to build and understand human relations.

What history, wisdom and common sense tell us is that we need a blended learning solution and the potentially vast data from the internet must be supplemented with human interaction. Success with applying factual data about a foreign market comes from a deep understanding of local culture and providing for its needs and wants.

Just the data alone will not make any of us successful. Without interpretation and guidance the mere words alone are not enough. We can all download a recipe from the internet but does that make us master chefs? The human input into the interpretation of some written words and an assembly of ingredients is the difference between haute cuisine and a dog's dinner.

When we think back to earlier years we can all remember an individual such as a teacher, relative, colleague or friend who changed our understanding and shaped our lives as a result. Anyone had this experience from a web page or a CD ROM recently? I doubt it.

We are all the product of a blend of experiences and ideas. The person who has an imbalance in the blend is easy to see. Knowing these basic human realities, who can doubt the need for a human in the key input of education?

Can we risk relying on just a virtual education? Do we want a virtual hug or a virtual family or a virtual customer? No, we all want a real one and that comes from real experience and real learning in a real world with real people.

Real people? Maybe even real foreign people? That sounds like real hard work and expensive to learn. After all, other people are so unlike us. I am sure many of us find the habits of those people in the next street different enough from us and goodness only knows about those from another town or even another country.

Maybe we can all try to save money and effort and hide behind our screens and text messages like sulky teenagers with no social and intercultural skills. Well, there is only one thing more expensive than being trained and prepared, and that is being untrained and unprepared.
Most individuals' experience of business is that people want to do the best they can and have the best they can get.

We know that in the foundation of any success in business there are three key things we need to work at and these are 1) relationships, 2) relationships and 3) relationships. I wonder how we will manage these by the internet?

So should we give up on IT as just a gimmick or fashion accessory? By no means.
We need to find a blend of the new and old and take the best of these to succeed in a global marketplace.

If you can understand all the ideas in this article you owe thanks to many human beings. If you can adopt and implement the suggestions in the article then you can understand and teach and lead other human beings.

That's a real skill and nothing on the web comes close.

Master the technology alone and ignore the person and their culture and you will fail.

How culturally aware are you?

One of our leading intercultural trainers, Philippe Nitzer, has devised this short quiz for you to test your knowledge...
1 In Spain, the main purpose of a business meeting would usually be to:
a) make decisions by discussing in length the pro's and con's of an option
b) reach agreements by consensus between everyone concerned
c) brief their team about something already decided by specific decision makers


2 You are asking a question of your junior Japanese colleague and he/she looks down and answers you after a few seconds. You think the chances are that he/she:
a) has something to hide and is looking for an answer that would boost him/her in your eyes
b) is paying respect to your position and your question
c) hasn't got a clue what the answer is and feels ashamed

3 In Italy, the majority of people think that a good manager should:
a) have at hand precise answers to most questions his/her subordinates may raise about their work
b)be able to direct his/her subordinates to those who may have the right answers to most of the questions they may raise
c) be critical of his/her subordinates for asking him/her questions as he/she considers that, if they are in the right position, they should know the answers themselves

4 In Germany, performance review is usually perceived:
a) very well, as a way to give a chance to everyone to develop their own competences
b) very badly, as it may be seen as a way to challenge their skills and knowledge
c) as an opportunity to impress their colleagues and superiors

5 Do you think that, to be effective in a multicultural organisation, a successful competency framework should:
a) be designed in such a way it could be implemented by everyone, irrespective of their cultural background
b) take into account the cultural diversity of an organisation and be designed accordingly
c) stick to the one which has proved successful at home

6 You hear your German colleague saying about your latest proposal: "don't take it personally, but this idea is stupid". You think that:
a) he/she is very blunt and rude and these are not proper business manners
b) he/she is expressing politely and clearly his/her view about your proposal
c) he/she is purposely trying to undermine your proposal for political reasons

7 You are making a presentation in Tokyo in front of a group of Japanese executives and two of them are sitting with folded arms, their head down and their eyes closed. You think that:
a) they are very rude to be sleeping during your presentation (after all, you should be the jet-lagged one)
b) they are deliberately pretending they are sleeping to show that they are not supporting your proposal
c) they are listening attentively to your presentation

8 Your Mexican potential client has arranged to meet you in a cafe at 10 a.m. in Mexico. You are there on time but he arrives 30 minutes later and says "Sorry, I'm a little late". It may very well be that:
a) he arrived late intentionally to show you indirectly that, being the potential buyer, he is in a position of power
b) he arrived late intentionally to let you have the time to settle in and enjoy the atmosphere
c) he arrived late, as all Mexicans would, because it is well-known that business is taken very lightly over there and besides, he didn't give you any good reason for his delay

9 You email your Dutch fellow team member in these terms: "Let's meet ASAP to discuss this project.". The reply comes: "Who is Asap?". You think:
a) your colleague has a sense of humour that you didn't expect
b) your colleague probably did not understand the expression ASAP
c) your colleague doesn't seem to be co-operative as you think he/she may have meant "why ASAP?"

10 You make a request to your Norwegian junior colleague in these terms: "I wonder if you would be kind enough to do that for me when you have time". Two days later, you are still waiting. The chances are that:
a) your colleague is sulking because in his/her culture, this way of expressing a request would be considered as an order and might be offended
b) your colleague does not know how to do what you requested and does not dare to ask as it would show that he/she hasn't got the right skills for the job
c) your colleague thought that you gave him/her the choice to do it now or later and decided that he/she didn't have the time right now

The Answers

1. In Spain, the main purpose of a business meeting would usually be to: make decisions by discussing in length the pro's and con's of an option

2. You are asking a question of your junior Japanese colleague and he/she looks down and answers you after a few seconds. You think the chances are that he/she: is paying respect to your position and your question

3. In Italy, the majority of people think that a good manager should: have at hand precise answers to most questions his/her subordinates may raise about their work

4. In Germany, performance review is usually perceived very badly, as it may be seen as a way to challenge their skills and knowledge

5. Do you think that, to be effective in a multicultural organisation, a successful competency framework should: be designed in such a way it could be implemented by everyone, irrespective of their cultural background (answer b is probably also acceptable here)

6. You hear your German colleague saying about your latest proposal :"don't take it personally, but this idea is stupid". You think that: he/she is expressing politely and clearly his/her view about your proposal

7. You are making a presentation in Tokyo in front of a group of Japanese executives and two of them are sitting with folded arms, their head down and their eyes closed. You think that: they are listening attentively to your presentation

8. Your Mexican potential client has arranged to meet you in a cafe at 10.00am in Mexico. You are there on time but he arrives 30 minutes later and says "sorry I'm a little late". It may very well be that: he arrived late, as all Mexicans would, because it is well-known that business is taken very lightly over there and besides, he didn't give you any good reason for his delay

9. You e mail your Dutch fellow team member in these terms: "Let's meet ASAP to discuss this project". The reply comes: "Who is ASAP?". You think: Your colleague probably did not understand the expression ASAP

10. You make a request to your Norwegian junior colleague in these terms: "I wonder if you would be kind enough to do that for me when you have time". Two days later, you are still waiting. The chances are that: your colleague thought that you gave him/her the choice to do it now or later and decided that he/she didn't have the time right now

Cultural misunderstanding, or just being rude?

How can you tell if you have just made some huge intercultural faux pas, or if the person you are talking to is just being rude?

When I think about my fellow Brits, I see that some of them I instinctively like, some I’m fairly neutral about, and there are a very few with whom, for no particular reason, I can find no common ground and it is an effort to be civil to them. There are one or two others who are deliberately and obviously rude (and not just to me). If I have to do business with people you find rude, it is important to find out as quickly as possible whether you are making some horrible cultural mistake that is offending them, and that everyone is too embarrassed to tell you about, or whether there is a personal dislike – I suppose the latter is much rare, but is potentially more damaging to a business relationship.

My advice is simple

• Ask: either colleagues you trust or friends;
• Look: how other people react to this person;
• Listen: even if conversations are in a different language, you can probably tell if this person’s answers are more abrupt than conversations between other people, or you can tell by his/her tone and intonation that there is some other issue.

The most common situation is that there is some cultural issue, which is exacerbated by personality blocking full communication. As an example, an anecdote from an anonymous client recently: a large business services company employed a Saudi manager who had a huge reputation, was highly recommended for his client care and had been marked for accelerated promotion. However within his first month at the company he had lost a very important client. A quick phone call to the client established that he had gone into a meeting room, and asked the woman seated at the table to bring him a cup of coffee, and then sent her back to bring some more sugar. You can probably guess that the woman concerned was the decision maker for the project and was very upset at being treated this way. It is a stereotype (but nonetheless true) that a lot of Saudi’s are uncomfortable dealing with women in business, and those from wealthy families may be used to treating women as servants in a business environment. HOWEVER it is standard business practice (and common sense) to establish to whom you are talking, before you make assumptions, even more so when visiting a client’s office. It is a matter of politeness not to assume that anyone who might be in the room is there to provide you with drinks, and especially when not in your home country you should be more circumspect and more polite in dealing with people you don’t know.

It is also true that excessive politeness can cause embarrassment to both parties, but I would suggest that the embarrassment is significantly less damaging than causing even a small amount of offence to a potential or existing client. The above anecdote also shows how even a tiny amount of preparation can help. IF the Saudi had found out in advance the gender of the person he was meeting; IF he had been a little more culturally aware; IF he had been prepared to work in a different culture; then perhaps…

Culture shock

What’s the difference between culture shock, homesickness and a bad case of nostalgia?

On a simplistic level, the symptoms of all three can be the same: varying levels of depression, increased stress, tiredness, flu-like symptoms, to name but a few. However I think it’s not true to say that they are gradations of the same problem.

Taking them in reverse order – nostalgia.

“Nostalgia comes from Greek nostos "homeward journey, return home" and algos "pain" - with the word nostos originally referring to the journey of Odysseus and the heroes from Troy. And if you have a yen, well, you will be surprised about the history of the word. It is from in-yan, the Chinese expression for "craving for opium" and yen first meant "craving of an addict for a drug". This became yan and, eventually, yen for a "powerful craving." (http://dictionary.reference.com/features/wordtraveler04.html)


Interestingly in modern English it’s meaning has developed to include attachment for a specific TIME rather than PLACE – we are nostalgic about a childhood summer, or student days, and less about our homes. This is especially true for “serial-expats” who may have difficulty saying where home actually is. Whole industries have developed around exploiting nostalgic feelings – museums, historically themed parks, the online “family history” sites, even to some extent social networking sites - let’s be honest, who doesn’t look up past flames on facebook/my space/friends reunited!

“An important feature of nostalgia then is the relationship between past and present; indeed it may be seen as a barometer of the present.”
(http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=scholars&webpage=default&flexedit=&flex_password=&menu_label=&menuID=homely&menubox=&scholar=186)

Homesickness, I think we can agree, is a much more specific longing for a place or person (places/people).
“Homesickness is the distress or impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from the specific home environment or attachment objects”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homesickness)
Interestingly the above definition suggests that the anticipation as much as the actual distance from home is a real issue for some people. I attended a boarding school from the age of 11, and was one of the lucky ones who didn’t suffer homesickness, but I can imagine the distress and consequent academic influence for those who did suffer. But adults suffer it too! More importantly, it is completely irrational, and it is rare that the promise of a return next week/month will alleviate the symtoms.

In my view Culture Shock incorporates elements of both nostalgia and homesickness, but is forward looking. With nostalgia and homesickness we are looking back – either in time, or physically – and making a mental step that what is behind us is better, more fun, more comfortable. Culture Shock looks around and forward and says “I can’t cope/don’t want to cope with this”. In other words you blame your current environment for the symptoms rather than idealising the past. In many ways this makes culture shock much harder to deal with. We can be nostalgic in a positive way and remember the past with a smile. Homesickness will pass – either after a visit home, or by getting used to it (this is not to undervalue the real pain it causes though). If you don’t deal with culture shock as an expatriate it will affect home and work life, and possibly quite severely – just because it is so easy to blame “the natives” for everything that is wrong. People who have experienced culture shock testify to the fact that culture shock comes in waves – you have good days and bad days. This is why culture shock is often described as a rollercoaster. You can have really good moments – the peaks – when you are enjoying everything new around you and suddenly hit a really big trough where the slightest misunderstanding is exaggerated beyond proportion.

I’m not going to discuss here how to deal with culture shock (I may return to the theme later on) but I do want to stress how important it is to be prepared for the effects and symptoms of it.

expatriate

intercultural

cross cultural

So what’s the big deal with culture shock?

Why do expats go on and on about culture shock? Surely it can’t be that bad? Isn’t homesickness for kids?

Research has shown that symptoms of culture shock can include:

• Sadness, loneliness, melancholy
• Preoccupation with health
• Aches, pains, and allergies
• Insomnia, desire to sleep too much or too little
• Changes in temperament, depression, feeling vulnerable, feeling powerless
• Anger, irritability, resentment, unwillingness to interact with others
• Identifying with the old culture or idealizing the old country
• Loss of identity
• Trying too hard to absorb everything in the new culture or country
• Unable to solve simple problems
• Lack of confidence
• Feelings of inadequacy or insecurity
• Developing stereotypes about the new culture
• Developing obsessions such as over-cleanliness
• Longing for family
• Feelings of being lost, overlooked, exploited or abused
  

If you look at the list these are the things you need least of all when you arrive in a new country – most expats are sent by their companies to do an important job, and as a leader of the local staff. If you’re suffering from even one of the conditions from the list you’re not going to be able to do your job properly.

Princeton university (wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn ) defines culture shock as
“…a condition of disorientation affecting someone who is suddenly exposed to an unfamiliar culture or way of life or set of attitudes…”

We also know that almost a third of expatriate assignments fail because the family is not happy, or cannot settle (again, look at the list above!).
It’s just a shame that it appears pre-departure training is such a low priority for most companies!

expatriate

intercultural

cross cultural

Presenting to audiences whose first language is not English

Don't leave your audience in the dark!

As business becomes more global, we are speaking to an ever-wider range of nationalities and people. This is true not only in the multi-nationals, but also in the professions and the public sector. It is giving us greater opportunities for wider relationships and more business. Increasingly, the world is using English, and this appears to give native speakers great advantages. However, there are dangers as well...

The tendency is to think that one can go into a presentation without having to prepare for that extra English language element that our Japanese, German or Spanish counterparts have to. In addition, we may forget to prepare for different cultural perceptions; because if we use English, we often expect the cultural context to be ours as well.

Adapt your language to the audience

Careful preparation is required for business encounters with non-native speakers of English, both linguistically and culturally. Take the example of a medium-sized pharmaceutical company in North Italy. They supplied medicines to the Italian market, and the only language spoken by employees was Italian. The company was taken over in the mid-nineties by an Anglo-American multinational with its European headquarters in London. The new British general manager arrived and called a meeting for all management, to set out the new strategy. The employees understood little of the presentation, because he spoke fast, idiomatic English. They left the auditorium in a state of panic, knowing that in future, they would be reporting in English. The presenter had not adapted his language to his audience.

This is not an isolated example. Similar stories are heard whenever non-native speakers have to deal with native English speakers.

The young Spanish aeronautical engineer on a management development programme with British and Irish fellow students, felt isolated as he struggled to keep up with their language.
The group of French purchasing managers for a Franco-German pharmaceutical company had enormous difficulty understanding their British counterpart when he presented to them.
The Japanese manager of a Japanese electrical engineering company could not understand the Scotsmen on his team. The list goes on.

Use of Off-shore English is growing

We may ask: "Why don't they learn better English"? The answer is, they are doing so. Companies and individual invest heavily in English training, and there are increasing numbers of managers around the world using English daily. They use, however, a different form of English from the native speaker: 'Offshore English' (OE), is a practical, direct language used as a business tool throughout the world. It cuts out the idioms, expressions, indirectness, phrasal verbs and colloquial phrases that we use to add life, interest and magic to our language.

OE is growing rapidly. It enables managers from a Franco-Japanese automotive company to communicate effectively, or executives from an Italian-German manufacturing company to solve complex problems together. Frequently, non-native speakers tell us that it is easier to talk to the Dutch, the Germans or the Scandinavians in English rather than the Americans, Australians or British.

Why do native speakers not use OE? In our experience, it is because most people using English internationally do not realise that it exists. In addition, the relatively poor foreign language skills of native English speakers are well known, and many of us do not appreciate the practical difficulties of using a foreign language at work. We hear a frequent complaint: "There is one American in my team of ten Germans, and so we all have to speak English at team meetings in Germany". Or that the British manager has been in Madrid for two years now, and still is unable to understand a presentation in Spanish. There are accusations of laziness, but more frequently of cultural arrogance.

Cut out idioms

So, how can the native speakers help their non-native counterparts? Clearly, adapting their language to OE is crucial. "We'll do it willy-nilly" is difficult to understand. "We'll do it anyway" is not.

Cut out those delicious idioms we love, and use unconsciously.

A former British prime minister used a mass of cricketing idioms in a meeting with a Spanish minister proud of his excellent English. But talk of 'sticky wickets' and 'being stumped' totally confused him, and before the next meeting he demanded it be conducted through interpreters.
Phrasal verbs are a minefield for anyone learning English, and often a more formal equivalent will be more easily understood. To a Frenchman or German, "I'll contact her" is easier than "I'll get on to her", or "Let's postpone the presentation" is more understandable than "Let's put the presentation off".

Presenting internationally

We also need to take into account cultural differences when we present internationally. The more we know what an audience in a particular country expects, the more effective we can be. The British prefer the presentation to be short and to the point, full of humour, metaphor and analogies. However, this can appear lacking in seriousness in Germany or Scandinavia, or not detailed enough in Japan.

A presentation keeping strictly to the timetable will be appreciated in Northern Europe, but may be less relevant in Italy, as one executive discovered to his cost. Asked to present to an Italian business association, he delivered a concise, well-argued performance in two minutes! After he finished there was an awkward silence, and then polite applause. The other presenters spoke for much longer, some for as long as 20 minutes. The meeting ended two hours late, and afterwards the Englishman was approached by a friend, who asked: "Why didn't you spell out in much greater detail the many things I know your company can offer?" The Italians expected to hear a well-argued case with the appropriate embellishments, and felt short-changed by the concise English style.

Presenting internationally offers many challenges. We need to be aware of not only what we say and how we say it, but also what our audience expects from a presentation. The more we know about our own language, and how to adapt it to a non-native audience, the more the audience will understand, and be able to take an active part in the meeting. The more we understand the cultural dimension, the greater our chance of hitting home with the message we want to give, on the level that the audience understands and feels comfortable with. When we get it right, we can build relationships and trust, and do business effectively.

Original Article at http://www.intercultural-training.co.uk/articles/general/presentation_skills.asp

Working Abroad - Learning how....

Many companies contemplating expansion into new markets often fail to achieve the expected results because they were not prepared for the cultural differences and business styles of the potential market. Greater understanding and more informed planning will certainly lead to a much higher probability of achieving business goals.

Cross-cultural effectiveness requires more than common sense, and the pursuit of cross-cultural understanding is an essential tool in helping potential exporters increase their competitive advantage.

In the highly competitive and fast changing business world of today, we need to get it right, and get it right first time. Whether we are presenting our ideas to an audience from another culture or negotiating with them, understanding that culture, and in particular our ability to communicate effectively within that culture, will impact on how we are perceived, and substantially effect our success. Their ideas about what makes a good communicator may be very different from our own, and what is a permissible negotiation tactic in our culture may be unacceptable in another.

Individuals operating in international markets require particular competencies and personal characteristics. Unbridled inquisitiveness, patience, depth of field and self-awareness are some of these characteristics and above all highly effective communication skills. However, this is only the beginning. They need to acquire both the operational tools and practical skills that will help them articulate their thinking and adapt their style and approach to the needs of the markets in which they wish to operate.

Working with different cultures becomes all the more rewarding when we know what we should be looking out for, and when we are able to recognise our own strengths and weaknesses. Working within an international marketplace need not be a daunting task if we recognise the advantages thorough preparation and planning can bring.

Farnham Castle, recognised by many of the world's most successful international companies as the leading provider of intercultural management skills training, provides a complete range of programmes to support companies and individuals to achieve greater business effectiveness.
Full details of training programmes and the conference and meeting facilities available at the historic 12th century castle are available at http://www.farnhamcastle.com/