How can cultural differences influence communication and collaboration within teams, and how can understanding these differences improve teamwork and avoid misjudgments?
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer
Sometimes if we don’t understand how the culture functions in our team, we can have some false judgments, like the Chinese people who percept the westerners often speaking in meetings as showy or poor listeners. In the Chinese culture, communication values active listening, so Westerners who frequently speak in meetings can be seen as dominating the conversation and neglecting others.
To avoid misunderstanding, we should emphasize more the importance of listening and observing non-verbal communications like the Indian head-nod that indicates enthusiasm or respectful listening, and try to pause each time to invite people to speak, to understand the cultural context behind each behavior, like how traditional values and social norms play a role in shaping our behaviors and how we interpret situations and make decisions.
Living abroad can help decode communications enabling the understanding of how different cultures approach teamwork and feedback, taking the example of the American who values direct and clear positive feedback, while the positive one is explicit, the negative is softened, contrary to the French, who give positive remarks implicitly while emphasizing the critical ones. The “Culture Map” by Erin Meyer is a thought-provoking exploration of how cultural differences impact communication, leadership, and collaboration within global teams.
Cultural Communication Styles: High-Context vs. Low-Context Dynamics and Feedback Strategies
In certain cultures, they value personal rapport more than business interactions. To make a successful business, we should appreciate culture and individual differences for better collaboration and mutual respect. There are two styles of communication, and their degree depends on the historical influence on the communication norms. The first is a low-context culture; the U.S, for example, relies on explicit and straightforward communication.
The other is high-context cultures (African countries) which is the opposite, it values implicit messages, share understanding and non-verbal signs, like Japan the positioning of the cultures are relative to the other culture’s norms rather than their intrinsic attributes, in the U.K for example at the end of each meeting they recap it verbally to ensure agreement, then write a summary to ensure shared understanding and accountability.
On the other hand, the French culture as a high-context culture compared to the U.K, don’t see the need to do all of this, as an example, the email etiquette in the French culture, when sending a request by email you should not expect an immediately response, you will receive a reply after the recipient has taken the time to review your request and verify the details thoroughly.
In Chinese communication, they focus on tones and silences, which are crucial in the interpretation of the underlying messages. Good listening is the tip to avoid any misunderstanding, by absorbing what is said and asking for clarification when needed, as the lack of questions may indicate misunderstanding. It is recommended to pay more attention to nonverbal signals, recap key points after meetings, and assert opinions. In low-context multicultural teams, it is recommended to make an oral key point recap to ensure that everyone has understood, and make a personal action plan summary. After the meeting, you can make a written recap clarifying intentions, organizational charts, even if sometimes in high-context cultures it can suggest mistrust.
When given feedback, avoid public criticism and use gradual, softened methods, frame feedback style explicitly, and balance positive and negative. You can observe that the persuasion techniques depends on the cultural roots, for example Germans prioritize theoretical concepts before practical applications (Principals-first), they need to understand the “why” behind actions, in meeting you should start with general concepts then draw a practical conclusions, contrary to Americans (Applications-first) who prioritize concrete tools over theory, and focus on “how” for execution, you should draw here observation of real-world data, then draw broader conclusions. This difference is due to the style of learning in our schools; for example, Americans learn languages by practicing speaking, while the French start by learning grammar rules.
Bridging Cultural Gaps: Strategies for Global Teams
It is recommended here to focus on practicalities first before theory. As a leader, you should try to draw the lines and explain concepts for principles-first thinkers while providing examples for applications-first thinkers. It is also recommended to maximize diversity in cross-cultural teams for innovation, with careful management, and to adapt your behavior to the culture.
Decision-Making and Trust: Hierarchy vs. Collaboration
We can also differentiate cultures depending on the varying attributes toward authority, There are egalitarian cultures that value equality and treat individuals across different ranks more similarly; they encourage open dialogue and collaborative decision-making, encourage independence, and team input. Many African cultures, influenced by communal traditions, place high importance on collective decision-making and maintaining harmony within groups. In America for example mistakes are viewed as minor, you can always change your plan because the decisions are not permanent they are made by the leaders or a vote in meetings (they prioritize speed), all of this is to value efficiency over extended discussions, so be ready to follow quick decisions and suggest voting when the group is divided.
n the other hand, Hierarchical cultures emphasize a transparent chain of command and adherence to ranks; the decision style here is Top-down (Boss decides). Some authority symbols are a boss riding a bike, like in Denmark, which shows equality. In China where it is influenced by Confucianist, they value care and loyalty to the leader, so you should never skip layers by communicating with workers that are in the same level or copy the boss in emails when crossing levels, this sometimes delay decisions, you should also avoid public disagreement and prioritize group harmony. To avoid problems between the two styles of cultures, you should define decision-making methods early and agree on deadlines, flexibility, and rules.
There is also a difference in the style of trust in businesses, one is the cognitive trust, which means that it is based on competence, like in the U.S “Business is business,” and to communicate, you should prioritize clarity when choosing the method (email, calls, meetings…). The other is the Affective trust (African countries), in China and Brazil, for example, “Business is personal,” so trust is built through emotional connection, so in this case, you should foster personal connections by engaging in shared activities like meals, and adapt to local customs. To communicate, it is recommended to start with personal communication (calls or in-person), build trust before transitioning to task-based mediums, and utilize connections to establish introductions.
Conflict and Time: Balancing Debate, Harmony, and Schedules
Some cultures prioritize confrontation, they believe that debate can lead to creativity and truth. In France, debate is discussed in meetings. Others favor avoiding confrontations to foster harmony. It is recommended, then, to skip the meeting as a boss to reduce power dynamics by conducting pre-meetings between just the team members to build consensus. In East Asia, for example, discussion and preparation take place before the actual meeting taking place so by the time the meeting happens, decisions have already been debated and agreed upon in informal settings. Try here to avoid giving your opinion first and depersonalize disagreements by using anonymous Post-its.
Germany and Japan are well known for their rigidity in time, they value precise schedules, and they see lateness as rude (Linear-time), in this type of cultures, meetings follow structured agendas contrary to India, China and African countries who are more flexible, they have a o fluid schedules based on events or unforeseen changes, they are more adaptable and accept interruptions, here meetings evolve like trees.
It is recommended to learn how to work across scheduling styles and adapt meeting formats to fit team preferences, you should also check plans in advance when dealing with flexible-time cultures, try to define the rules (flexibility or structure) and to adjust periodically if there is any change in agreements to explore the differences in values and work methods, distinguish personality from cultural factors for effective management, to enhance culture flexibility rotate team members across locations to build understanding or hire bicultural individuals to decode behaviors and encourage perspective shifts and suspend judgments.
Buy the Book: The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer
Also Read: The Science of Leadership: Building Trust and Loyalty in Teams
