What is it about people of other nationalities that so annoys us? It’s all a matter of PERCEPTION. It’s not about what you are like. It’s about what I think you are like. The problem is that this perception is probably historical and not up to date. It is also in my experience invariably negative.
Communicating effectively with your counterparts from other countries isn’t rocket science. It’s about understanding how they approach life and business and adapting your style to theirs to get the results you want.
In the third of this series on international communication, Barry Tomalin, Author of ‘The World’s Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them’ (Thorogood 2010) and our lead consultant on all things ‘cross-cultural’, offers us an insight into a little tool he has used to record many of the memories of more than 30 years working and travelling in more than 60 countries.
What do you need to know about another country? When you do business with a new company, you check out their website, right? But what do you do if you are doing business in a new country? Most people assume that give or take a few etiquette differences, the business process is the same. Wrong! It’s often entirely different. Even with countries next door to you. So how can you check?
In recent years, I’ve been asked many times by people to explain to them exactly what we mean by “cross-cultural training”. In all that time my standard reply hasn’t changed, and the knowing smiles and nods of recognition confirm this is something most people have experienced at first hand in their business careers! Put very simply – “it’s one thing to be able to speak Mandarin – it’s another thing altogether to know how your Chinese counterpart is thinking.”