Maybe you know this predicament: When dealing with other cultures, we tend to mistakenly assume similarity where there actually is none. You may go into an international project thinking “The others are all open and friendly, surely it will work just fine”? Far from it!
💡 Conducting business in an interculturally competent manner does not
mean completely adapting to the other culture, or pretending to, instead it
means realizing one's own goals in collaboration with the partners and
recognizing the differences in processes, procedures and necessities.
💡 Multiple studies have found, and continue to find, dysfunctionalities in
international teams. Of course, conflicts and communication failure can
have personal or situational reasons, but frequently they are due to a lack
of awareness of intercultural differences.
💡 However, when participants are aware of their own bias and prepared for
the encounter with other cultures, such conflicts can be prevented, and
thus valuable time and energy are saved.
For any intercultural training to be effective it is necessary to begin with developing a basic awareness of different cultural types; this in turn helps us to further understand our own culture’s characteristics and how they might be viewed by others. 🎯
From this basis of general cultural knowledge, we can then move on to better understanding how and why the cultural values of the target culture form the behavior we encounter in others. 🎯
A final step is developing practical strategies for avoiding problems and conflicts in working-day interaction.
Being culturally aware does not mean manipulating or removing differences in behavior but instead exploiting or utilizing the differences one encounters to achieve effective communication. 🤝
What are your experiences with working in international teams? 🤝
All training content at das Seminarhaus is based on the specific needs and wishes of each participant group, taking into consideration the particularities of the respective cultures, such as languages, customs, and business etiquette.
Why not sign up for your own personal intercultural awareness training and form a successful relationship with your foreign colleagues?
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