Personal Trainer

Ken Taylor on understanding other cultures in the workplace

Branislav Pelak: I would like to discuss how to help our clients understand other cultures in the workplace. More and more of us work in international teams or with business partners with a different cultural background.

Ken Taylor: Sometimes, we even need to make our clients aware that this is an area they need to address when working internationally.

Pelak: That’s true. But in my experience, a general acceptance of the importance of cross-cultural awareness has grown over the past ten years. Organizations are increasingly aware that, when cooperation does not work, it may be because of cultural issues. Even seemingly similar cultures can clash. One example close to home for me is helping Czechs and Slovaks to cooperate in a positive way. Taylor: “Similar” is not the same as “same”. When cultures are similar, the danger is that we do not bother to try to understand where the differences might lie. And we make assumptions about each other based on our own cultural perspective.

Pelak: That’s right. For example, Slovaks and Czechs seem to define “success” differently. Slovaks are more concerned about ideas around material success such as salaries, houses and cars, whilst Czechs are more likely to define success in terms of having a good work-life balance. Taylor: It’s sometimes easier when the cultures involved are very different from each other. When I worked in Vietnam, it was obvious that this culture was very different to my own. It was noticeable in everything around me. This forced me to try to come to terms with these cultural differences and to try to learn more about the cultural influences on my Vietnamese colleagues.

Pelak: This is not an easy process. And you have to start with yourself and your own culture. You need to recognize how your cultural background affects your approach to life — how it affects your communication style, your approach to work and the way you want to be treated as an individual.

Taylor: It’s not just one’s cultural background that affects this, of course. We often have problems at work with people from our own cultural background. Our personalities and personal style also have a huge influence on how we cooperate with each other.

Pelak: That’s very true. Cultural background is just one of the factors we need to take into consideration when building working relationships.

Taylor: The role of cross-cultural training is to help people become more sensitive to cultural differences, to give them tools for bridging the gaps and to build on areas where the cultures are similar.

Pelak: We need to make people curious about each other. Curiosity is a key driver in creating cross-cultural understanding. Taylor: I agree totally. If you show interest in your business partner’s culture, it shows respect and also allows your partner to become your cultural teacher. Cross-cultural differences are a great small-talk subject in coffee breaks, over meals and later over a drink in the bar.

Pelak: Do you use any tools to help define cultures and differences between cultures? Taylor: Probably the bestknown approach to “measuring” culture and cultural differences is Geert Hofstede’s “Six Dimensions” model of national culture. I use a similar model, based on a Harvard Business School approach. This consists of ten dimensions of culture, where you can assess your own culture and compare it to others.

Pelak: These tools are useful but imperfect. There are so many different ways you can approach this.

Taylor: You’re right, of course. The tools have their limitations and are rather subjective. But they do motivate the user to become more aware of how our cultural backgrounds can affect the way we interact with one another.

Pelak: They are also useful in international teams. You can use them to stimulate discussions on how to work together. Taylor: Indeed. In my experience, international teams do not discuss this enough. Time is money and they get on with business without talking about processes and how they should work together.

Pelak: I lead an international team and I really try to get a feeling of consensus about decisions and work practices. Taylor: I call this “building a safety net”. The team creates “rules of the road” for their cooperation. Then, when something goes wrong, you can point to the rule rather than to the person. This is much better for building team morale or team spirit.

Pelak: Different people from different backgrounds have very different expectations about the way things should be done. Some people expect the boss to take the decisions, whilst others look for consensus. Some people like to be singled out and rewarded, whilst others want the whole group to get recognition.

Taylor: So, it’s good to discuss these different approaches and decide on a common, team approach before you get into discussions over the immediate business. If you get straight down to business, there is a greater chance of misunderstandings and disagreements.

Pelak: This is possible when you’re the leader of a team. But when you’re meeting international business partners, it’s more difficult. Taylor: Yes. But I still think you can have a process discussion before getting down to the business at hand.

Pelak: As a boy, I went to a public school in England. This was a total culture shock. Now, I can understand why it took me some time to come to terms with it. But many of our business partners don’t have the luxury of time. They travel to one country for two days and the following week they have to deal with people in another country. How can they adapt to this situation?

Taylor: Of course, you can get information about business etiquette and behaviour in different cultures from books or the internet. But the reality might not be recognizable from the descriptions you have read. You can take up cultural differences in your small talk. You can also be observant. When you arrive, go to a cafe or bar and see how people interact. How do they greet each other, how close do they stand, do they touch each other after the greeting? These observations might give you some indications of how your business partners expect to be treated or how they will treat you.

Pelak: When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Taylor: Yes, in a way. But if I visit Japan, I cannot become Japanese. However, if you show you are prepared to be flexible, adapt your behaviour and take a step towards your partner to make them feel more comfortable, they will almost certainly do the same for you.

Pelak: To end on a different note, do you think corporate culture is influenced by national culture?

Taylor: Yes. Even in global corporations, you can see the influence of their origins. Many cross-border mergers and acquisitions fail because the corporate cultures are not reconciled. They haven’t spent enough time on building a corporate safety net.

“Even seemingly similar cultures can clash”

Pelak: That’s my experience, too. Even seemingly similar cultures like the Czech and Slovak can clash.

Taylor: And as we agreed, “similar” is not the same as “same”.