Avoiding Cross-Cultural Faux Pas – Career Skills From MindTools.com

See on Scoop.it – Global Leaders

Learn some common mistakes to avoid when traveling or working in a different culture.

Quote from the article:

The Importance of Cultural Awareness

It’s not just professionals working overseas who need to learn cross-cultural business etiquette. Stop and think about how many different cultures you come into contact with at work.

Even if you work in your home country, your colleagues and suppliers could hail from other cultures. Your organization might decide to acquire or merge with an organization in a different country. And your customers, too, may be located in dozens of countries worldwide.

Considering Cultural Differences:

Consider the following questions when thinking about how a culture might differ from your own:

What values does this culture embrace? How do those values compare with those of your culture?How do people make decisions, conduct relationships, and display emotion?How does this culture treat time and scheduling?What are the social rules and boundaries surrounding gender?How does this culture display and respect power? Which authority figures are revered?How do individuals relate to their employers?How do people in this culture communicate? How direct are they in what they say and mean?

Key Points

Cross-cultural awareness is an essential skill, regardless of whether you’re working overseas, leading a cross-cultural or virtual team, or dealing with a global customer base. Learn about the culture of the country where you’re doing business to avoid cultural mistakes, and to demonstrate respect and understanding.

Research key differences in decision making, relationships, dress, food, dining, and social etiquette before working with or traveling to a different culture. Your hosts will notice your efforts, and appreciate that you took the time to learn about their culture.

Read more on www.mindtools.com

Cultural intelligence cannot be learned by simply visiting different countries for few weeks, learning languages, attend cross-cultural webinars or read books.

Cultural intelligence is acquired by being exposed directly to cross-cultural  challenges at work and everyday life, preferably with family.

 

Related articles

• Wanted: True Global Business Leaders !
• Virtual Teams and the Challenge of Cross-Cultural Differences (worklifestrategies.net)
• Beyond Cultural Differences: Cross-Cultural Comfort (culturalsavvy.wordpress.com)

Research Findings: The Value of Intercultural Skills in the Workplace

See on Scoop.it – Global Leaders

Culture at Work: The value of intercultural skills in the workplace —A survey conducted by the British Council, Booz Allen Hamilton and Ipsos Public Affairs, of HR managers at 367 large employers…Posted on 2013/03/20 by Dianne Hofner Saphiere. See full article on blog.culturaldetective.com

Intercultural skills are crucial in the development of businesses internationally. However it is often difficult to identify employees who have the right combination of skills. Most HR managers of large multinational companies think that intercultural communication skills are beneficial to keep good reputation, build trust with overseas clients and partners, increase productivity and increase sales

The top 3 most important skills valued by employers are :

• RESPECT
• BUILDING TRUST
• WORKING EFFECTIVELY IN DIVERSE TEAMS

If self-training through international assignments and working in multicultural projects are encouraged, employers are also expecting that educational institutions do more to equip students with intercultural skills.

Russia was not mentioned in this study but with the fast-changing pace of the economy, it is clear that there is the same need for more formal education on intercultural skills by education providers such as:

• Teaching communication skills
• Offering foreign language classes
• Availability of opportunities for students to gain international experience
• Development of international research partnerships.

Based on my experience, not only basic rules or cultural etiquette need to be learned in context but the ability to develop strong bonds on a personal level needs emphasis too.

Cross-cultural programs should not be dissociated from corporate culture but instead used to create a “third culture” so that all employees globally feel they share the same values.

If you look at companies such as Starbucks, not only the customer experience is the same everywhere but the corporate values too.

Read more about Starbucks here : What To Learn From A Brand That Is Trusted Globally?

What Do You Think Of Intercultural Programs Offered in Your country By Universities and Business Schools ?

Why Facebook “Graph Search” Can Be Recruiters Best Friend ?

In my previous post I shared some comments about an article “Why I’m quitting Facebook” from  Douglas Rushkoff a media specialist for CNN. I found interesting to share some of potential FB problems. However I  still have benefits on using Facebook, especially as an expat who has many friends living around the globe and great “virtual” ones too.  One of those virtual friends is fellow expat Judy Rickatson, Social Media Director at Families in Global Transition. When she read the article, she shared her insights on how to address the issue about FB selecting or hiding friends updates for you. She recommended to use lists of your favorite friends and pages to make sure you will not miss news that really matter to you. Apparently that works for me.

There is another reason for me to stick to FB  as a career coach. Facebook is becoming one of the best source of employee referrals.

In this article: Infographic: How to Use Facebook for Recruiting. The graph shows how Facebook new feature called “Graph Search” can help you locate people by their interests, real-world connections, and locations. 

For now the Facebook application is not ready but you can try a search on this page:  
https://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch

Currently, 47 percent of new hires through social media are referred through Facebook, which puts the social network ahead of LinkedIn and Twitter as a recruitment platform (41% are referred via Linkedin and 16 % via twitter)

• 1 in 5 of users have had a friend share a job on Facebook
• 14 percent search specifically for jobs on Facebook
• 52 percent use Facebook to help find work

Companies can set up Facebook pages to build a following and post job listings, but 47 percent of users will “unlike” a page if the company posts too many status updates. This is why searching for candidates directly through “Graph Search” might be a better way to target people who might be interested in a new career.

 In conclusion, Facebook new “Graph Search” seems to be a powerful data mining tool and yes, potentially will violate your privacy and those data will be sold to marketers. So you can delete your FB account, still data about you will be found anyway. The best answer you have is to consider that what you post even to your secret list of friends will become public one way or another. If you don’t want to get hurt don’t post stupid things that you will regret. You also have to use this new feature for searching jobs, posting contents that will raise your visibility in FB graph Search.

What do you think of Facebook Graph Search ?

Related Articles:

• Implementing an employee referral program in your organization
• Utilizing social media for employee referrals

Why I’m quitting Facebook

See on Scoop.it – Global Leaders

Douglas Rushkoff says the social networking site used to be useful, but has lost his trust with a feature that misrepresents his “likes” without his consent

Anne Egros‘s insight:

While I agree with many of the author’s arguments against Facebook, it is still a precious tool for people like me who are expatriates and have fiends all over the world.

However it is important to realize what is going on behind the Facebook scene that is not really pretty.

I have selected from this article the problems I think are true and some are clearly unacceptable:

1-Facebook has never been merely a social platform. Rather, it exploits our social interactions the way a Tupperware party does.

2-We Facebook users have been building a treasure lode of big data that government and corporate researchers have been mining to predict and influence what we buy and for whom we vote.

3-The true end users of Facebook are the marketers and we the users are the product. And we are its workers. The countless hours that we — and the young, particularly — spend on our profiles are the unpaid labor on which Facebook justifies its stock valuation.

4-More recently, users — particularly those with larger sets of friends, followers and likes — learned that their updates were no longer reaching all of the people who had signed up to get them. Now, we are supposed to pay to “promote” our posts to our friends and, if we pay even more, to their friends.

Facebook is not the Internet. It’s just one website, and it comes with a price.

Before privacy violation get worse at Facebook,  I already advocated for quitting it without losing your friends : Read more about the recommendations on keeping the good part of FB : 

Dump Facebook, Keep Your Friends: A Step-By-Step Guide 

To be honest I did not quit my FB account yet but I have reduced significantly the time spent on it and I cancelled all my FB notifications by email. I have also reduced the number of people who can see my information by using specific groups.

See on edition.cnn.com

Related articles

• Craig Kanalley: Prominent Writers Call Out Facebook As It Deals With Teenager Problem (huffingtonpost.com)
• Why I Quit Facebook – The Most Un-Social Network (unfinishedman.com)

Cultural Intelligence is the Art of Understanding Empathy Across Cultures.

I made this blog based on the findings of the original article:

 LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT EMPATHY : See on Scoop.it - Global Leaders

Strong empathy may prevent us from doing the wrong things.
Empathy then connects with the divine energy in this person.

It is like a guided and divine hand that leads our actions.
You will suddenly know what to do or what better not to do.

Name it intuition.

Intuition is the faculty of acquiring direct knowledge or insight without thinking our way through it. You simply feel it.

Follow this intuition and you will see your way.

It is not only that we give empathy, we should understand empathy.

http://wisdomforfutureleaders.org/learn-something-about-empathy/

Anne Egros‘s insight:

Intuition? Interesting definition of empathy.

For me I explain intuition by opening all our senses to non-verbal signals send by another person.

If someone says something but has a body gesture that you interpret as the opposite, your inner radar will feel it and will trigger a reaction in your own brain : perception -> interpretation-> behavior  : in that example interpretation means this person is not trustworthy and as a consequence I won’t sign a deal with her. In psychology this is also called the ladder of inference.

Because we live in a shrinking global village, more and more people from different cultures are interacting with each other so  it is important to learn appropriate gestures and non verbal communication  to avoid conflicts or international  business negotiation failures.

How Do You Define Cultural Intelligence ? Please comment

Here some related articles:

1-Wanted True Global Business Leaders 

2-Working across Cultures: the Challenges of Virtual Communication:

3- The Ladder of Inference-Avoiding “jumping to conclusions”

4-Empathy Peaks In Late Middle-Age (medicalnewstoday.com)

The Power of Negative Thinking and Cultural Preferences

See on Scoop.it – Global Leaders

Both ancient philosophy and modern psychology suggest that darker thoughts can make us happier, writes Oliver Burkeman.

The way we are thinking affects what we do and this article is interesting because it explores alternatives and it challenges the positive thinking principle that if we can dream it we can do it.

“The Three Little Pigs” story gives us a good metaphor on poor evaluation of risks. The two pigs who wanted to play built their houses quickly overlooking quality and danger of the situation. When the wolf came, down went the houses! The lesson is that laziness and too much optimistic thinking are undesirable characteristics to possess, while hard work and careful planning are very positive characteristics.

Positive thinking in American culture is deeply anchored in the education system and workplace cultures.

On May 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the dramatic and ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. Without this type of thinking would it have been possible for Armstrong to land on the moon in 1969?

On the other hand we can probably credit an overly positive thinking for the disasters like the “Titanic” or the space shuttle Discovery  (see details in a previous post:  The Titanic Failure, Technical or Leadership Flaws ? )

You can have big dreams but connect expectations with facts and evidences. Good leaders make decisions based on good judgment considering positive outcomes and costs of failure and evaluating the risks of doing something or avoiding it.

How much risk we can tolerate is also greatly depending on culture according to Geert Hofstede. Among the 5 main cultural dimensions there is one called : Uncertainty avoidance: The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen?

The US scores 46 on this dimension and therefore, American society is what one would describe as “uncertainty accepting.” Consequently, there is a larger degree of acceptance for new ideas, innovative products and a willingness to try something new or different, whether it pertains to technology, business practices, or foodstuffs.

People from coun­tries with high uncer­tainty avoid­ance, such as Rus­sia who scores 95 and many of the former soviet states will typ­ic­ally expect expli­cit instruc­tions and dir­ec­tion for many tasks and will need very detailed and formal responses to requests and ques­tions, these indi­vidu­als feel at their most com­fort­able and pro­duct­ive in a world of struc­ture and rules.

Conclusion:In multicultural environments it is important to understand how people from different cultural backgrounds evaluate risks and project negative or positive outcomes. Avoiding ethnocentric decisions is key in intercultural project management but at the same time high  risk-avoidance should not paralyze action.

Related articles

• What is Positive Thinking? (corporatewoowoochick.com)
• Can negative thinking be a positive? (danpink.com)
• ‘Antidote’ Prescribes A ‘Negative Path To Happiness’ (npr.org)

FAKE IT UNTIL YOU BECOME IT: Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are | Video on TED.com

See on Scoop.it – Global Leaders
Amy Cuddy on TED Talks Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves.

• Our bodies change our minds,

• Our minds change our behaviors

• Our behaviors change our outcomes

Our mind influences our body and our body reacts to our thoughts by producing hormones such as testosterone and cortisol.

When you are stressed you produce high level of cortisol and your body reacts by trying to protect you, you look like a loser, you avoid eye contact, close your arms, make your body stance smaller.

When you are self-confident, your body produces testosterone and you have low level of cortisol. You have much more presence, appear charismatic, passionate, confident, authentic, captivating.

Faking being confident  for 2 minutes by adopting a powerful body stance can trick your body to produce more testosterone and less cortisol and you actually LOOK and ARE more confident.

In real life people judge you on your body language in few seconds so in job interview situations for example it pays off to fake it until you become it

Tiny tweaks (2 minutes) can lead to BIG CHANGES

Before an important talk or meeting or job interview, for 2 min configure your brain to feel  confidence by adopting a powerful body posture.

See on www.ted.com

Related article: 

Facial Expressions Of Emotion Across Cultures: Are They Innate or Learned ?

Doing Business Russian Style

To explain how to do business in a specific culture without using stereotyping is almost impossible but it might be beneficial to start by sharing those stereotypes because they are often true although exaggerated or simply outdated.

I found the following video created by  ”2sharp creative brand agency“ for Russian lighting company Tochka Opory very useful, especially for new expatriates coming to Russia for business. It is funny and provocative enough to ignite some interesting debates about various communication styles across cultures.

To put in perspective this video, I have highlighted some very good points written by Konstantinos Tsanis in his excellent article: Do’s and Dont’s when doing business in Russia combined with useful tips from Interdean’s  Moving to Russia Guide  and some other facts from the book: The Emerging Market in Russia - For Dummies

The pros of doing business in Russia

Even 20 years after the fall of the Soviet system, some amazing opportunities are ahead for Russia:

• Educated population: The Russian education system is excellent. Almost 43 percent of Russian adults are college graduates, and almost 90 percent of high school students graduate. Russia has one of the world’s highest literacy rates, so most of the people can function in a modern economy. The country has people who can do whatever work needs to be done.

• Rich natural resources: One of the world’s leading producers of oil and gas, Russia produces iron ore, bauxite, and gold, too. Russia has rich agricultural soil and is a net exporter of grain and timber. Russia can sustain its own people, and it can provide food and materials to other nations. The growth in India and China creates demand for Russia’s resources.

• Strong financial system: After the 1998 default, the Russian economy was completely restructured. Russians concentrated on making their own system strong in the absence of outside investors, and with banks taking a hard-line on risk, Russia made it through the 2008 global financial crisis with no problems.

Risks of doing business in Russia

Some Russians complain that international investors focus too much on Russia’s risks while ignoring similar risks in other markets. For example, Russia gets demerits because it repealed of many of the glasnost-era freedoms but China’s repression is overlooked. The Russian resentment is probably valid, but even so, Russia has plenty of risk:

• An aging population and brain drain: The average age of the population in Russia is 38.5 years, and the birthrate is below the replacement rate. This situation raises the question of whether Russia will have enough workers to support its retirees and enough workers and consumers to support a more diversified economic base.On top of the declining birthrate, Russian scientists and engineers have a long history of leaving for greener pastures in other countries. However, as Russia’s economy becomes more stable, the people will feel more confident about the future, which in turn will boost the birthrate (the government already pays a bonus to women who have a second child) and lower migration.

• Corruption and crime: Like many formerly Communist countries, Russia has a long-standing culture of corruption because that’s how people got things done. That corruption scares off foreign investors. The government has been addressing the issue, and if investors notice a real change, Russia will become a more attractive place to do business.

• Reliance on one key industry: The Russian economy is based on oil and gas. That’s good because global demand for carbon-based fuel is huge and growing. However, by being so narrowly focused, the Russian economy is directly exposed to price fluctuations. Also, the planet’s oil and gas will be used up someday. The lack of diversity in Russia’s economy creates a big challenge over the long-term.

On the plus side, Russia has the potential to have a more diverse economy. It has a range of natural resources and geography, and its people are talented. Diversification should happen.

The Russian Soul

That is something that you feel immediately when you arrive in Russia, even in Moscow : Russians are not Westerners . The term Russian soul  has been used in literature to describe Russian spirituality. The Russian soul can be described as a cultural tendency of Russians to describe life and events from a religious and philosophically symbolic perspective. Whether this is true or not can be challenged by  the fact that younger Russians are strongly influenced by globalization and economic development opportunities. Nevertheless Russians are really proud and appreciate the arts and rich history of Russia.  Russians  are almost always very educated, whilst in most Western countries only 50-60% of people receive University Education. Russians always have an opinion about politics and current affairs.  So it’s good for you to understand that education is a value, rather a necessity.

Russians do not tend to make a distinction between hard logic and emotion, which governs the Western culture. They value intuition rather than rationality. They will make business with you because they like you,  not because of economical or technical arguments based on rational analysis.

The Oligarchs

The Oligarchs, the billionaires who, through the use of legal and illegal methods concentrated large fortunes during the transition from Communism to Capitalism, have given a false impression about doing Business in Russia: Some of them have the largest business and personal divorces in the world. Other have used prostitution rings to make their business, while others have been accused for killing, stealing and anything else illegal. These figures however are hated within Russia. The fact that the money was stolen, result on them not being idolized, as it happens  with many Western businessman. So, during a business relationship, this topic could be an ice maker (rather than an ice breaker).

Attitudes and Values when doing business in Russia

• Emphasis in moral laws

• Importance of spiritual principles

• The joy of working

• Tendency for teamwork, which has its fundamentals on a history of collectivism

• Making of long horizon plans with sweeping actions

• Sobornost – underline the need for cooperation between people at the expense of individualism  It  is clear that collectivism’s religious roots derive from the sobornost of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The importance of informal relations

As mentioned above, Russians will make business with you because they like you. This means that, even though a business meeting will always start in formal ways, a business will develop only through the creation of informal bonds. In other words, even though in the beginning of a relationship they might appear ‘cold’ and reserved, they are much happier in an environment where they can also express their feelings and emotions. That’s why meetings might last longer than expected; Its much more important to complete the business through a  good hand shaking rather stick to timetables.

Other things to consider when doing business in Russia

• Russians do not value nyeculturny (without culture) behavior. So, don’t swear, don’t forget to leave your coat in the cloakroom, don’t stand with your hands in the pockets, and do not shout in public.

• Do not start with a joke. Instead, keep your presentation serious, include facts and technical details. You can inject emotion in your discussion slowly. In my personal experience humor is rarely translated and what makes some people laugh in one culture may offend people from different countries.

• Even though it’s not of primary importance, your blat (personal network) matters as well. So use it and refer to it accordingly.

• Meetings can be interrupted and remain formal. Moreover, egalitarianism is crucial here: Nobody is better than anybody else.

• Constant communication through visits and phone calls are crucial. Moreover, when a business has been set up, monitoring the performance is critical.

• Re-negotiations are always present, so even though you will have a contract, expect the unexpected.

• Bring gifts with you: Russian people value gifts. Good gift ideas are brand-name products of high quality. With home visits try flowers, alcohol and branded food products. Avoid cheap products, they can have a negative impact in your relationship

• Business cards:  It’s common to exchange business cards; one side should be written in Russian and the other in English.

What Is The Most Important Fact Your Learned That You Wish You  Knew Before Moving To Russia ?

Living Abroad: In What Language Do You Feel Emotions ?

A bilingual French-Dutch traffic sign in Brussels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I came across this interesting article about some studies on languages used by multilingual third culture kids (TCKs) to express various emotions in different situations.

Language is strongly tied to identity and when we speak more than one language the one we chose to speak  is often very specific to certain contexts and the sociocultural environment.  When I was based in Japan, I have been intrigued to see French siblings speaking Japanese while playing together at home even if there were in a French school with Japanese students but with French parents 

As far as emotions is concerned I have not observed any specific language pattern in my son to express emotions and feelings. My son will often speak to me in English when it is about a story he is reading or a movie he is watching or to tell what happened at school but Interestingly he has certain movies that he watches exclusively in French and others exclusively in English without apparent specific rules except the obvious ones like watching “Harry Potter” in English because the story is based in England and because he reads the books in English. Also movies that mock the French accent like in the Pink Panther series. 

When he is with French adults he uses sophisticated vocabulary with few grammar errors and with younger French children he will show a lot of non-verbal empathy. With English speakers he will use exclusively English both for facts or expressing emotions. At home with us, when arguing or upset he often switches to English but not always.

Since he has been in a bilingual environment from birth to now, 10 years later,  his brain has probably been developed differently than mine who acquired bilingualism later as a young adult. Some researches in neuroscience have shown that when learning two languages almost simultaneously there is one unique zone in the brain that is activated for language perception and interpretation while when the second language is acquired later as adults there are two distinct parts that are activated for each language.

In my case, I think in English for work and I prefer to write in English too. I read business or self-help books in English but read novels, thrillers and other form of non-professional literature exclusively in French. However interestingly I write in my personal Facebook profile mainly in English unless there are specific jokes I can’t translate from French to English that I will share with my circle of fiends who speak French. I use Twitter and Linkedin exclusively in English because for me they are  professional tools and I can’t share emotions on those platforms.

According to François Grosjean, Ph.D.,  Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics at the University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. it is too simplistic to suggest that late bilinguals have emotional ties only with their first language and no ties with their other language(s). In his article “Emotions in More than One Language“ he mentioned many cases of people who don’t use the first language or mother tongue to express emotions but may use one language or another based on  their emotional experiences in various languages.

 In sum, expressing emotions in more than one language follows no set rules; some bilinguals prefer to use one language, some the other, and some both-Francois Grosjean

. 

What about your experience as bilingual or raising bilingual children ?

Related Articles:

• Does Raising Bilingual Children Make Them Smarter ?
•  How Cultures Impact The Brain and Expat Lives?
• The reality of living with two (or more) languages.by Francois Grosjean, Ph.D.
• Employers Listen Up – Bilingual Benefits (pravings.com)

7 Rules To Never Waste Your Time Again

Reblogged from Anne Egros, Intercultural Executive Coach:

Are you always busy, yet not finishing all you want to do or enjoying the way you spend your time ? Time is the most precious asset we have that once spent is lost forever, unlike other precious things we may lose such as money, a job or even love, as we can always replace them. So why most people don't think about time as an investment and don't choose wisely how to spend it  as they do about their own money ?

Read more… 769 more words

Are You In Control Of How You Spend Your Time ?

1-What have you done since you read this article ?

2-What tips did you find useful ?

3-What other strategies did you use ?

Examples of what I did for saving time for my business:

I tracked my time on Social Media Platforms and concluded:

#1: I spent too much time learning about Facebook pages and other social media tools in details, now I know more than enough to be able to make a distinction between what works and what don't  and more importantly I have now in my network a bunch of very good social media experts and online marketing professionals I trust whom I can use for myself or recommend to my friends and clients.                             

#2: Time zones and geography: To be effective I have to post when my clients are active on the Internet. I learned how to use some automatic tools that post for me when I sleep on Twitter for example but it was not really efficient. I also dug deep into cultural preferences and clearly saw that Facebook was not used for business in most of my target countries but used for casual family and friends contacts.

#3: Linkedin authorize you to follow 50 groups (and more if you use sub-groups), I found this is way too many, so I just kept the groups but stopped all the notifications by email. That way I don't have too much distractions in my inbox. I also leave some groups and join others based on my interests at a specific moment. 

#4: Use Email Filters and Folders. I try to automatically put incoming emails in folders by topics or people. I have one  for all notifications from Facebook, one for Twitter and one for each client or important people, one for blogs and newsletters I follow etc..

#5: I started to use Scoop-it a magazine-like curation tool that help me keep interesting articles that stay there so I can search certain topics and save me time when I need to write an article or a blog. It is better than Twitter for that purpose.

#6:Un-following  people on Twitter:  I am using " ManageFlitter" to eliminate accounts I followed in the past that are no longer active and I want to focus on people who share my interests.

                                                                                                                                               

Related articles

• 6 Tools to Manage Your Twitter Followers (searchenginewatch.com)
• 52 cool facts and stats about social media (2012 edition) (prdaily.com)
• 8 Great Twitter Tools to Try (inc.com)