Developing Cultural Adaptability: How to Work Across Differences

Deal, Prince

• Publisher: Center for Creative Leadership Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN: 9781882197804
• eBook ISBN: 9781604916799
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Leadership
• Index: Business

Being able to communicate effectively across cultural differences, understanding how to negotiate complex social situations, and being familiar with the customs and norms of many cultures are important skills in organizations today. Perhaps even more important than possessing those essential pieces of cultural knowledge is the skill of cultural adaptability - the willingness and ability to recognize, understand and work effectively across cultural differences. Proficiency in this area helps managers to build the relationships needed to achieve results in today's global organizations, especially when those relationships are forged across borders and cultures.

Developing Your Cultural Adaptability

Your cultural adaptability will increase as you gain knowledge and skills that you can use to interact effectively with people different from yourself. What does it take to develop cultural adaptability? Four components are necessary.

• Examine your cultural foundations.

• Expect to encounter cultural differences.

• Educate yourself about different cultures.

• Experience cross-cultural interactions and learn from them.

Examine Your Cultural Foundations

Developing cultural adaptability doesn’t mean changing who you are or giving up your cultural identity. (Even if you work in another country or culture you might learn to adapt, but your basic cultural orientation is unlikely to change.) One component of developing cultural adaptability is understanding your own cultural background and how it affects you. Each of us operates in a “cultural comfort zone” and sees the world through the lens of a particular cultural conditioning. Culture influences our perceptions in a given situation, our interpretations of others’ behaviors, and our actions and reactions. Awareness of these influences is necessary for developing cross-cultural flexibility.

Being more fully aware of our cultural foundations helps us avoid unconsciously judging others or expecting others to think, feel, and behave as we do. Prejudging is a natural reaction when these interactions push us out of our comfort zone. Most of us prefer what is predictable, familiar, and comfortable. When we are faced with difference, we may feel stimulated and move to embrace it. But as we move farther and farther away from our comfort zone (especially if we are dealing with differences that threaten our ways of explaining the world), there is a tendency for us to retreat to where we feel more comfortable in what CCL calls the “jump-back response.”

Jumping back isn’t wrong. It’s actually necessary for us to retreat from a new experience so we can reflect on it, understand it, and integrate it into our understanding of the world. One way to increase your cultural adaptability is to stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone and stay longer in areas that are unfamiliar and uncomfortable. True, it’s uncomfortable to increase your exposure to different people and their way of doing things. To make the best use of your natural jump-back response, try to stay longer in the “uncomfortable” place while making sure you have the chance to retreat to where you are comfortable. That respite gives you the time and space to integrate new experiences into your stock of cultural intelligence and to gain the confidence to venture out again.

Expect to Encounter Cultural Differences

Effective managers are alert to the impact of cultural differences in the workplace. They look for clues that these differences might be at work in a certain interaction. Clues include such things as confusion, frustration, anxiety, irritation, and miscommunication. These are often present when cultural differences are at play.

Although it’s possible to overemphasize cultural differences, the greater danger for managers is their minimizing the differences, only to be caught off guard when conflict, performance problems, or other leadership challenges arise. This is particularly true in relationships where the differences may be subtle or beneath the surface. Consider two members of a global team, for example, who come from Australia and the United States. Because of certain external similarities (skin color and common language, to name two), they unconsciously assume that they view the world alike. But they are surprised and confused when their different attitudes concerning authority, personal achievement, and humor cause mild frustration and misunderstanding. Those feelings and reactions may hinder the work of the team – the work for which you, as their manager, are responsible. Identifying differences that can cause confusion or conflict is a good step toward developing more flexibility in your relationships with people who are different from yourself – in other words, building cultural adaptability.

Educate Yourself about Different Cultures

One way to increase your understanding of cultural differences so that you can more quickly spot clues that point to differences is to learn more about how various cultures view important aspects of work and life. Seven broad cultural dimensions in particular are useful in explaining those differences.

1. source and expressions of identity (collective/individual)

2. source and expressions of authority (equal/unequal)

3. goals and means of achievement (tough/tender)

4. response to uncertainty and change (dynamic/stable)

5. means of knowledge acquisition (active/reflective)

6. orientation to time ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• What Is Cultural Adaptability?
• Why Is Cultural Adaptability Important?
• Developing Your Cultural Adaptability
• Cultural Adaptability at Work
• Suggested Readings
• Background
• Key Point Summary