Tips for Preventing Cross Cultural Miscommunication
How do you bridge cross cultural miscommunication between virtual members? How do you coordinate work products when you don’t see each other? What mechanisms can be put in place to handle conflict situations?
This past Monday I addressed these questions and other questions during a session presented at the Project Management Institute.
Here is a quick preview of the presentation:
Many project managers manage global teams and have experienced a variety of cross cultural miscommunication. During my hour and a half presentation, we identified the four key elements essential to all virtual teams: Context Communication, Trust and Accountability, Virtual Conflict Mediation, and Deliverable Management. I also reviewed the analysis and results of 3-year research study AIM Strategies conducted on virtual teams trends and provided findings and tips for improving cross cultural interaction and building richer human connections in remote teams.
Next, I talked about the importance of culture and how learning about our virtual colleagues’ cultural practices (i.e. system of values, beliefs, customs and behaviors) can help project managers improve virtual interactions with their team members. There are many inter-cultural stories about cross cultural miscommunication, such as different word significance, use of signs and gestures, and message significance – which often cause misinterpretations and lead to misunderstanding and conflicts in virtual environments. I then used cross cultural interaction scenarios to illustrate where cross cultural miscommunication created challenges. Finally, I instructed the audience on how to make sure that deliverables get out the door and shared the five consistent cultural communication strategies that I developed for any cross-cultural interactions: L E A R N (Listen, Effectively communicate, Avoid ambiguity, Respect differences and No judgment).
You can find additional case studies and many examples of virtual and cross cultural interactions in my book: “A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams”
Feel free to share your virtual stories in the comments section of this blog. I will be opening a live chat on my blog on Friday, Nov 11, from 4:00 to 5:00 ET to answer your questions and to share my cross cultural solutions to the problems you encounter with your global and cross cultural virtual teams.
Video Transcript:
Apple, as culture is like the core of the apple. All the genes are at that core of the apple when you eat all around it. If you plant that, you will have an apple tree.
What else is culture?
Expectations
Values
Expression
What kind of expression?
Expression of the way they understand and of the way they acknowledge.
I had to talk to several managers who were dealing with a lot of different cultures and one of them gave me a really good tip, she said ”When I really don’t understand the accent I close my eyes: put my head down, I close my eyes and I really try to listen”.
Once I see there’s a little misunderstanding I pick the phone, and I just demystify it so it doesn’t turn into a conflict. And if it’s a little misunderstanding or a cultural difference or something, we laugh about it, we learn from it and we move on. I never let it turn into something.
They’re always bringing new people in the teams and they’re going to work with many different cultures and people aren’t necessarily trying to be offensive here.
Yes, but if you let it go too long, it will turn into a conflict, it becomes a trust issue and it becomes a bigger thing than it is.
Learn to communicate to that culture a little bit in their style, it doesn’t mean change who you are, you got to be true to who you are, but a little bit of flexibility to their style, bring them out will help you.
