Hint & Tips for Cultural Awareness
Everything is cultural including how you pause when you speak!
We all pause during the normal flow of a conversation but what is a normal pause for one culture can be very different for another culture which affects how we communicate.
The pause is cultural!
Each culture has it’s own cultural pause. The time that it is appropriate to pause while speaking.
In UK/ Ireland the pause in normal conversation is around 3 seconds. If you pause for longer the listener feels uncomfortable. They probably think you’ve lost your train of thought and feel embarrassed for you. And quite often people will jump in and speak to fill the embarrassing silence.
For cultures like France the pause is shorter and conversations overlap while Finland has one of the longest cultural pauses.
Check your own cultural pause!!
Next time you’re in a conversation try pausing for longer and shorter than you normally do to see how comfortable or uncomfortable it feels for you. Notice the impact it has on your listener. Do you prevent them from speaking if you use a shorter cultural pause? Do they speak to fill the awkward silence if you use a longer cultural pause?
Then think about what you do when you’re in conversation with someone with a different cultural pause than you!
Culture shapes how you view the world.
And how you view the world has a huge impact on how you think and how you act.
Everyone views things slightly differently.
Different perspective can happen within your own culture but even more so with other cultures.
What do you see in this picture?
Did you see a skull or a woman sitting looking into a mirror?
How long did it take you to see both images?
Ask someone else to look at the picture to see what they see.
Once we ‘see’ something we generally don’t take time to look at it in more detail. We stick with what we see at the first glance.
The same happens when we meet people. We make automatic unconscious assumptions about new people. How much we like them, connect to them, trust them. We do all of this in a matter of seconds. The assumptions we make are hard to change unless me make a conscious decision to look again, to be open minded.
Understanding Your Cultural Preferences
Individuals demonstrate a wide range of values and preferences across a variety of cultural dimensions. Understand your own cultural preference by placing an X along the scale that most accurately reflects your preference on each continuum below. Remember that a continuum represents an infinite number of possibilities between the two opposing ends. There are no right or wrong answers.
Monochronic…………………………………………………………Polychronic
I like to be on time and What happens is achieved is more
expect the same of others. Important than sticking to time.
Individualistic…………………………………………………………Collectivistic
I prefer to work independently I prefer to work as part of a group
and be recognised individually. and prefer not to be singled out.
Egalitarian……………………………………………………………….Hierarchical
All people should be treated the same, People should be treated differently
no matter what their position is. depending on their title, position, rank.
Dealing with Differences……………………………………………….Maintaining Harmony
I address differences directly I prefer to deal with differences
when there is an issue so the indirectly, behind the scenes,
problem can be solved quickly. to avoid causing upset.
Reflection
• What are your key cultural values
• How do they influence how you act and behave within your own culture?
• How do your values impact on your expectations from cultural others?
• Which values and behaviors do you find difficult when communicating with other cultures
Based on research by Edward Hall, Geert Hofstede
Are You a Holistic or a Specific Thinker?
When working on projects with colleagues or partners, even with those from similar cultural backgrounds you may have encountered times when you felt that their reasoning was completely illogical. Chances are your cultural preferences were not aligned and maybe you do not share the same thinking pattern.
Traditionally, Western people tend to be more specific thinkers, preferring to remove items or issues from their environment and analyse them separately. Whereas most Asian cultures prefer to approach problems and issues from a broad “big picture” perspective, focusing on relationships between concepts or parts and explaining and deciding from a more interrelated or holistic point of view.
Most of us will be working with some levels of diversity regardless of how global our operations are. Here are some points to consider when working across these two different thinking styles.
In a specific culture, people usually respond well to receiving very detailed and segmented information about what is expected of each of them. If you need to give instructions to a team member from this type of culture, focus on what that other person needs to accomplish and when.
In a holistic culture, if you need to motivate, manage or persuade, spend time explaining the big picture and how all the pieces slot together.
Source: http://www.linkgbs.com