18 Jan 06 @ 10:48 am
Intercultural Communication Tips
While doing some client research on intercultural communications, I found this simple article from HBR’s Working Knowledge. The author offers tips for communicating with a diverse workforce:
1. Learn how the source culture best receives communications.
2. Train international employees early and often.
3. Train the non-foreign-born, too.
4. Assign mentors and take care of the spouses.
5. Practice open-door communication–carefully.
6. In company-wide communications, avoid jargon and slang.
7. Play by the rules and stick to business.
Some of these tips remind me of what we take away in business from uncertainty reduction theory, a seminal theory in intercultural communication. The theory proposes that we seek to reduce uncertainty in our communication interactions. We do this automatically by making predictions at the cultural, sociocultural, and psychocultural level. In other words, we make assumptions about other people based on prior experiences. When we communicate with people we don’t know or with individuals from an unfamiliar culture, it’s critical that we check our assumptions and seek to learn about one another by making factual observations, asking questions, and disclosing personal information that prompts a reciprocal response.
posted in category(s): Coaching Points
Post a comment