Geschreven door Marijn de Geus | April 17, 2018
Until 150 years ago no Japanese person had ever met a foreigner, except for maybe a couple of Chinese and Dutchmen who were allowed to trade on a little island somewhere in the Sea of Japan. Eventually, the country had to catch up with the globalization process. Nowadays, the world is still getting smaller by the day, and as a result there is more communication between all sorts of different cultures. This kind of communication leads to many different subtleties and misunderstandings. From frontdesk to boardroom, how does one deal with intercultural communication?
Internalizing soft skills
In 1958 Dutch airline KLM opened the first flight to Tokyo. KLM is a company that definitely has to deal with a wide range of cultures, states Innovation Manager Learning Technologies Edwin Bleumink. “Intercultural communication plays an increasingly bigger role. Both within our own organization and externally we see the importance of the right ‘soft’ skills in contact with other cultures. We want to provide our employees with the tools to internalize these soft skills as effectively and efficiently as possible. Online training plays an increasingly bigger part in achieving this.”
Practicing situations online
It came to the attention of another Dutch multinational that smooth interpersonal communication is not an evident phenomenon worldwide. Employees of the HR-department had difficulties in bonding with expats who worked for the company worldwide and had a question about, for example, their salary slip. The HR employees were too direct, where a little more interest in the person’s situation would make a big difference in the (internal) satisfaction score. The solution was found in online video role plays: every week employees practice a certain skill based on situations that occur in real life.
On their smartphone or computer a video or audio clip is played of a (fictional) international colleague. After this, they record their reaction and possibly try a second time. If satisfied with the result, this will be shared with the coach, who will provide feedback based on the recording. In this way they internalize more friendly, and eventually more effective, behavior that can be put into practice directly. Furthermore, the divisional manager can measure the participants’ progress by testing the skills in the same online environment. Employees from all over the world are now a lot more satisfied with their HR-department.
Communication at the frontdesk
Maybe multinationals are not (yet) that relatable. However, closer to home the same thing is happening. Dutch municipalities have to deal more often with inhabitants from different cultures. Gennep is one of the municipalities that uses video role plays to support their client contact centre employees in the interaction with particular groups. On their tablet, smartphone or computer they have to react for example to, a frustrated Polish man at the frontdesk, or to a man who refuse to shake hands with them. After studying the applicable theory and being supported by enough practice, similar situations can be approached with confidence to make sure that the citizens receive even better help.
Enabling application of cultural knowledge
The need for expertise in intercultural communication grows proportionally to its importance for organizations that want to know what cultural differences their employees can expect and how to act on these differences. Online video role plays can provide a solution for this: training sessions are no longer dependent on place and time. Sharing knowledge, practicing and coaching now happens in different stages: on a weekly basis, video role plays from Montevideo to Moscow are watched and assessed.
Curious about how worldwide online training works in practice? Read the MetrixLab case study!