Improving intercultural communication in 5 steps

Because of globalization, migration and technological developments, more people from different cultures are working together, both within organizations and between organizations. Without the required experience, this will often go wrong. Specific training can partly resolve a lack of experience, but then it should be deployed internationally in an efficient way. How to go about this?

Knowing more about each other’s preferred style of communicating will improve collaboration, according to research by Ron Byron. These styles will differ from person to person, but most of all, from culture to culture, as Hofstede found¹: Masculine cultures like in South America are more assertive and less empathic than Western Europeans. And a ‘yes’ is not always a ‘yes’.

When we don’t have enough expertise with a certain culture, but we do know how people in our own culture will interpret something, this will automatically be our expectation.² Misunderstandings and inefficiency will be the result. So that’s why you should adhere to these 5 steps to train intercultural communication in your organization.

1. Who should train?

First, identify the groups of employees (teams, for example) that deal with intercultural communication in their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This can vary from customer service staff that need to improve the customer satisfaction, to team managers that need to improve the revenue of their team. Employees who can see the advantage and the impact of development on the results whereon they are assessed, will be more motivated.

2. What should they train?

Then, identify the specific communication skills that have the most impact on every group or team identified in step 1. For consultants, these might be negotiating skills, or advisory selling skills, while a customer service might need skills like listening and asking follow-up questions.

3. Integrate the differences

Then, it’s important to integrate the intercultural differences that belong to these skills in the training program, so that the employees can practice. These differences can concern the culture that the team deals with at that moment. By looking ahead, it’s possible to identify cultures that they might come into contact with later on. In this way, the same training program can be offered to different teams at different moments.

4. Decide the norm

Establish objective norms for every (sub) skill to make it clear what is expected of the trainee. Do this as specifically as possible, so that it is straightforward for both the trainee and the manager or coach. This is essential for the development and for managing the employee.

5. Find an effective format

When the content of a training program has been defined, it’s important to pick the most efficient form for every team. When training communication skills, it’s essential that exercises are offered continuously. Only then can you guarantee that the desired level is secured. When a small number of managers on the same location have to develop a certain skill for another culture, it makes sense to hire a trainer with that expertise. However, this is less efficient when you are dealing with hundreds of consultants on different locations. Then, training online with video role plays can be a solution. They can practice with pre-recorded situations with their webcam or on their smartphone via a user-friendly application, independently of a physical trainer.

Practical experience remains the most important thing in communication with different cultures. But when they lack experience, employees of all levels in the organization need just in time expertise and practice. Offer it to them, and the result will be there. Video role plays support this. Read more about them below.

¹ Hofstede, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. Executive; Feb 1993; 7, 1.
² Hurn, B. & Tomalin (2013). Cross-Cultural Communication: Theory and Practice. Palgrave MacMillan.