I once heard a respected colleague say, “The seminar was great. The facilitator got us focused completely on how people are alike rather than lingering on our differences.” I remember thinking, “That would be good only if you believe that anything different is bad.” Why bother traveling to another country or trying to create a more diverse workplace if differences are bad? It seems to me that the appeal of traveling to another culture is to learn something new; to experience something different.
The power of diversity is that the team becomes stronger because people bring different ideas, strengths, points of view, values, and so on.
Ethnocentrism and Leadership Training The major challenge in dealing with other cultures is summed up in the word, ethnocentrism.
We have a tendency to evaluate others through the lens of our own culture, our own experience.
That is, seeing something new or different and concluding that it is bad because it is not the same as my past experience.
My host encouraged me to try it by saying, “Americans have nothing like it. So, how could you not like it without ever really trying it?” I had tasted some but could not honestly say that I had really tried kimchi as a meal or as a side dish.
I also began to learn that Asian cultures are at least as different from one another as Western cultures.
South Korean culture is very different from Malaysian culture or Japanese culture, etc.
The culture of Seoul is very different from the more rural parts of South Korea.
There are, of course, the challenges of different languages.
Different regions and countries may use the same symbols but in different ways.
My host told me that they did that to proclaim, “This is my country. I am Saudi. I am your host.” There are also very different, communication styles.
“You Americans are so much more direct than we Asians.” While I was not totally convinced that Americans are direct, I was certainly open to hear different approaches to talking clearly about behaviors and actions that interfere with team objectives.
Handling Values Differences in Different Cultures It is also important to remember that there are truly fundamental values differences in many cultures.
A different value carries a lot more weight than a different kind of food or clothing, or even one’s communication style.
When conducting leadership training workshops in other cultures, there are several guidelines that have served me well: * Have a guide.
Make sure that you have a colleague in that country that knows the culture and is willing to give you feedback about what you do right and where you need to make changes.
Learn as much about the culture as you can before you visit.
As long as it is apparent that I am trying to be respectful of their culture and making an effort to modify my behaviors, they remain patient.
The chance to learn about a different culture and to be an ambassador for your own culture is a gift not to be taken lightly.
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