In this TMA World Viewpoint Terence Brake outlines the key mindsets and behaviours needed to be successfully in the global, multicultural worldplace.

1. Working across cultures.
What does it
take?
TMA World
Viewpoint

2. Working across cultures: what does it take?
People sometimes say to me, “You’ve been
around long enough (thanks), so what does it
take to work effectively across cultures?” There is
no easy answer to that question, of course, but
let me give you a few clues based on all my long
years of crossing and re-crossing cultural borders.
Adaptability
Ability to adjust quickly to changing circumstances and situations.
The world is dynamic and forever changing. As the philosopher Heraclitus
of Ephesus said, “You can’t step into the same river twice,” and he lived
c 535-475 BC! How much of a truism it is today. More than at any other time in
history, cultures are bumping up against one another, forming new hybrids,
and evolving. Technological change continually turns us upside down and inside
out. When I travel, I have to be very careful about the assumptions I make
about people. When I meet that young Japanese man and woman in Tokyo
they seem more Western in their attitudes and values than I am, but then the
context changes and we are not in the street but meeting with bosses.
Suddenly they change before my eyes. It’s a complex world, and I must
constantly adjust.

3. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Cooperation
Willingness and ability to work with others for
mutual benefit.
Globalization has opened up borders, but it has also
opened up old wounds and anxieties. Power is divided
up unequally in the world - no matter how flat
Thomas Friedman thinks it is - and history throws dark
shadows on the walls of the present. Colonialism and exploitation are not
distant memories for many. We often go into other countries feeling fresh-
faced, innocent, ultramodern, and history-free. It is inappropriate for us all to
carry historical guilt like a ball and chain, but it is important for long-term
success across borders to act in good faith and with sincerity. That when we
say we want to do business together for mutual benefit, we mean it. The
stench of manipulation and exploitation is fresh in many noses. I once heard
an Asian businessman say to a group of Western managers, “You come here
preaching collaboration, but what you really mean is do it our way [as you
always have - my inference].” Genuine collaboration and successful business
relationships begin and end in trust of one another, and trust is the result of a
shared history of aligned interests and reciprocal benefits.

4. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Curiosity & Learning
Desire to find answers to questions like:
WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHY? HOW?
If you aren’t curious about the world you live in, and hungry to learn about
how others feel, think, and behave (and why?) stay close to home.
Disinterest is quickly communicated to others, and is usually perceived as
disrespect, or worse, arrogance.
Each culture - including our own - is a narrow window onto the world.
Through curiosity and learning we expand our vision and enrich our world and
relationships.

5. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Empathy
Being aware of and sensitive to the feelings,
thoughts, and experiences of others.
A French manager in one of the global teams I was
working with had had enough of working with the Japanese.
He actually knew nothing of Japanese business culture; he just knew he
couldn’t work with them. We held a team development workshop in Japan, and
he had a chance to sit and talk with his Japanese counterparts, as well as see
how things worked in the Japanese organization.
He learned Japanese cultural expectations about such activities as
communication, decision-making, information sharing, and planning.
When he left, he said, “Now I understand.” It is hard to see the world through
someone else’s eyes, even in our own culture, but if we are to collaborate well
we must try.
To empathize is not necessarily to agree, but it is a step toward understanding.

6. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Friendliness
Ability to generate good feelings in relationships.
So many cultures are relationship-oriented that is
critical to be able to create good feelings.
To be liked and trusted as a person opens hearts and minds.
Those who are cynical, always on their guard, always
protective and watching if someone is out to fool them or take advantage,
are lost.
Cynicism doesn’t help build relationships or respect.
Neither does abrasiveness, deception, volatility, or hyper-competitiveness.
As one of my colleagues once said to me, success in other cultures often
comes down to just being liked.

7. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Objectivity
“My way might not
Ability to look at people and
be the best way in
viewpoints without bias.
this context. Your
way seems better.”
All of the cultural orientations that
cross-culturalists talk about, like
task focused - relationship-focused, individualism -
collectivism, have potential advantages or drawbacks
depending on the context.
If I am always individualistic in every situation, then
potentially I miss out on the benefits that a more collectivist
approach can offer.
Being able to flex between different styles is the way to get
the best out of others and ourselves. To be able to see the
value of different ways of seeing, thinking, and doing does
require an ability to step outside of our learned preferences
and say, “My way might not be the best way in this context.
Your way seems better.”

8. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Patience
Willingness and ability to give others - and yourself –
time to learn and adjust.
We can easily make false judgments about others who are doing their
best to adjust to new realities they face. We can easily not see the talent
in someone who is currently struggling to communicate their ideas in a
language that is not their first language. I remember a manager in
Spain saying, “I’m so tired of English speakers thinking that I’m
incompetent because I do not speak English as fluently as they do.”
There is no doubt that we can become impatient quickly,
particularly those of us in task- and results-driven cultures.
We can’t afford to lose talent because of impatience.
There is also, however, another side to this. We can quickly
become impatient with ourselves when working across
cultures. We get frustrated with not producing results as
fast as we are used to, or we feel we are not learning quickly
enough. What happens? We burn out. We decide to withdraw into our cultural
comfort zone. We become angry and depressed. As my grandmother used to
say, “Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can.”

9. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Perceptiveness
Ability to accurately identify differences
and similarities between people.
There’s an old saying, “What you don’t
know, can’t hurt you.” It’s akin to,
“Ignorance is bliss.” Really? I don’t know
if the people who came up with those
expressions ever traveled beyond their
own borders. If they did, I’m sure they
wouldn't have been so naïve. How many
cross-border alliances have failed to
produce results because of ignorance of
the impact that cultural differences can
make? Many according to the research.
We need to go into cross-cultural
relationships with our eyes open, and our
minds finely calibrated to differentiating
between cultural orientations. If we can’t
do that, we can’t adapt appropriately.

10. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Resilience
Being able to keep going despite
difficulties and setbacks.
Crossing borders, both physically and
mentally, can be exhausting. When you
are in your own cultural comfort zone
you are able to take a lot of things for
granted. Your antennae don’t have
to be on alert the whole time.
Paying very close attention for
long periods to what is being
said or done - or not being
said and done - is
challenging. Energy
drains away from you,
particularly if you think you’re embarrassing yourself
or others. A sense of humor helps to get you through the
worst moments and keep going.

11. Working across cultures: what does it take?
Self-Awareness
Understanding one’s own habitual ways
of thinking and behaving and their
potential impact.
Self-management is a crucial part of adapting to a
different cultural milieu, but how can you control
your feelings, thoughts and behaviors and their
impact on others if you are unaware of your habitual
tendencies and responses?
The challenge is to slow down our stimulus-
response mechanisms and make more
considered responses to difference.
Those are a few of the personal
attributes I think are needed to work
well with others in this increasingly
borderless world.
Above all else, be open and keep learning.

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help your organization, please contact us at
enquiries@tmaworld.com
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