Intercultural Communication Education

Global Leadership 

Communication between supervisors and employees who share the same language and culture is often difficult enough, but leaders and managers who supervise employees of varying nationalities face particularly difficult challenges.  Why?

Because each of us views the world through “cultural lenses” constructed by us or imposed on us by society. Most of the time, we are not aware of our lenses. Most important, we forget to recognize that others wear lenses too; and that their lenses may be different than ours.

Leaders of global team comprised of foreign workers must interact and be productive with sometimes more than a dozen different nationalities. Eye contact, physical distance during interactions, handshake styles and even a “yes” response can vary from cultures to cultures.

We prepare global leaders to successfully interaction with workers whose lenses are different from their own by helping them:

1. Develop an awareness of the presence and the impact of these lenses in their leadership role professional behaviors;
2. Develop an understanding of their cultural biases, fears and stereotypes, and how these affect their perceptions and interactions with others in the workplace;
3. Avoid the unconscious phenomenon of Ethnocentrism, the attitude that causes us to use our own set of standards to judge other people, often unconsciously;
4. Avoid stereotypes, the unconscious belief that all members of a culture or group share the same characteristics, attitudes and behavior;
5. Develop appropriate means of communicating with employees from different nationalities;
6. Pronounce all names correctly, which shows respect for the person and for their overall culture. When in doubt, ask people how to pronounce their name;
7. Develop an ethnorelativist mind by learning to be comfortable with many cultural standards and customs, and having the ability to adapt behaviors and communication styles to a variety of interpersonal settings.