Is it still a useful term or have we moved on? By Matthew Hill 

We owe a great deal to the mothers and fathers of culture for setting off to measure, describe and explain culture and its differences. 

40 or 50 years ago, the mono-cultural model of country averages raised our consciousness to things outside our own experience. 

The double revolution looked out and within as we uncovered the mystery of ourselves. Our invisible in-group culture started to reveal itself. 

Intercultural training began with the bi-cultural model and focused on bridging the specific dimensional gaps between two country averages. This model has served trainers and companies well and is still in widespread use today. 

As a primer, Richard Lewis’s “When Cultures Collide” gives us a witty and wry overview of the stereotypes that we may well encounter in our travels. 

What is more interesting about Richard’s book is the amount it gives away about the author’s own cultural influences, prejudices and programming. 

The limits of bi-polar dimensions and sophisticated stereotypes are soon reached and we experience diminishing returns when faced with deeper issues and complexity. 

What is the new challenge of 2012? 

We have digital natives who are communicating in a new way that we, the grey haired protagonists, struggle and fail to fully comprehend. When I ask my generation about social media they are, for the most part, lost, cautious and afraid. 

They are in the old world of “command and control” power and linear thought, preferring the certainty of known groups and networks. With a strong sense of the separation of private and public, they seek to protect as much as possible - from their pin number to their opinions.” 

As Thomas Power of Ecadamy says they are, “Closed, Structured and Controlled.” He would see our digital future as being Open, Random and Supportive.  

The oft-claimed constant country culture theory is now being challenged by other factors. The strong influence of global corporations, consumerism, youth communication and gender politics are accelerating a shift in values and behaviours. 

Interestingly, the economic troubles of America’s Subprime melt down and the Eurozone’s Euro crises are producing both conservatism and possible revolution. 

The Eurozone is interesting from a cultural perspective because it represents a lead and lag between those that have assimilated the values of pan European cooperation at a values level (at a practical level they have stopped printing their own money) and others who never really believed in locking arms across country borders but were happy to enjoy the subsidies and cheap loans and to line their own pockets with their former enemy’s largesse. 

The opportunity in 2012 is for interculturalists to become involved in the debate about the future. Answers are needed to the questions, “What should come after Free Market, Democratic Capitalism?” and, “Who will have the CULTURAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE in the system that will follow this one?” 

We live in exciting times. 

Matthew Hill is an Intercultural Facilitator, Author and Leadership Coach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Opinion Piece by Matthew Hill 

Joe Kearns is bringing together active participants from the SIETAR Europa Congress in Krakow to continue the debate around what Social Media and the Internet mean for culture and how culture will affect them in return.

With this in mind, let us think about a few simple questions… 

Social Media is a new realm with new rules and an emerging and changing etiquette. We are all learning and catching up as we go along. The old media are fond of exaggerating the negatives of SM with talk of identity theft and security of data, but the more interesting thinking is about what effect will SM have on our everyday lives and how will it play out in different cultures. 

Privacy – The intercultural concept of privacy is well known. Many groups and communities have formed, stormed and normed around this issue and have developed unwritten rules that are policed and enforced by each member of that group. 

From my personal experience with may people from ex –Communist controlled cultures the rule is definitely, “Private in public and public in private.” 

This related to “Big Brother” is watching you and the expediency of trust. 

In contrast to the many who wish to avoid FB for that reason, we have the youngsters, like my sons, who are happy to post photos and comments about their opinions, actions and whereabouts on the web.

They see Social Media’s open forum as normal. 

It has been noted that texting friends is a preferred communication style when compared to talking with parents. 

Gossip – There is no revolution going on here! Gossip has made up the majority of communication since language began. SM is simply providing new platforms for this exchange. 

What is radically changing is what we say to whom. 

In-Groups – In my training groups there is a disturbing new phenomenon that illustrates the point. On a Skype session one executive drew a brutally honest diagram of how communication flowed within his own large organization. 

It was not flattering to the corporation employing him. 

This was a private, “in-group”.  What happened next was unfortunate. Other members of the group at a different location captured this diagram and used it in a different context outside the private group. 

Your guesses at the consequences are correct!

Modesty – Getting a Facebook account will seem completely normal to many within an individualist culture, especially those that have been brought up with class “show and tell” sessions. 

For more humble cultures where the, “tall poppy is cut down” and where, when you show off, you lose credibility and the trust of your group, then the concept of blogging must seem a step too far. 

So is SM amplifying difference in this area? Is it making cooperation less likely? 

Helicopter view or Microscopic?  - Overheard mobile phone conversations amplify the crass. 

Do you remember your first sense of irritation when some egomaniac on a train shouted his current location into an electronic brick? 

Since then it seems to have gone downhill with Trippit and FB desperate to broadcast our location with ever increasing frequency. Are we getting back to privacy issues again? 

This spread of mundanity has multiplied to tell us where you are eating, what you are listening to and how you are feeling. 

Even for those not predisposed to modesty, this must start to hint at excess. 

Cooperation – The amazing value of SM and Web technology is to reach into remote locations, access people in different markets and with different backgrounds and connect them in the pursuit of a single purpose. Great. 

Does this, however, ignore the cultural limitations that exist in such a scenario? 

When a “Grand Fromage” is in on the conference call, do the juniors clam up?

Do women say less on international conference calls? 

The answer is yes and yes as the cultural dynamic changes. We assume that SM provides a level playing field to all cultures. It does not. 

When an empire country or ex-empire country is hosting, there exists the unconscious bias of first language, HQ and history. Others may feel intimidated and irritated as the language moves from International Business English to something more colloquial and impenetrable. 

Non – Verbal Communication – Continuing the theme, Diplomatic and indirect cultures send subtle and soft verbal messages along with plenty of contextual hints and clues. 

To decode this, contextual information is essential when piecing together the sender’s intended message. 

When this is lost in technology, there can follow a tense downward spiral of frustration leading to, at best, inefficiency and at worst a diminution of trust and the non-cooperation that will inevitably follow. 

What are your thoughts on culture and how culture works with Social Media?

 

See you in Milan...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Board of SIETAR Europa are coming to London. We will be having social drinks and networking event on 11^th June 2012, in or around the British Museum on that Monday evening – 7PM. All are invited.

 

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Tanja Schulze, President of Young SIETAR is happy to announce the Young SIETAR Annual Congress 2012. 

Unity Within Diversity, Belfast, 6^th – 9^th September 2012 

Young SIETARians will be exploring the various types of conflict and the possibilities for their resolution with an emphasis on intercultural approaches. 

Check the event out @ http://www.youngsietar.org

On Twitter @ htt---://www.twitter.com/youngsietar

On Facebook @http://www.facebook.com/youngsietar

On Skype id: youngSIETAR

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Building Intercultural Competence: From self-awareness to personal change 

Nigel Newington and David Trickey will be demonstrating their powerful and personal offering with the help of an officially declared “Guru”, Dutchman David Ofman, Author and Personal Development expert. 

WorldWork Celebrate their 10^th Anniversary with a party on the Thames on 8^th June 2012. 

For more information, please visit http://www.worldwork.biz/legacy/www/downloads/members_event_2012.pdf

Or  E mail Eric Wang on eric.wang@worldwork.biz

 

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Dr Lynda Shaw is a business improvement strategist, psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist specialising in the psychology of ageing and the management of both the young and mature workforce regardless of gender.

Lynda works with global companies, UK-based businesses and public sector organisations helping them to recognise, and make better use of, the value that their diverse workforce brings to them thus optimising human resources.

Lynda speaks at business conferences and trade events on human capital and performance improvement. She also speaks to audiences of business start-ups, women entrepreneurs and mature workers.  Her core message:

Diversity     Benefits

       

Inclusion    Benefits                              

                      

Lynda is the author of adult books on business, the maturing brain and children's educational novels.

She is a lecturer and researcher at Brunel University where she teaches neuroscience and the psychology of ageing.

Lynda is committed to helping people of all ages achieve a greater understanding of who they are and how they can contribute to society for its optimal effectiveness and to enhance their own self-worth.

If you are interested please e mail to matthew.hill@hillnetworks.com

 

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 Kazuma Matoba, Chair of SIETAR Deutschland cordially invites you to a special forum…

Everybody is talking about the need for radical change, and some are even starting to see solutions in each field: politics, medicine, economics, society, etc. However - and most of us forget - "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." (Einstein) 

To solve the problems, we have to move to the next level of consciousness and communication. Barnett Pearce (1989) proposes a stage model on the evolution of communication in a multicultural society. According to the model, the form of communication in the social evolutionary process develops itself over four levels: (a) “Monocultural communication”; (b) “Ethnocentric communication”; (c) “Modernistic communication”; (d) “Cosmopolitan communication”.. 

We “interculturalists“ are confronted, in our working areas, with the question of which intercultural competence is going to be required for the level of “cosmopolitan communication” in the future. To answer this question we need a good future-oriented “map“ that can show us the evolutionary process of communication. In the SIETAR Forum 2012+38 we will, on the basis of a map (AQAL Model from Ken Wilber), go one step towards the paradigm shift of intercultural communication by dealing in numerous events with the following questions:

1. How shall our communication in the future (2050) – cosmopolitan communication - be?

2. How can intercultural competence be developed in order to make "cosmopolitan communication" possible?

3. How can various training approaches in areas of mind, brain, culture and system be integrated? 

Please check out the website and come along! 

You may register on line at http://www.sietar-forum-2012.de/

 

Get involved...   

 

Donna Marsh has worked on five continents throughout her 30-year professional career in the fields of banking and information technology.  She first travelled to the Middle East in 1978 and has worked throughout the region for much of her career, where she held various sales and new business development roles covering territories from North Africa to the Afghan border, including Saudi Arabia as a businesswoman in her own right.  She managed a variety of multinational teams and supplier partnerships that included American, European and Indian multinationals, big-name Gulf family businesses and conglomerates from the Far East.

Her Indian experience began shortly after the country’s liberalisation in the early 1990s, where she was a pioneer in forging partnerships and establishing remote teams between Indian, British and American technology organisations to address the demands of the Indian banking community. 

She also has extensive experience working in Pakistan, Turkey, Japan, Greater China, Korea, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, most EU/pre-EU countries, Canada and the USA.

Following a move into training and consultancy, Donna has worked with executives and senior management in the UK, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, the US, the Republic of Ireland and France in a variety of fields, including banking and finance, insurance, legal, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, health care, FMCG, technology, education and training, publishing, property development, manufacturing, aviation, defence and for the British Government.  She also continues to leverage her connections on behalf of organisations about to establish a presence in the Middle East and India, providing practical business advice on how to enter these markets.   

A British/American dual national, Donna lives near London.  She is the author of Yanks in Blighty, The Middle East Unveiled, aimed at all Western travellers to the Middle East as well as addressing issues of particular interest to Western business women, and Doing Business in the New Iraq. 

She also contributed author to Lonely Planet’s 2010 edition of Oman, UAE and Arabian Peninsula guide with the article A Businesswoman in Saudi. 

 

DATES - April 10th, 16th and 25th. May 3rd and 8th. PUT THEM IN YOUR DIARY NOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 by Matthew Hill 

Alongside please and thank you, sorry ranks as one of the most frequent words used by urban executives travelling to work, interacting with colleagues and carrying out their jobs. 

But, what is the cultural significance of the word and what do the Brits mean when they say “Sorry”? 

1) Apology – The expression of regret for an error or past action.

1a) Appeal for forgiveness – Linked to 1) is the request to expunge the record of the deed and so diminish the consequences.

1b) A pre-emptive and confident dismissal of disapproval. 

2) Question – “I beg your pardon” this can be a request for repetition or an ironic statement of incredulity - “I cannot believe you just said that!” 

3) The avoidance of conflict. Used as a self-deprecating reducer of power in order to sidestep trouble and confrontation. 

4) Permission to disturb. A polite form of interruption.

5) Refusing a request. Saying “No.” 

6) Saving the other person’s “Face” – Diplomacy to spare the humiliation of another. 

It may take a year or two to lean the subtle tones, inflections and context related cues that accompany these meanings. 

Good luck with your understanding of British Culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you international colleagues trust you? and How do you know if they don't?

 

If we assume that trust has the 3 components of Ability, Benevolence and Integrity then we have a way of measuring our input and looking for the subtle cues and clues of trust.

ABILITY - Have you managed to have an effective exchange of information that has demonstrated in practiced that you have a competence in a key area? I.e. have you demonstrated that you can do what you are meant to be doing?

BENEVOLENCE - Have you given proof that your intentions are positive for your colleague? Have you been honest in communicating risks and implications and have you eliminated from your behavioural repertoire the naughty pleasure of winding your colleague up with hints and fears that will cause them doubt and irritation?

INTEGRITY - Are you your word? Can you say that you have delivered what you promised, when you promised it with consistency to your colleague?

What will change for you in 2012 in respect to TRUST?

Matthew Hill is a Leadership Trainer  07813 760 711