Written by Last week, we discussed that managers who lead successfully across cultures often demonstrate the following qualities: empathy, flexibility, emotional stability, open-mindedness, and social initiative.
Does this describe your personality?
If your answer is ‘yes’, then great! You’ll probably make an exceptional leader, no matter what cultural environment you find yourself managing in.
But if you find you’re lacking in some (or all) of these personality traits, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve upon them and succeed as a leader across cultures.
To do so, consider the Three A’s.
The Three A’s
In this blog, we often discuss accepting, adapting, and adopting culture – the three A’s.
Whether or not you naturally possess personality traits that assist cross-cultural integration, abiding by these three A’s will improve your efforts. In doing so, you will avoid Monkey Moments. You’ll also more successfully manage in a foreign culture and generally improve your cross-cultural skills.
Accepting, adapting, and adopting enable you to methodically face cultural conflicts head-on, rather than just winging it and hoping for the best.
Ask Yourself…
The following statements are binary: you may lean more strongly to one side or the other. The stronger you lean toward either side, the harder it will be for you to integrate into a foreign culture.
If you find both extremes to be acceptable, then you are demonstrating cultural competence.
Finding another’s values/norms acceptable doesn’t mean you must find them “right”; it just means you are willing to override your own cultural ethnocentricity, boundaries, education, and convictions, in order to properly accept, adapt, and maybe even adopt another’s.
As with last week’s self-assessment, note to what degree you agree with the following statements:
- “Everyone is responsible for their own actions.” / “Fate determines the outcome of events.”
- “Asking direct questions is the best method to attain information.” / “It is rude/intrusive to ask direct questions.”
- “Being vague in your responses is dishonest.” / “Avoiding answering directly/honestly prevents hurt and embarrassment.”
- “Punctuality and efficiency are virtues demonstrated by intelligent people.” / “Spending time with the people you love is more important than punctuality.”
- “Being on a first-name basis shows friendliness and familiarity.” / “Addressing people by their first name is disrespectful.”
- “It is important to maintain eye contact with people who are speaking.” / “Direct eye contact with those of higher status is impolite.”
After reading through these binary statements, do you find either side completely unacceptable? Or is the opposite extreme something you’d not only be willing to accept but to adapt to?
If you’re leaning toward the latter, tune in next week as we discuss more in depth how to accept and adapt to another culture.
Success Across Cultures 