Season 5 Episode #2 Navigating Intercultural Differences

Ever found yourself in a conversation where, despite your best efforts, things seem to just fall flat? That's the crux of our latest Cultural Curriculum Chat, where Mary Glowacka's insightful article forms the springboard for a deep dive into the murky waters of intercultural communication. As your guide, I'll take you through the nuances of conveying your message across cultural lines without stumbling into a faux pas. From the workplace to your local community, understanding the roots of miscommunication is more than just handy – it's necessary for forging stronger, more respectful relationships in our vibrant global village.

In our discussion, we tackle the four big causes of cultural misunderstandings that can make or break your cross-cultural interactions. Mary's wisdom is amplified as we explore ethnocentrism, communication differences, and the pitfalls of an exclusive workplace culture. This isn't about pointing fingers; it's about embracing the rich tapestry of human experience and learning how to navigate it gracefully. Experienced DEI practitioners are heralded as champions for inclusivity, and I, your host, am here to champion the cause.

Let's move beyond scratching our heads in confusion to a place of celebration and continuous learning, where every interaction enriches our understanding and appreciation of the wonderfully diverse world we share.

Article link: https://preply.com/en/blog/b2b-intercultural-misunderstandings/

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

Hello again. Welcome to another episode of the Cultural Curriculum Chat. Have you ever wondered when things get lost into translation? It leaves you and the person you were communicating with a little perplexed. You know what I'm talking about. That scratch your forehead moment like oooh Cringe. What I meant to say and convey didn't quite land with the person receiving the information. That could be navigating and understanding your own intercultural misunderstandings and learning how to avoid them, to be the best cross-cultural authentic communicator that I know that you are. And if you are new to this podcast, my name is Jeba Edmonds and I bring you all things cultural competency and multicultural educational strategies to get you moving forward to create positive change.

Speaker 1: 1:35

I found a wonderful article from Preply Business that talks all about intercultural misunderstandings, what causes them and how to avoid them. I found this article written by Mary Glauaca about four key points and what causes these misunderstandings and what you can do to reflect and best avoid them. Now, what I liked most about Mary's advice in this post is you can use these strategies in the workplace as well as in your neighborhood and in your community. This article specifically for business folks working abroad with different cultures across the globe. But, as we know, in this cultural competency space. We are all a global community. Now the four main causes and I will have Mary Glauaca's article for you to read for your own resource in the show notes below. But I really wanted to touch point the four main causes of cultural misunderstanding. These causes are ethnocentrism the attitude of your own group is the superior group that others should be accustomed to.

Speaker 1: 2:59

You see a lot of things in assimilation in this piece, as well as understanding the different definitions of what is right and wrong. Think about it. Your lens may not always be the right lens that people are viewing you as. This is where you find a lot of false assumptions. You find a lot of implicit bias that lives in this scenario. You also might be thinking about communication differences. You know a person's facial expression. Even their accent may have you feeling a little off balance, and by learning about different people's expressions, accents, may help you defer from these cross-cultural misunderstandings.

Speaker 1: 3:49

Of course, exclusive only workplace culture. You might have heard the attitudes of. We've done it like this for years. You might have heard well, just because you're new in this space, you better get on board to what we've always been doing. And when workplaces are getting increasingly diverse, these attitudes of ethnocentrism, us versus them, the attitudes of this is what we've always done. Get on board. That's where a lot of these pitfalls of communication fall into, because of our own lens, of my way is the only way. And then when you meet somebody of a different cultural background, you might be shaking your head or scratching your forehead, going, wow, we've always done it this way and why can't Jeba get on board? You know, why can't Jeba understand that these are the underwritten rules, even though she comes from a different cultural background?

Speaker 1: 4:53

So, in order to prevent these multicultural misunderstandings, mary really wants you to continue by. Mary wants you to continue by having your workplace provide more diversity training and, with that caveat, I really want you to hire a diversity, equity and inclusion. I want you to hire a well-versed diversity, equity and inclusion practitioner, someone who's got years of experience working with multiple agencies. Wink, wink, that's your girl, jeb, and there's plenty of other DE&I practitioners that can help facilitate welcoming environment for all to benefit from. And, with that being said, she also wants you to be informed about employees' diverse backgrounds. You don't need to be an expert on every single employee's diverse background, but you need to be aware of your colleagues' diverse backgrounds. There might be a joke you might think is funny, but isn't funny because of somebody that identifies with that background. So you need to read the room as they say, so you are not inflicting more harm.

Speaker 1: 6:14

And another instance that Mary also wanted to touch point on in her article was to celebrate the cultural differences that you all share. Continuing to learn through experience with your diverse coworkers but in my Jeb at two cents is not expecting your diverse coworkers to carry that load. You can celebrate me, but you can look up Google and figure out oh, jeb, I come from this cultural group. Maybe I should do my own practice in learning to foster that learning of myself and educating myself of where Jeb at comes from. And when Jeb is, you know, wearing something that is of her heritage, I can give her a compliment. Or how about this? Another way of celebrating someone's diversity Writing that person's name correctly, spelled out correctly. You don't have to think so. 10,000 foot vision of celebration Practicing that person's name correctly. Practicing that person's name correctly in a mirror, not giving them a nickname that's how you can celebrate your diverse coworkers. Another way of celebratory practices, so you don't fall into the lost and translation gamut of confusion.

Speaker 1: 7:39

I really would like you to join with other groups from those cultural groups in your community, see what they have, visit their stores, visit their restaurants, go to their online stores and support them. That's a wonderful way to see and validate your coworkers that you're working alongside with. Finally, mary also shares about having that global mindset Because, like I said before in this episode, a lot of us that are trying to understand our diverse brothers and sisters is to understand that we need a greater awareness of that intercultural communication, of having today's workforce and being in international business or not. But you may not realize that your business is international. That is a big mindset shift of what we have perceived as the way of commerce and the way of economic sustainability within your business or within your workforce has international people working with you as your client and also even alongside you as a partner. Having that open mindset of we are more alike than we are different will help. But to even step it up a notch, to know even though we are different, this is what makes us strong and this is what continues us to be a part of the whole global landscape.

Speaker 1: 9:22

I hope this episode really gives you joy. I wanted to give you a little snippet of there is hope after confusion. There is hope to continue to have cross-cultural communication with others. You don't need to be afraid if I always say if you step in a mistake, you can learn from that mistake and continue to move forward. And please do not miss out on future videos. Hit that subscribe button and make sure that you will get. Don't forget to subscribe to my channel to stay updated with all of my latest content. Time drops Friday and I want to make sure that you are in the loop with me. Jeva Edmonds, and thanks again for listening to the Culture Curriculum Chat. I look forward to seeing you here same time next week. Bye, bye.