Culture as a risk factor

It’s now generally accepted that Australia’s future is intimately bound up with Asia. There are economic, strategic and obvious geographic reasons why this is so. Consequently, the conversation has shifted from ‘Will we engage with Asia?’ to ‘How can we engage?’

It’s a reasonable question. While the Asia-Pacific region is rich with opportunity for Australia, it’s also fraught with complexity and cultural risk. Things can go wrong, as Rio Tinto and Jetstar have shown us recently.

The challenges Australian organisations face in Asia are like complex and interwoven puzzles. The key that unlocks the solution to these puzzles is ‘cultural intelligence’. We hope this newsletter will provide you with a few cultural essentials to get you started on a rewarding engagement with this fascinating region.

Why is ‘cultural awareness’ insufficient?

The focus of ‘cultural awareness’ is on increasing your appreciation of the role that culture plays in shaping who you are and how you behave. In contrast, the aim of ‘cultural intelligence’ is to go beyond this in order to become more competent and adaptable in another culture, not just more aware of it.

It’s common to meet people who are aware of cultural differences and are also very well-intentioned, yet they’re unable to achieve practical results amidst the complexity of real life. They have the motivation but lack the skills to do anything different from their usual Australian approach.

This is why cultural intelligence should be a requirement for all those whose roles take them into Asia. The term captures three interconnected dimensions: attitude, knowledge and skills. The way people interact is closely linked to their cultural identity and the assumptions they hold about thinking, relating and communicating. The goal is to bring insight and skills to bear in complex settings where things can appear strange and confusing. Without this capability, strategic objectives beyond national borders can falter and even fail.

The monolingual risk

As English becomes an international language, Australians can be seduced into believing they don’t need to make much effort: after all, we can use English in many settings. However, English is not a culture-free language and, indeed, there are few words that have exact equivalents in other languages.

There are variations in, for example, the constructs held across Asia of leadership, management and teamwork. It’s these deeper issues that cause the most significant risks because each party tends to believe that others are approaching the exchange just like them.

Different ways of thinking

When we talk about culture, we mean everything that makes up the world view of a group of people. This includes their behaviours, beliefs and values. These have been determined by historical experiences and reinforced through the socialisation process, as well as by the form and structure of the particular

language spoken. Language and culture are like right glove and left glove.

Many different studies have identified contrasting sets of cultural values. Knowledge of these and how they vary provides a useful foundation for developing the skills needed to be effective in Asia. Different cultural value systems form a fundamental, yet usually hidden, level of meaning when people from different societies work together.

The challenge is that, while all cultures have remarkably similar values, they can rank them in a different order of importance and relevance. Understanding these different rankings helps us to analyse the underlying cause of a misunderstanding and so propose a more effective strategy.

Different ways of communicating

Another measure of competence is the ability to deal effectively with the different communication styles that have developed to best reflect each value system. Communication style has been described as one of the most striking meeting places of language and culture.

Many key features within a given communication style are adopted even before a child learns to speak fluently, for example intonation. This helps us to understand that the way we communicate is central to our identity and is also carried with us into our second language. The objective is to learn about these different styles and how to manage their impact in those settings of most concern.

Building skills

Awareness and knowledge aren’t enough to ensure effective performance in culturally complex settings. We need to know what we must do differently to get the results we want, selecting an appropriate skill from a solid repertoire. In an ideal world, we would have the time to build country-specific skills, acknowledging the tremendous diversity of cultures that make up Asia. But for most Australian professionals, this is a luxury beyond their reach.

For this reason, we recommend a basic skill set which is portable across the region and applies to most situations. An important focus needs to be on how to clarify meaning (because you won’t understand everything) and how to repair misunderstanding (because you will make mistakes).

You and the other person may bring different assumptions and expectations to the event, with different ideas about the most appropriate role to adopt. Bring out into the open any cultural differences you feel might be getting in the way. You can say, ‘I think we might be coming at this from two different perspectives. My reason for saying this is ...’

Break your message into small chunks and use pauses to encourage feedback. Check information by repeating back what you think you heard. Small things like these can promote clarity and mutual understanding.

Equipped with a basic toolkit of skills, you can behave in the way most likely to promote collaboration and success. In the end, your cultural intelligence will be measured in terms of the outcomes you achieve for yourself and the organisation you represent.

* UGM adopts an evidence-based, cultural intelligence approach to the related issues of cultural diversity, cultural awareness and international business. We focus on the cultural competence needed to implement strategic plans. This involves developing specific intercultural (or cross cultural) skills to behave effectively and appropriately in relation to cultural differences.