GLOBAL HRD

Borders are quickly blurring, so cross-cultural

training must become an integral part of all
management programs.

60 TD | September 2015 PHOTO: GETTY


CULTURAL
Competence
BY MALA SUBRAMANIAM
L
ike it or not, it is a global economy and
borders are disappearing. Your cus-
tomers and resources are scattered
across the globe: products await parts from a
manufacturer in another country, customer
service is handled elsewhere, some employees
are located in remote locations, your suppli-
ers and business partners are from unfamiliar
countries, you are reporting to someone who
does not speak your language or speak it the
way you are accustomed in your business in-
teractions, and your company is owned by a
company from another country.
Everyone in the organization needs to under-
stand how to interact with subordinates, peers,
supervisors, clients, suppliers, and other key
constituents from different cultures. Many orga-
nizations, both small and large, have outsourced
parts of IT, customer service, manufacturing,
telemarketing, and many other services to sup-
pliers around the world for financial reasons and
availability of specific talent.
So, to offer cultural awareness training as
a separate program is ignoring the presence
of culture in every fiber of human interaction
in the business world. The talent development
podcast
team cannot ignore the need to prepare the
organization for this global economy.
Ill-prepared
Consider this situation: A manager is confident
that the two-hour cultural awareness ses-
sion she attended has prepared her for her job,
until she starts working in a multicultural set-
up. How does this manager apply the cultural
awareness training in meetings, marketing, ne-
gotiations, supervising, and every other touch
point in the business value chain? That was not
part of the training.
Culture influences behavior in all aspects
of workplace interactions. How well you play
in this global economy is a function of your
cultural competency. However, technical and
professional competencies sometimes take a
back seat.
Thus, it is a strategic imperative that ev-
ery management training program address the
question: How do you employ the techniques
and learning content, which work well in your
culture, if you are sitting across the room from
people raised in other cultures? Take this quiz
and see why:
September 2015 | TD 61
 • Is the person in the next office from Ger-
many, France, or Japan?
• Are all your team members from your
country?
• Have you been in a meeting with some-
one who has an accent you could not
understand?
• Do you wonder why a co-worker stands
up when you walk to his desk?
• Are you confused by the outcome of a ne-
gotiation with an Asian partner?
If you answered yes to more than half of
these questions, you should understand why
it is critical to know how to work with people
from other cultures.
Culture touches every part
of the business
Making the product and marketing, sell-
ing, and servicing it can happen anywhere in
the world. Making assumptions, judging, and
drawing incorrect conclusions when interact-
ing with people from other cultures can cause
project delays, poor business deals, customer
defection, and major financial losses.
Let’s face it: A country’s culture influences
the behavior of its people, whether they remain
in the country, travel, or migrate to another
country. It affects family, social, and work-
Cultural Mix-Ups
Examples of business scenarios where cul-
ture has direct application:
• Selling to a global customer—likes,
dislikes, offensive communications,
decision-making process.
• Marketing—packaging products,
branding, advertising, and public
relations.
• Customer service—greetings, respond-
ing to questions, accents.
• Supplier selection and management—
IT support outsourcing to countries like
India and China, miscommunications
causes delays in deliverables.
62 TD | September 2015
place behaviors. National culture supersedes
corporate culture. Culture manifests itself in a
person’s purchasing habits, approach to proj-
ects and problems, participation in meetings,
negotiations, recruiting, management style, and
every other aspect of the job or business.
Here are a few examples to illustrate this
point:
• Meetings—Some countries use meetings
to make decisions, while others use them
to celebrate decisions made behind closed
doors. Some start with an agenda, yet oth-
ers are offended by one.
• Communications—A colleague’s indirect
way of conveying a negative message so
that he does not hurt your feelings is in
contrast with your “get to the point” style
that he finds rude, not direct.
• Negotiation—In some Asian countries, ne-
gotiation starts after the contract has been
signed. Paper takes a back seat to people.
A true learning need
A two-hour lecture on cultural gaps will not
suffice. People need to understand the role cul-
ture plays at work and how they can leverage
the strengths of each individual to raise effi-
ciency and productivity. Fixing an accent issue
is a Band-Aid to a deeper and larger wound.
It takes me back to the era of total quality
management, where one division was sad-
dled with the responsibility of launching and
managing it. Despite the valiant efforts of this
division, TQM failed to make an impact on
customer satisfaction, which should have
been the goal of the company and the mantra
of every employee.
Change happened when TQM was re-
invented as change management, was spon-
sored by the C-suite, and touched every fiber
of the company. It was no longer a buzzword
with poster boards, trophies, plaques, cups,
and mugs; it became an integral part of the
organization. When customer satisfaction was
on the strategic dashboard affecting incentives
and every employee was trained, change hap-
pened. Change was the theme of training. As
a certified change management specialist, I
speak from my experience.
 Culture is like a thread that runs across train managers in your organization to work
the organization with a latent impact on busi- with a multicultural workforce, management
ness outcomes. Organizations don’t recognize team, supplier base, and customers. Deliver a
it. But if they do, they deal with it by offering comprehensive program that identifies chal-
as-needed cross-cultural training—perhaps lenges and opportunities present in global
a two-hour or half-day on-site or virtual relationships that affect productivity.
workshop, if there is money in the budget.
The training program is offered to those Five-step guide
employees who are traveling abroad or work- Here is a step-by-step guide to integrate
ing directly with international counterparts. cross-cultural expertise in management
Pain is felt when a company is acquired by a training. Of course, this guide should be cus-
company from another country. Acquisition tomized to each organization, based on its
by itself can cause confusion between two particular circumstances and needs.
corporate cultures, and it can be totally dis- Step 1: Global assessment. Identify the de-
orienting when the two are from two diverse mographics (country) of your customers,
national cultures. So, management training suppliers, and employees. Most companies
must integrate culture. probably have some of this information in
a database. Then, gather input on:
A strategic imperative • issues employees are facing in cross-
The time has come for cultural awareness cultural interactions
to become a strategic imperative, cascading • damage done by these issues to business
through the organization to create better un- outcomes
derstanding. The talent development function • how they handle these issues now.
should adopt the principles in all its train-
ing efforts, starting with the bank teller who
greets a customer from another country to the
person facing the intimidating prospect of ne-
gotiating a contract with a room full of people CULTURAL AWARENESS MUST BECOME
from different countries. A STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE, CASCADING
Sometimes people walk away with the mis-
taken conclusion that the negotiation failed
THROUGH THE ORGANIZATION TO CREATE
because the terms were unacceptable. It is in- BETTER UNDERSTANDING.
conceivable to them that perhaps the reason
was a cultural mistake—they were addressing
their comments to a manager when his boss
was present, making the boss lose face.
I am not suggesting training be given on each
country. But exposure to behaviors triggered
by culture, along with the theory behind gaps
in communication, will sensitize people. For ex-
ample, why are some countries more process
driven while some cling to relationships? Why
can’t some countries start a project without
knowing the people working with them? Why
are others comfortable interacting with a team
of unfamiliar people, focusing on the project at
hand? What are some broad guidelines in work-
ing with people of different cultures?
For optimum efficiency and productivity,

September 2015 | TD 63
 Step 2: Program development. Build a list of
cross-cultural gaps by country, damage to
business, and current handling of gaps. Then
work with country experts in your company or
outside consultants to:
• Understand the reason for the gaps—
understand the country.
• Determine tools and techniques to close
the gaps (dos and don’ts).
• Implement case studies, teamwork, and
role plays.
Step 3: Create modules. Prioritize issues by
extent of damage to business outcomes. Sort
it by cultural differences in values, behaviors,
and communications, such as:
• business values (work ethic and business
culture)
• manager-subordinate relationship (de-
cision making, delegation, evaluations,
recognition, taking initiative, sharing
ideas)
• client and supplier relationships (percep-
Cultural Training Integration
Culture cannot be separated from training
programs. Below is a sample list of man-
agement training courses. If these pro-
grams do not integrate cultural training,
they are not preparing participants for the
global economy.
• business writing
• communication skills
• customer service
• human resource management
• client relations
• interpersonal skills
• leadership
• supervisory skills
• marketing
• presentation skills
• project management
• purchasing
• sales
• strategic planning
64 TD | September 2015
tion of clients and suppliers, expectations,
decisions, and loyalty)
• communication (verbal and written com-
munication, and conflict resolution/
negotiation)
• recruiting and retaining (motivating
employees).
Step 4: Integrate modules. Determine which
of the modules from Step 3 are applicable in
your management training programs and ap-
ply the modules as appropriate. For instance,
training on supplier management could in-
clude modules on cultural gaps in work ethic,
business values, motivation, conflict reso-
lution, negotiation, and communication in
general.
Step 5: Delivery and follow-up. Ensure that
trainers facilitate integrated training—content
should address the theory behind culture,
application in the workplace, and country
differences. Some tips:
• Bring in a country expert for Q&A.
• Schedule follow-up webinars in three
months to reinforce learning and address
issues.
• Measure success and revise programs
accordingly.
Optimizing global business relationships
Bridging the communications gap across cul-
tures has to be effective in all aspects of work,
such as leadership, sales, marketing, nego-
tiation, operations, and customer service.
Managing the multiple work or management
styles that companies contend with across ge-
ographies, businesses, functions, and projects
can be imposing.
What works in one culture may be unac-
ceptable or ineffective in other cultures. Some
cultures will not share with you the reasons. It
always will remain a mystery, leading to wrong
conclusions. That’s why cultural training has to
be an enhancement to other training, and par-
ticipants should be able to apply the learned
principles in their job.
Mala Subramaniam is a leadership and multicultural
communications trainer, speaker, and executive coach;
mala@mktinsite.com.
Copyright of TD: Talent Development is the property of Association for Talent Development
and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without
the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or
email articles for individual use.