Three Different Responses to Cultural Differences

23/June/2022

Three Different Responses to Cultural Differences

With the growing global interactions, cross cultural collaboration is inevitable. People from diverse backgrounds and cultures are now sitting in one office either physically or virtually. Everyone brings their different communication and working styles in the room.

When different cultures meet with less or no preparedness the first quick and natural reaction is complaining and judging the other culture as inappropriate. If not dealt with, the judgement will slowly grow into divide, distrust and ultimately mediocre relationship which will lead to poor performance.
The second reaction to cultural differences is ignoring the differences and just focus on the commonalities. While this creates a short term comfort, in the long run it is detrimental. Minimizing the differences makes people from minority cultures to adapt and integrate in the dominant culture. In the process of this cultural integration, people will cut off some aspects of their cultural identity to fit in the dominant culture. By doing so, at individual level this reduces their potentials and at organization level, this stripes away the power of diversity which if leveraged gives the organization multiple perspectives and promotes creativity.
The third and the best reaction is embracing the differences. This is not blind acceptance and adaptation. It is empathy powered by curiosity to understand the other person and confidently adapt to their culture to meet desired objective. It is the highest level of understanding that beyond your worldview, there is another "different and true" worldview. It's viewing and using cultural differences as tools. See one culture as a spanner to grip and turn a nut or bolt and another culture as a screwdriver to screw or unscrew. Embracing cultural differences gives us the advantages of adapting our communication, behavior and strategies to effectively function in unfamiliar cultural settings.

Now take time and reflect. What do you do every single time you meet a different culture? How is your organization dealing with cultural differences?

Why I Struggle to Tell Time in English

8 April 2021

I have been learning and speaking English for more than 20 years but I still tell time wrong or sometime take a few second and do the conversion before I say time in English. While I still make other small mistakes in English (I am not a native speaker), telling time always gives me hard time. Telling time is hard for me because it's more than language, it's how my culture has programmed my brain.

In my language we use 12 hour clock and we start counting hours (telling time) from 7. So 7:00 ( English time) is 1 (saa moya) in my language. I think, traditionally my ancestors didn't bother counting time during the night because they were asleep anyways. So They started counting in the morning when the sun was out and people were getting ready to start their daily activities.

While English day starts at midnight, a day in my language starts at 7 which gives us a six hour difference. So here is what is in my mind when I am telling time in English:

English Time What is in my brain
7:00 am 1:00 (saa moya= one )
8:00 am 2:00 (saa mbili= two)
4:00 pm 10 (saa kumi = ten)
Etc.

I am sorry if you are struggling to understand what I mean here, that's how I feel everyday when I am telling time in English.
Language is more than words, it's very powerful that it shapes our worldviews and programs our minds. You can't totally understand the language without understanding the culture that envelops it. Same way, you can't fully understand the culture until you understand the language that communicates it.

Justin Ngoga

Cultural Orientation and Relocation Buddy Services, Key Elements in On-boarding New International Staff

23 September 2020

Hyatt (as cited in Roy, 2015) defined the on-boarding process as a systematic and comprehensive approach to integrating a new employee with a company and its culture, as well as getting the new employee the tools and information needed to become a productive member of the team. However, for international staff, I believe organizations should add country specific cultural awareness training and relocation buddy (a person who understands well the culture and day to day life of the hosting community) to help international staff smoothly integrate not only in the organization environment but also in the hosting community.

Why is cultural awareness an important part of the on-boarding for international hires
According to (Shay, J. P., & Tracey, J. B., 1997) cited in Tiantian (2018) expatriates who are assigned to developed countries have a failure rate of 25% to 40% and who are assigned to developing countries have the rate jumping to 70%. One of the factors that cause the failure is culture shock. Providing international hires with a timely cultural awareness training (that goes beyond simple bulleted cultural tips) and continuous cultural adjustment support like weekly one on one session to assess the adaptation process are some of the effective ways to alleviate the level of culture shock.

Relocation buddy a starting point to building community in your new country
I believe the success and the well being at workplace for new international hires greatly depend on their life out of workplace in their new communities. Unfortunately most on-boarding programs only focus on training new hires on vision, goals, strategies, on job skills, understanding teams and responsibilities but forget that after work the new international hires will need to go shopping, buy electricity, figure out transportation means, open bank account, get a local sim card, find a reliable house helper (in Rwanda), deal with landlords etc. and if this is not taken care of it badly affects whatever happens at workplace.

Giving a new international hire a relocation buddy that understands the day to day life in the hosting culture to run errand with or for them will not only make their life much easier but will also break the loneliness that most new expats experience during their early days in a new country and culture. A relocation buddy will be a starting point to building a local community and finely adapt to the new life.

You do not need to do it all yourself
Most organization do not have the bandwidth to take on all this activities and probably do not have local cultural expertise. But this should not be a reason to not offer your employee the best they need. Remember, all the interviews you did, the time you spent, the money you invested to get the employee. If you cannot do it then find an organization or person to do it for you. If you are in Rwanda, Impact Route would be great to work with in providing cultural awareness and relocation buddy service. Get in touch!

Justin Ngoga
justin.ngoga@impactrouterwanda.com

Cultural Code-Switching in Professional Settings

30/07/2020

Due to global mobility and technology the business World is continuously changing which requires professionals to constantly adapt to the new working styles and environments. The ability to successfully adapt to the changes in the new work ecosystem and skillfully relate well with people from different backgrounds is with no doubt a very important determining factor of individuals career failure, stagnation or progress. Code-switching (change some aspects of the cultural and physical identities) is one of the many adaptability skills that people in diverse working environments are using to gain a sense of belonging and progress in their career. According to (Courtney et al. 2019), code-switching involves adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behaviour, and expression in ways that will optimize the comfort of others in exchange for fair treatment, quality service, and employment opportunities.

Is cultural code switching good or bad
Cultural code switching is only good when it comes from a place of self acceptance and empathy to connect with people from different cultural or historical backgrounds. It should be backed with cultural intelligence skills (the ability to effectively understand, adapt and relate well with people from various cultures without compromising your cultural values and identity). Cultural code-switching is bad and detrimental if it is driven by the feeling of low self-worth and undervaluing of self culture and identity.

Negative effects of code switching in multicultural organisations
Ideally in an inclusive working environment people should remain true to their cultural and physical identities which gives the organisation the competitive advantage to have diverse perspectives and point of views. This means that coworkers should only develop their cultural intelligence to understand where the other person is coming from and use their perspectives to enlighten their blind spots.

Unfortunately most organisations are still struggling to comply with appearance diversity. For these kinds of organisations, all they want is to look diverse from an outside perspective but remain homogeneous as they integrate their new hires into the dominant culture. Without knowing they are pushing people to lose important parts of their identities.They are not far from being clients for the fake rentaminority.com company that would help them fix the diversity issue quickly. Unnecessary cultural code-switching undermines the substance of equity and inclusion which promote innovations and creativity in diverse teams.

What you should consider before code-switching
According to Endiya Griffin & Tatiana Howell Discover the powerful CPU of code-switching ted talk you should ask yourself these three questions before you code-switch.

C: Does this connect me to this person?
P: Are you perceived the way you want to be perceived?
U: Are you staying true to your identity?

Bringing Your Whole Self to the Workplace in non expressive Cultures

12/07/2020

The Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion 2014 report, reveals that 61% of all employees “cover” some of their life aspects in some way. Some of the various reasons to why people have to hide some parts of their identities are fear of rejection, seeking approval, adapting to the dominant culture, the desire to be a good fit of the group etc.

Coming from one of the most reserved cultures in Africa where showing strong emotions is a sign of weakness and the ability to restrain your feelings and emotions a sign of strength, I very much understand what it means to conceal one's emotions and feelings and put on a different persona and the impact this could have on individual performance in the work place.

Here are some of the proverbs that stresses the Rwandan cultural value of inhibiting emotions and feelings

Amarira y'umugabo atemba ajya munda: The tears of a man drop inside.
Imfura isheshangira ishira: A respectable and noble person does not show they are suffering

These proverbs encourage Rwandans to not show sad feelings but deal with issues troubling them calmly. While I understand this cultural value and how this harnesses relationships in the Rwandan culture, I recognize the impact this has on individual wellness.

Impact of hiding some part of yourself
To better understand this let's use this metaphor of a left handed person forced to write with their right hand because everyone else writes with right hand. It does not only feel uncomfortable but it is also energy draining and it affects the speed of your work and the quality of your product. In the same way, concealing your emotions and some traits that make you unique can lead to perpetual stress, anxiety and burnout.

Strategies to bring your whole self to work place

Work in a trustful environment
At the foundation of all relationships is trust. Only within a trusted environment will someone from a reserved culture be able to share their feelings and emotions and therefore bring their whole self at work. Yes, creating a sense of trust within a team begins with the senior leaders, but to be fully sustainable it needs to be lived by every one. So be the champion driving team trust.

Know your weakness and accept yourself
It is equally important to know your weaknesses as much as knowing your strengths.  Knowing your weakness will not only help you work on them and potential improve them but also save you time and energy to try cover them.  Everyone is imperfect, so there is no need stigmatize your weak traits. Sharing your weak treats increase your self confidence and help you bring your whole identity at work.

Embrace Diversity and find new places to network
Engaging in conversation with people from different cultures, age, race, historic background, sex orientation puts you in a position for growth. According to Anka Wittenberg Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at SAP while interacting with your network you should look for, accept and appreciate differences. Friction leads to heat, and our heat makes the atoms move faster!

Take Action
If you are manager leading a team in Rwanda and would like to help your team members fully bring their identities at work place, I would be very happy to have a workshop with your team and embark on the journey of developing an inclusive team that embraces and leverage differences to achieve your desired goals.

Today Is World Day for Cultural Diversity

21/05/2020

This is my day, it is a day that inspires my drive to keep going despite the day to day challenges and the heavy weight of the covid-19 to our cultural trainings and events. It is a reminder that the work we are doing is more than a business but a contribution to global peace and development. Yes it is! Research show that three-quarters of the world’s major conflicts have a cultural dimension. Bridging the gap between cultures is urgent and necessary for peace, stability and development.

As we celebrate our cultural diversity today let's add inclusion and commit ourselves to looking at our differences as supplements and assets to a strong family.

We have solutions for cultural diversity and inclusion here in Rwanda

Rwanda cultural awareness
In response to cross cultural challenges faced by internationals visiting, living and working in Rwanda , Impact Route has started the first cultural awareness training in Rwanda. This seeks to help internationals in Rwanda appreciate Rwandan cultural values, perceptions and mannerisms and in turn reduce cultural shock severity while enabling them to more effectively integrate in Rwandan culture. Cultural awareness matters because our cultural values enormously influence the way we interact with people, how we build relationships and the way we approach work. cultural unpreparedness leads to misunderstandings, wrong judgements, distrust and ultimately poor relationships.

Cultural intelligence training
In today's global economy, the ability to understand, relate well and effectively communicate with customers, partners, coworkers, reports, and supervisors from diverse cultures is one of the key competencies that people and organisations need to succeed in the growing intercultural business markets.

This course is designed to develop participants' intercultural skills and give them the knowledge and skills needed to meet the global challenges today’s interconnected world presents. It opens participants' minds to see and appreciate the value of cultural differences and strategies to leverage our individual differences.

Would you want to have run a cultural diversity and inclusion training with your team? Please get in touch to schedule a virtual training now or plan a face to face training when meetings and gatherings are allowed in Rwanda. Reach out to us at justin.ngoga@impactrouterwanda.com or call us at +250 788810267

Time Across Cultures In The Fast-Paced World

05/10/2019

I am not here trying to judge which culture does the right thing between respecting and keeping time and acting in the moment and make the most out of the present. My intention is to help you understand what the other person values which in turn informs the way they approach time in their culture. Now, you might be asking yourself what is the most beneficial way? I am sorry I do not have an answer for you, it all depends on where you are, who are you dealing with and what you want to achieve. To finish this blog, I only have one advice for you to deal with time across cultures.

Be slow to judge but seek to understand!

With the current fast-paced world, Time has become way more valuable than ever. People now count their seconds as part of their life and they desperately want to make the most out of it.

Given its importance time is one of the concepts that is very hard to deal with cross culturally. In some cultures everyone's
minutes are scheduled and if you do not get to finish what you planned on time, you schedule it for another time or day and do the following planned thing. By doing so you do not only respect your schedules but also other people's time. Unfortunately not all cultures are programmed that same way.

For other cultures life isn't a matter of respecting schedules and milestones, but of moments well spent. For collective and relationship based cultures, what matters is not the clock ticking but quality and productive time you get to spend doing something or talking with someone. Everything is about people and what matters for the people.