• ​Cultural Adjustment Moves
• Cultural Adaptation Phases​
• Concept Of Time Across Cultures  
• Communication in Rwandan Culture
• Succeed In A New Cultures

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Cultural Adjustment Moves

Detached Phase

Detached phase is stage of confusion, depression anxiety caused by the accumulation of cultural experiences. Most people fail their assignments and leave the host culture because they do not have enough support  to manage the accumulated cultural experiences. This is a very critical phase in the integration process. It is the stage when the learning is sinking in but it could also be a disastrous phase when you do not get enough cultural support to boost you and help you climb up to the integration phase. 

​Here are some characteristics of the detached phase. 

• Accumulated cultural experiences create anxiety
• You hate routine experiences and commutes
• You feel detached from home and isolated
• You dislike and see the hosting culture as inferior 
• You respond to confusion with silence, anger or hostility
• You want to leave the culture and be home now ( miss bed, food, friends, family)

Traveler Phase

The traveler phase is the first step into a new culture whereby new experiences are fun and exciting. But unfortunately the excitement and the joy do not last long until you start going down to detached phase. As you go down the curve it is very important you seek cultural adjustment support to avoid a strong hit of culture shock​.

​These are some of the characteristics of the traveler phase:

• You find new cultural experiences fun and enjoyable
• You are very ambitious and eager to discover
• You have great engagement with people
• You like sharing home stories and experiences
• You respond to confusion with an engaging smile
• You are excited for the future and the experiences ahead

​​Integrated Phase

Integrated phase is stage of acceptance, maturity and realistic reasoning. After heavy experience and persistence you develop strong mechanism to copy with the new culture. You understand why people behave the way they do how this is related to they community history and realities. With your realistic reasoning you understand the difference between your own culture and the host culture and develop strategies to relate well in the host culture. Though you do not love everything in the culture but you appreciate the culture and the people. This is a stage where you can only be successful in the host culture.

​Here are some characteristics of the integrated phase: 

• You get used to cultural differences and creates strategies to deal with them
• You understand and appreciate cultural differences
• The new culture starts feeling like home and you love the community
• You engage in local topics conversations without judgments 
• You respond to confusion with questions
• You enjoy being in the new culture and have many local favorite places

Time Across Cultures In The Fast-Paced World

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 concept that is very hard to deal with cross culturally. In some cultures everyone's  
minutes is 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.

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 to deal with time across cultures. ​

What You Should Know about  Communication in Rwandan Culture

The same way having ten fingers does not make you a pianist speaking the same language does not necessarily guarantee effective  communication when communicating across cultures. Minor cultural differences sometimes completely blocks team communication. Here is few things you should know about communicating with your Rwandan coworkers.  ​

Indirect Communication

In communication Rwandans start with background information,  supportive arguments and sometimes examples before they get to the point and it is  believed the best communicator has to lay a very  good foundation for their message. Going directly to the message would either mean you  not a good communicator or in some instances it could be very rude. That is why in  meetings very often Rwandans start with brief social /family  talks before  diving into the business agenda. 

Subtle Communication

Rwandan use subtle message and the listener has to read between the lines to understand the message.  Therefore, it is very important to look at facial  expression and read the cues to better understand the situation. For example, if a Rwandan owes another Rwandan some money, the money lender will never say  give me back my money "mpa amafaranga yanjye." Instead they will say  have you probably found the things " Mwaba mwabonye twatuntu?". The lender avoids mentioning money but calls it the things.

Not expressive

Though Rwanda neighbors Uganda, Tanzania and Congo which are reasonably expressive culture Rwandans are noticeably non expressive. Rwandans rarely express their utmost anger nor happiness. Therefore if you give a gift to a Rwanda do not expect a loud shout expressing happiness and gratitude. A simple "thank you very much" will be enough for them to express their deepest happiness. Likewise, if Rwandans are angry they never yell.

​! Please note that this very high level cultural orientation. There are some who communicate differently depending on their education background, community and individual personalities.  ​

Five Things That Will Help You Relate Well With People From Other Cultures

1. Stop!

Whenever you are going to meet someone from a different culture it is advisable you take sometime to dig and find out possible cultural differences you might have and plan the conversation accordingly. For example if you come from a non pet culture and you are meeting someone from a pet culture you should set a reminder to personalize the pets when they come with him/she ( it).
Taking time to learn about the other  culture and strategize  will significantly reduce your culture shock and ultimately improve your  relationships. 

2. Avoid Quick Judgment ​

We all interpret everything using our cultural lens but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong which is very normal. To avoid quick judgment you should always try and assume the best. For example if you come from West and someone from Africa tells you you are fat, though it might hurt you just assume that maybe fat is good in their culture. Since assuming helps for a short time and sometime might not be right, you should always ask to make you sure you understand what the other person means. 

3. Find one thing about their culture and appreciate it ​

I believe it and it is true every culture has got beautiful things but you should be willing to find them out. Since we are all attached to our cultures everyone will appreciate a good and genuine word about their culture. Therefore, before you meet the person from a different culture try and find at least one thing that you genuinely believe is beautiful and share it during the conversation. This will break the strangeness and draw the person closer. 

4. Do not try hard ​

Do not try to loose all of you to adapt to the new culture because people will easily see that you are not the real you. Always remember your core values and maintain them because they make you who you are. However, you should also know your flexible area that you can easily change to adapt to the new culture and relate with people in the culture. 

​5. Be curious ​

We all want to hang around with people who are more like us. But unfortunately we do not  learn a lot from people whom we share a lot of things. Curious people are willing to leave their comfort zones and dive into new culture and learn and share the differences. If you are new in a culture, I recommend you reduce the time you spend in the expat community and schedule meetings with local people, this will not only increase your cultural knowledge but also will significantly increase your community trust. ​​