Communication across cultures is already challenging in itself. Different preferred styles such as indirect or direct communication, means that actual words expressed as well as non-verbal signals could be interpreted in various ways. Now imagine a business context in which colleagues are continents apart, only met once and still need to work together on a regular basis. Daunting? Yes, but fret not. In order to build trust and common understanding, it is vital that you get to know your colleague, their culture and local business context. What better way than to pick up the phone and tune in to their voice, their communicating style, their personality. Email seems to be the fastest and easiest way to get a message across. But is your ‘clear’ message interpreted in the same way that you meant it? So I say it again… pick up the phone! (unless they are sleeping of course…)
Click here for 12 tips to overcome geographical, time and cultural borders to improve remote team effectiveness.
Interested to learn more? Join our upcoming trainings “Communicate with Impact across Cultures” and “Face-to-face and Remote Success with Teams in India”.
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