Poor communication is a symptom, not a cause (part two)

Americans frequently come across as blunt, rude, and inappropriate in much of the world. What are some strategies we can use to better connect with our multinational teammates?

This is a post from a book I wrote about a decade ago. I’m releasing a few excerpts here, and hope you find them interesting. Part one introduced the idea of low- and high-context communication. In this second half, I’ll talk about how we can use that awareness to better connect with our teammates.

Communicating across cultures

Research has repeatedly shown that at least 75% of communication is non-verbal in nature, and this is the percentage for the most verbal of all cultures.Many cultures demonstrate a much higher percentage of non-verbal communication.¹

But even verbal communication has cultural variations that subtly alter the intended message. Western culture is one that is strongly centered around clear, verbal or written communication. Yet the style of communication using a verbal medium varies strongly from one culture to another. When studying the speech patterns of three groups (Anglo-Saxons, Latins, and Asians), Fons Trompenaars and his team discovered important differences in…