If you are entering another culture on a job assignment or business trip or exchange program, what would be the best cross-cultural approach in order to fully realize the potential for you being in that culture?
The answer does not lie in some intense training regimen or programmatic elements, but would actually depend the most on your mindset and attitude. Simply put, you need to be FAT - flexible, adaptable, and teachable.
1. Be Flexible.
Those of us who are from developed nations tend to take things for granted – reliable phone and internet connections, transportation that are on schedule, air conditioned spaces everywhere during warm weather, polite and competent services at public places, etc. Things are supposed to go as planned, and if not, there’s always a contingency plan.
But things work differently in many cultures. It sometimes requires us to let go of certain guarantees in life we take for granted and learn to go with the flow. The cab that was supposed to come to pick you up might not come on time or not at all. A simple transaction at a local bank might end up taking an hour. A functionary might make you wait even though there is no other person in line. Our immediate reaction might be to scream and yell, but it won’t get us anywhere. We gotta be flexible to the point that we are even fluid in order to be successful cross-culturally. So, plan on things not going as planned and see if you can work around and with these uncertainties.
2. Be Adaptable.
The way things work in another culture may be different from your home culture. For example, the way you greet people is different across a spectrum of cultures. In Korea or Japan, people would never kiss anyone as a greeting in public. They bow or shake hands instead. But in Morocco, men kiss other men by putting their right cheek to each other person’s right cheek, and left to left. However, men would not kiss women unless they are close family members. Meanwhile, the French do it casually as a way of a friendly greeting to a person of opposite sex. Now, an American man might feel uncomfortable doing any of the above, especially the Moroccan kiss with another man.
The point is that you have to adapt to different ways of doing things in another culture. You can’t insist on doing it in your own way. That might not only offend the host people but could also create an unnecessary distance from them, which may hinder the purpose of your cross-cultural venture.
3. Be Teachable.
This one is easier to do for novices than veterans. It’s hard for “experts” to be teachable. Someone who’s lived and worked cross-culturally for many years inevitably develop this attitude that they really know and understand other cultures deeply. In the process, they can easily become rigid, unadaptable, and unteachable.
Being teachable is a foundation for any learning or growth. There is always something new to learn even for cross-cultural experts and veterans. It requires much humility and self-awareness to keep growing and developing as the cross-culturally competent. I’ve seen people who stopped learning and growing cross-culturally because of their attitude of knowing it all. For people who are older, it’s not easy to be flexible to unexpected changes or adaptable to new things. However, being teachable is the foundation for being flexible and adaptable because In the end, it’s not about one’s abilities. It’s about one’s heart and attitude toward otherness. It’s about one’s maturity and character that make a difference in the long run.
F.A.T. is a very simple concept, but it has served me and many others well over the years. I’ve learned and grown as an intercultural sojourner over the years, but I realize that there’s always something new to learn, something I’ve never known before. That keeps me humble. So, I suggest that you try F.A.T. in your next cross-cultural action and see where that might lead you.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn