The Importance of Intercultural Skills

Because of the Internet, the business world has become smaller. With the Internet we can narrow our business field and find the core group of people we will do business with. With the simplicity of a click we cross national and cultural boundaries and find ourselves in new worlds. As fast as technology can send our messages, that’s how fast we can build our business networks. Our networks are not made of email addresses, but of people, of relationships. As good business people, we need to ensure the success of these relationships.

First, what is a relationship? According to Webster’s dictionary, it’s a state of connectedness between people. The way two people make this connection is through understanding—understanding what the other person likes, the way he or she thinks, behaves, and believes. Through mutual understanding a common ground can be reached.

In intercultural relationships, where the two people are from different countries and cultures, both people need to make a conscious effort to learn potentially unfamiliar ways of thinking, values and preferences. However, making this effort pays off in the long run, especially in the complicated business world. Knowing someone well and trusting in his words and actions makes it easier to do business with him.

Professionals worldwide need intercultural communication skills to bridge the gap of differences and turn them into advantages. An intercultural skill such as the ability to pinpoint culturally specific values that influence a person’s thinking and decision-making process is a valuable tool in an intercultural business relationship. If, for example, an American business woman knows that her Japanese colleague in Tokyo values the approval of superiors every step of the decision-making process, she will give her Japanese colleague extra time to process new information and report results within the Tokyo branch. Her Japanese colleague will appreciate her American colleague’s respect of Japanese ways of doing business and a bond of trust and ‘connectedness’ will form between them.

The same skill set works when foreign professionals enter the US business arena. Their ability to understand and apply Americans values such as autonomy, pro-activity, and risk-taking will give them an advantage when adjusting to the competitive American workplace. They will need help to digest and implement very different cultural concepts that Americans have grown up with, but that are new to foreigners. A professional trainer is just the person to help make the big leaps in learning in a relatively short time. The American Culture Coach Program is one such training program that gives foreign professionals the skills they need via a private coaching format. Professionals have access to online lessons and an appointment calendar to schedule weekly or bi-weekly internet coaching sessions with their American Culture Coach at their convenience. And with more US companies hiring increasing numbers of foreigners, they would do well to promote successful business relationships by offering a type of training that is geared specifically to this.