7 Tips to Consider When Practicing Intercultural Communications
By Kassandra Lopez, Global Strategic Communications graduate student at the University of Florida
Step 1: Understand the importance of intercultural communication
International Communications is the key component of effectively spreading information to its designated target audience. On a global scale, how we present the information about current occurrences can make a marked difference in the reception of these issues. We must be sensitive to how our communications can be interpreted and apply our knowledge to avoid miscommunication. Subsequently how much attention a situation may receive is correlated to how the ongoing is spoken, written and visually demonstrated through communications. Below I will offer insight on how to best communicate globally, in order to provide adequate information that champions the causes of those in need.
Step 2: Learn what self-awareness is, and cultivate it
To tell a story well, I believe you must first fully understand your own. We are often blindsided when we receive feedback from others regarding how we have appeared to feel or how we behaved. It is crucial to remember that people cannot possibly know our intentions. Just as you would be wary of your tone and speaking voice when asking your boss for a raise, you must be hyperaware of how you may be perceived in your communications! Some key points I picked up in an article in the Harvard Business Review by Tasha Eurich as follows:
“… internal self-awareness, represents how we see our values, passions, aspirations, fit with our environment, reactions (including thoughts, feelings, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses), and impact on others. …external self-awareness means understanding how other people view us, in terms of those same factors listed above. Our research shows that people who know how others see them are more skilled at showing empathy and taking others’ perspectives. (Eurich, Tasha)
The infographic below also serves to highlight the types of self-awareness.
Step 3: Think Globally
While it is extensively difficult to cultivate a PR approach for every small market, there are global standards that can we kept to appeal to most. While you run the risk of not pleasing everyone, adapting to the areas your message will be shared in is necessary. By doing so you avoid fiascos, a great example was a situation Ikea faced in 2012.
“… Its popular catalogs showcasing the company’s merchandise featured pictures of women. However, in Saudi Arabia, it is inappropriate for a woman to appear in public without her face and body covered. The company, therefore, decided to airbrush the women out of the version of the catalog it would use in Saudi Arabia. When the Swedish version of the newspaper Metro broke the story about what the company had done, the incident quickly provoked global outrage.” (Alaimo, K.)
Instead, by being aware of the ongoing of the area you seek to send your message to. You can make changes to accommodate how it will be perceived. This includes being up to date with news and having a local check your message for insensitivity or misunderstandings.
Step 4: Be culturally aware
As Alaimo K. writes “The key to developing an effective international PR campaign is understanding the cultures in which you operate.” Being aware of the culture you are addressing is a fundamental part of intercultural communications. Understanding the differences of “Individualism vs. Collectivism”, avoiding uncertainties, power structures and masculinity vs. femininity are key points to consider. These factors heavily influence how your message is received.
Step 5: Know the history
Knowing the history surrounding a country or issue is extremely relevant when coming up with an approach for your communications. If we do not do so, we run the risk of making comments that are offensive or not understood. For example, in Venezuela, their history has various coups, impeachments and overall debauchery related to deeply seeded corruption. In the past, the nation has turned down various opportunities for aid. This creates a stereotype that they do not wish to be helped and can make nations less likely to aid. In the future attempts to hear from the people of Venezuela themselves would aid in having a better understanding of them as individuals. This would prevent them from being written off as aggressive and unwilling to change.
Step 6: Know the categories that create an identity
In Chapter 5 of “Intercultural Communications in Contexts” Martin and Nakayama name the following as the 9 parts of cultural identity: Gender, Sexual, Age, Racial, Ethnic, Religious, Class, National, and Regional. These factors are an integral part of an individual’s identity and consequently, alter how they interpret and respond to communications.
Step 7: Creating a story
The art of storytelling needs to be incorporated into our communications. I find the following recommendations by Ken O’Quinn for his Public Relations Tactics article exceedingly helpful in organizing the tone of my communications. O’Quinn emphasizes “direct leads” which focus on the tightness, directness, simplicity and overall context of what you are communicating to be concise.
In addition to this, nonverbal communication creates an equally important storyline. Carrie Cousins does a fabulous job of describing the cultural considerations to be had surrounding color in the design. It is a great read but also highlights just how differently a piece of media can be interpreted. For example, the color White has varied significance around the world! Here in
“Western cultures (North America and Europe) White is the color of purity and peace…but in “Eastern and Asian cultures White is also the color of death in the East. It is used at funerals and represents sterility, mourning, unhappiness, and misfortune.” (Cousins, Carrie)
