Part 1: Travelling to unknown spheres
I worked in South Korea from 2000 to 2002 and I recall my first meetings with Koreans. I would walk into a meeting room and be introduced to the most senior person in the room. He would greet me and then his very first question was, “How old are you?” I tried to hide the shock and hide my confusion by giggling and I then briefly told him my age. His next question was, “Are you married?” At that point I burst out laughing in sheer embarrassment.
My #unconsciousbias started insulting this man I had just been introduced to. My insults were all kept inside my brain of course, but I was livid with anger, “You’re such a condescending misogynist!” How dare you ask me such unprofessional questions at a business meeting! I expect you’ll be asking me for my hotel room number next!”
Unconscious bias can arise when individuals unconsciously apply their own cultural norms and expectations to interpret the actions and behaviours of others. In my case, my initial reaction to the businessman’s questions reflected a bias rooted in my Western cultural perspective, which led to feelings of insult and indignation.
Culture clash and cognitive diversity
Before travelling to Korea I had done some reading about #koreanbusinessculture, plus the company I was working for had offered some training on the topic. But somehow, I was not prepared for those questions. The cultural clash in this situation was related to our cognitive diversity. Cognitive diversity in a team is related to differences in thinking, communication styles and cultural values.
I soon found out that the gentleman I was speaking to was behaving in a very professional manner. Our diversity here laid in the differences between his quite hierarchical upbringing compared to my egalitarian upbringing and experiences to date. The Korean person wanted to know where I fit in the social ladder of the group of people being introduced to him so he could address me with the proper level of respect.
Patrick Lencioni identifies the absence of trust as the primary dysfunction of teamwork. In cognitive diverse teams trust can be difficult to build initially because of varying ways of communicating.
The need for cultural intelligence
#Culturalintelligence, or the ability to adapt in culturally diverse environments, is essential in navigating encounters with cognitive diverse individuals. By understanding and appreciating different cognitive styles and cultural norms, individuals can mitigate the negative effects of #cultureshock and foster more productive interactions.
Culture Shock can occur, not only when we are working with cognitive diverse people, but also when we join a new organisation that has a very different culture to the previous organisation we worked for. We’ll look at that tomorrow in the second part of our Culture Shock mini-series. In part three later this week we’ll look at the symptoms of culture shock and how to work your way out of it.
What are your personal experiences with Culture Shock?
To read parts 2 and 3 of this post click on the page numbers below.
