Diversity in the workforce - is it the same thing as Cross Cultural Communication?

So in a recent Solve the Culture Puzzle! cross cultural communication training session I was running with a group of senior leaders, CEOs and owners, the question came up:

This cross cultural communication topic - is it only applicable when you're working internationally?  What about when you're working here at home in Canada or the U.S., but your workforce of employees are recently arrived from other cultural backgrounds?

Does the same theory apply?  Is this something else?  The ideas learned for dealing with customers in China, or suppliers in Brazil, or manufacturing faclities in Mexico or Korea - do the same principles apply for understanding employees who are from diverse cultural backgrounds, even if you are all working together on the same team in Canada?

The answer, of course, is yes!

One of the first concepts we were dealing with in the recent session was the idea of high and low context speech, and the role it plays when dealing with customers from different backgrounds.  We went over the theory, and then the practice, but the comment came up from one of the senior leaders in attendance.  

"Hey" he said, "This is exactly what I see all the time when my supervisors interact with employees who come from different cultural backgrounds and have only been in Canada a few years.  Some employees from higher-context cultures have a real problem speaking openly and directly with their 'superiors', especially saying 'yes' and 'no' , and friction is often the end result.  This causes us huge frustration and is frequently a cause of heated discussion."

I have heard this comment many times, and it's why I always say clearly that the same ideas behind understanding the people you work with, wherever they are, are the same ideas behind understanding the people you work with at home, wherever they come from.  

Training in cross cultural communication is important when working internationally, but it's equally important when working on a diverse team at home, or being part of a multicultural workforce, because every culture has a different idea of what "normal" interaction is between employee and leader, between employees themselves, or between junior and senior leaders.

Here at Solve The Culture Puzzle! it's what we specialize in - making sure you save time and money by getting the best out of your international business relationships, or your diverse teammates right here at home!  The setting may be different, but the idea of understanding the cultural background of the people you work with is the same - the more you understand about what makes people tick from different backgrounds, the more success you can count on.  

Let us help you Solve the Culture Puzzle!