Embracing Cultural Differences in Global Leadership

As a child, I grew up in Belfast, Ireland in the 70s; I left at a young age due to the troubles in Northern Ireland. Much of my early adult life was spent life traveling and working my way around the world. This international perspective taught me to connect with people across a wide variety of cultures and language barriers, to the point where I began to consider myself a global citizen at a very young age. These early experiences may explain why I’m so passionate about the idea that embracing a basic human to human connection across cultural differences can create positive change, globally.

One of the main goals of the Academy of Leadership Coaching & NLP (ALCN) is to work with and provide NLP Coach Training and Leadership Development Programs for individuals who are either working in corporations cross-culturally, or coaches who want to build a global coaching business or learn cross-cultural coaching techniques. Our Intensive NLP Coach Training Programs (Summer Intensive, Winter Intensive) have attracted coaches and leaders from around the world and have opened their eyes to the importance of fully understanding different cultures as they seek to be effective as both leaders in business and coaches working internally or externally.

Why the international focus? Think of the boardrooms of global companies, the millions who work in the knowledge economy, the mobile millennials – In today’s global workforce, your success as a leader or a coach is closely tied to your ability to communicate, inspire and coach across cultures and age groups.

ALCN’s US branch is located in San Francisco, California. This location gives us a keen understanding of western business culture. Americans tend to be more casual in their corporate style, yet direct in their conversation techniques. To some non-western cultures and Europeans, they may appear as boisterous and rude, while others might feel that American behavior is not trustworthy. With this in mind ALCN has spent a great deal of time developing strategies for combining effective coaching skills with NLP that work well across different cultures.

What is Culture?
Culture might best be defined as a set of behaviors that have been “cultivated” based upon environmental influences, beliefs, personal identity, rituals and customs. A culture is bred out of days, months, years and even centuries of doing things in a certain way. A prescribed culture can be found in family units, businesses, ethnic groups and geographic locations. While some might believe that culture is an external characteristic, in actuality, it is created internally and projected outwardly.

When considering cultural understandings, it is important to be cognizant of these differences, knowing that an individual’s cultural identity can have a large role in how they perceive the world around them. In NLP language we would call that understanding our clients ‘map of the world’, how they view the world through their cultural lens. Understanding and embracing cultural differences plays directly into the practice of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Coaching and is a beautiful representation of the idea that true wisdom comes from having multiple perspectives. If we want to find solutions, we are going to need to work at a “people level.” This begins with being able to see and listen to each other on a human-to-human basis.

Effective Global Communication through Cultural Understanding
When ALCN first started Coach Training Programs and Leadership Development Programs in China almost 10 years ago, it was very clear that the Chinese business culture was markedly different than what we know in the US. In China, long work hours, even working days on end without sleep to complete a project, is often the rule rather than the exception. Workers have an insatiable drive to succeed at all costs. And, while there are often monetary or other rewards for hard work, it is typically not the only motivating factor.

When I started teaching in China 10 years ago, I saw business leaders who were burning the candle at both ends and were emotionally and physically exhausted from the level of responsibility and the workload they were carrying. I also found that while the Chinese are very respectful, they could often be hard to read. Often during a coaching session, the participants showed no outward emotion. At first, it was difficult to know if, as trainers, we were actually effectively coaching across cultures.

I learned that in China, a lot of their culture is about saving face. The Chinese are non-confrontational by nature – disagreements are an embarrassment to them and can result in a loss of trust in a business associates. To avoid losing face, the Chinese people try not to disagree in a strong way. Instead they use phrases like “maybe” or “perhaps” in discussions with westerners. While this docile behavior makes for non-argumentative interactions, it can be very frustrating for westerners who prefer to get things done quickly.

Since we began our NLP Coach Training & Leadership Development Programs in China, we have seen that the Chinese people are hungry to learn and grow and there has been a shift away from the old way of doing things to a new more “westernized” culture. Among the students we have the pleasure to work with, we have seen the old business approach, which many westerners saw as ruthless and harsh, is giving way to a more temperate style that shows greater care and compassion for family, especially in how they want to raise their children and compassion for the community around them and many business owners we work with seek to invest in those who are less fortunate. However, even with these changes, it is naïve for westerners to think that they can forgo cultural expectations and conduct business as they would back in the United States.

One key lesson from the time I have worked in China is that as a global leadership coach, I must remember that cultural differences are inherent in all human beings and I need to embrace these unique differences and integrate them into the my coaching and training techniques and business negotiations. I am grateful for the simple ways NLP has taught me to easily and effortlessly build rapport across language and cultural differences. This is a lesson that can be carried into any culture we come across – from the laid back Caribbean or South American style, to the more formal approach when doing business in Russia – knowing the cultural expectation will go far in creating harmony as we work towards building positive relationships.

NLP coaching skills teaches that as human beings it is not possible to truly understand objective reality. True wisdom is not born from just one “right” or “correct” cultural expectation. Rather, the goal is to embrace all of the cultural beliefs and differences in an effort to create a rich and rewarding global understanding. NLP coaching tools have the power to allow us, as coaches, to impact the world one client at a time, creating hundreds of ripples of positive change, not just in the person who has been coached, but in each person they touch, who in turn will create their own ripples of change.

If you would like more information on how to embrace cultural differences in you business or coaching practice, or any of ALCN’s International Coaching Federation (ICF) Certified coaching programs, please feel free to contact us at http://nlp-leadership-coaching.com/contact/