Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries (based on Erin Meyer’s Book)

Cultural patterns impact what we see, who we see, and how we act based on them. The goal of The Culture Map by Erin Meyer is to help us decode signs of different cultures and help the reader thrive in a global environment.

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What is the best method for getting your team based on four continents to work together?
How do you navigate performance reviews when your American employees precede negative feedback with three nice comments, while the French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans skip the positives and get straight to the point?

Globalization has led to the rapid connection of internationally based employees from all levels of multinational companies.

Where once an employee might have been expected to collaborate with colleagues from his own country, today many people are part of global networks connected with people scattered around the world. Yet most managers have little understanding of how local culture impacts global interaction. Even those who are culturally informed, travel extensively, and have lived abroad often have few strategies for dealing with the cross-cultural complexity that affects their team’s day-to-day effectiveness. The Culture Map provides a new way forward, with insights for working effectively and sensitively with one’s counterparts in the new global marketplace.

Erin Meyer shares a model for decoding how cultural differences impact business. She combines analytical framework with practical, actionable advice for working in a global world.

The Eight Dimensions

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Erin Meyer outlines eight cases and draws a scale with two outliers at each end and some countries listed between:

Communicating

• Low-context: Good communication is precise and straight to the point. Key messages are repeated several times, and the goal of communicating is explicitly expressed. (for example the USA)
• High-context: Communication is nuanced and has multiple layers. Messages are signaled but often are not explicitly written or said out loud. This type of communication requires “reading between the lines”. (for example Japan)

Evaluating

Even though we could believe that the way we communicate could determine the way we approach giving feedback, in practice it is a totally different category. For example, people from the USA are communicating directly, but they are much more cautious when giving feedback. For the Evaluating scale, they are rather in the middle of the spectrum.

• Direct negative feedback: Giving direct feedback even in front of other people is accepted and encouraged. (for example Netherlands)
• Indirect negative feedback: Giving feedback is rather an art than a science. You shouldn’t give feedback before a group, and even you should package negative feedback with compliments or take away its strong edge by giving it in small doses over time.

Persuading

• Principles-first: Individuals are trained to think in big systems. They tackle the problem first by coming up with an underlying theory and using that theory to create the solution (for example France).
• Applications-first: Application-first individuals start with the solution. They communicate the message in a condensed, easy-to-understand way. Theoretical discussions are coming after communicating the solution (for example Australia).

Leading

• Egalitarian: The ideal distance between the manager and subordinate is low. The leader is one of the equals, whose role is rather to facilitate than manage (for example Sweden).
• Hierarchical: The ideal distance between the manager and subordinate is high. The leader has authority and a strong position clearly distinguishing her/him from his colleagues (for example Russia).

Deciding

Again, we could think that leading style and decision-making are overlapped, but it is not the case in several cultures. For example in Japan leading is hierarchical but decision-making is consensual.

• Consensual: Decision-making involves a high number of participants. Feedback is asked and is being considered (for example Germany).
• Top-down: The decision comes from authority and the results are communicated to lower levels (for example China).

Trusting

• Task-based: Trust is built through competence. If someone is capable of doing the job, then I trust him. Work relationships are built and dropped easily (for example Finland).
• Relationship-based: Trust is built through getting to know each other, sharing meals, and going out for dinners. I have trust in your abilities because I trust you as a person (for example Saudi Arabia).

Disagreeing

• Confrontational: Debate and confrontation are necessities to make a good decision. Open confrontation and appropriate debate are encouraged (for example Israel).
• Avoids confrontation: Confrontation is considered a disruption of the group’s harmony (for example Indonesia).

Scheduling

• Linear-time: Starting the next task is coming after finishing the previous one. Order and punctuality are important (for example Switzerland).
• Flexible-time: Projects are approached with flexibility. Goals and deadlines are often changing (for example Kenya).

In The Culture Map, the author illustrates conflicts arising from the differences of each scale through stories.

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