Introduction
Hello! It’s Kristine here with the Express to Impress podcast. This week, we’ll explore US business culture with the help of Erin Meyer’s book, The Culture Map. It’s the number one book I recommend to all of my clients, and I couldn’t be more excited to share some of the lessons from it with you today!
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Now, let’s begin!
Why It’s Important to Understand the Differences in How We Work WorldWide
More and more workplaces boast that they are culturally diverse, with employees in or from many countries worldwide. With more and more remote work available and outsourcing happening, this trend will surely continue. We’ve all heard about the benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace–improved creativity, innovation, productivity, and employee satisfaction.
What we don’t hear a lot about is all the problems that can arise in culturally diverse workplaces. While I’ve always wanted to work with people from diverse cultures, I’ve experienced my fair share of challenges related to culture. Like many people, I often wasn’t aware that cultural differences were part of the problem.
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer is a roadmap to understanding the differences in how we work and navigating those differences successfully. That way, we can experience the benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace! So I can’t wait to share some takeaways from the book with you today!
In the story part of today’s episode, I’ll take you back to a time that I committed so many faux pas unknowingly that I got kicked out of a yoga class. I believe cultural differences were partly to blame for the misunderstanding.
Story
About four years ago, I slipped into a yoga class with a mat in hand at the last minute. But this time, I wasn’t in America, I was in France, and it didn’t fly.
I immediately heard a loud, stern voice barking out orders in French that seemed to be coming from a petite woman at the head of the class. What is she saying and why does she seem to be looking in my direction? I answered in English–something to the effect of, “Hi! I’m new here and want to join your class.” The teacher replied in French in a way that seemed almost spiteful. I looked around for help, and fortunately, a student had pity on me and began translating. She told me the class was part of a series, and I could not join mid-way through.
Most people would pack their bags at this point. But I was shocked a yoga teacher would talk to me that way–in front of an entire class, mind you. And I was annoyed because I had already painstakingly attended a sports orientation class, obtained a physical proving I was fit enough to partake in physical activity, and received an official sports card for Cite Internationale Universitaire de Paris. So, I decided to push back. I looked at the student and asked her, “Can you tell her I’ve attended many yoga classes, and I’m sure I can keep up with the class?”
As you can imagine, there were many more harsh words aimed in my direction–this time in a shrill voice. Feeling bewildered and resigned to another mishap in Paris, I slung my yoga mat over my shoulder and walked out of the classroom defiantly, my dignity hanging by a thread.
What Went So Terribly Wrong?
Firstly, I didn’t speak a lick of French. Granted, I was in a diverse environment where most people spoke some English. But what I did would be considered disrespectful in most cultures. Out of respect, I should have said at least a small French greeting before switching to English. Politeness is essential in French culture, and I immediately violated that norm.
Furthermore, more systems are in place and there’s more paperwork in France than in the US. So, I felt like I had paid my dues to join that yoga class. But I hadn’t. There was one more process I needed to follow – joining at the right time. That was not the yoga teacher’s fault. Furthermore, my American ideals about customer service just didn’t apply in France.
But only after reading Erin Meyer’s book, The Culture Map could I fully make sense of that interaction.
I learned that compared to Americans, French people give negative feedback more directly. And when it comes to disagreement, open confrontation is appropriate in French culture and will not negatively impact the relationship.
Through this experience, I learned a great deal about French culture and my own. And the stakes were low. It was just a yoga class, for crying out loud. But in a business setting, committing cultural faux pas can cause havoc and even destroy trust.
While Erin Meyer provides data-driven advice on doing business with most cultures, today, we’ll focus on what you need to know to do business with Americans.
Tips to Succeed in the US Business Culture
Let’s look at the eight culture map dimensions from The Culture Map.
Communicating
The US is considered a low-context communication culture. As such, we define good communication as precise, simple, and clear. Messages are expressed and understood at face value. Repetition is appreciated if it helps clarify the communication. Sound familiar? Other low context countries include Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Evaluating
When evaluating someone and giving them feedback, cultures tend to give negative feedback somewhere between a direct and indirect manner. In US business culture, the way we give negative feedback is somewhere in the middle. We sandwich negative feedback between positive feedback. So, for example, if a manager is sharing negative feedback with an employee, they tend to give a compliment, then share negative feedback, and then end with something positive. Americans expect both positive and negative feedback in a somewhat balanced way.
Leading
As for leading, Americans are more egalitarian than hierarchical. So, the distance between a boss and a subordinate in US business culture is low, and bosses tend to facilitate conversations among employees of different levels perceived to be equals. This also means that employees are empowered to communicate directly with people at different levels of the organization.
Deciding
Now, let’s consider who makes the decisions. Since US leadership is more egalitarian than hierarchical, you might assume that decisions are made by consensus. But that’s not how it works in US businesses. While employees are encouraged to voice their opinions, ultimately, the boss makes the decision.
Trusting
When it comes to building trust, US business culture differs from many other business cultures. The way we build trust is considered task-based versus relationship-based. So, we trust someone when they follow through on their business commitments. We may engage in business with another company or person fairly quickly since we believe the way to establish trust is to see if the person produces results. As we change workplaces in our careers, we may quickly drop business relationships and form new ones. We’re friendly and warm to many people, though we may not have deep, long-held relationships with many people.
Disagreeing
When it comes to disagreement, we are slightly more confrontational than nonconfrontational in the US. So, it’s appropriate to disagree openly with others as long as you say it politely. We commonly use downgraders to soften criticism. For example, we may say, “The plan seems somewhat risky to me.” “Somewhat” is the downgrader here. Ultimately, we believe different ideas and perspectives will lead to better business outcomes.
Scheduling
As for scheduling, Americans see time in a more linear way than a flexible way. So, we approach tasks one by one, not all at the same time. We value meeting deadlines and sticking to a schedule, though we are quite flexible in changing the goal or means to reach the goal. It’s important to be on time in US business culture, though some of us struggle with this norm!
Persuading
Finally, let’s look at how we persuade people in US business culture. This is important to consider whenever you give a presentation or propose an idea. We adopt an applications first approach. So, if we want to persuade someone, we begin by clearly explaining our opinion or main point. Then, we back up our initial statement with supporting details. That’s why we have executive summaries in reports and resume summaries. When we discuss a topic or idea, we want to hear practical, concrete comments. We don’t appreciate theoretical or philosophical discussions about business matters.
Now you know the basics of how to do business with Americans successfully!
This information comes from Erin Meyer’s Culture Map book and the information and tools on her website, erinmeyer.com. One of my favorite tools she offers on her website is her Country Mapping Tool. It allows you to select countries and receive a visual cultural mapping of those countries. That way, you can compare how the cultures build trust, give negative feedback, make decisions, and more!
For example, you could select China, the US, and France and get a culture map with those countries on the scales we covered earlier. On the disagreeing scale, you would see that compared to the French, Americans avoid confrontation. But compared to China, Americans are confrontational!
I hope this episode gave you a taste of what it’s like to work in the US business culture. I encourage you to continue to observe, ask questions, and learn more about the cultures you work with!
Let’s Work Together!
I love helping talented professionals convince employers they are the right person for the job. People perform best in interviews when they arrive educated about the interview process and have had opportunities to practice answering interview questions. So, every one of my interview clients gets access to my 90-minute online video course, “How to Succeed in a Job Interview.” During our time together, I help clients identify questions and answers, and of course, deliver their answers powerfully.
Here’s a review from a satisfied client who got a job offer at a top consulting firm.
Our training sessions were very useful! Kristine helped me to improve my answers. Also, she advised me on an interesting book that related to my situation.
I bet you can guess which book that was. To see pictures and more testimonials from my clients, visit my website at express-to-impress.com.
If you have an interview coming up, I would love to work with you and help you achieve interview success. You can schedule a free consultation or book a mock interview with me on my website.
Tune in Next Week
That’s all for today! Thank you so much for listening to the Express to Impress podcast. I invite you to tune in next time to learn definitions for the idioms and phrases covered in this episode. If you found this episode helpful, please remember to share it with a friend! See you next time. Bye!
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