Biggest Barriers to Effective Global Communications Management

In a multicultural, global environment, implementing successful change management can be challenging. A diverse workforce brings differences in just about everything: culture, language, ways of interacting, and even dress code. Supporting teams in global organizations and helping them adapt and thrive in today’s multinational environment requires a commitment to understand and recognize cultural differences. Not all cultures respond or accept change in the same way and learning how to erode barriers and adapt change communications to a diverse, multicultural group is challenging.

The Power of Language: What Did You Say?

Communication at its most basic level is how we give and receive information about our surroundings and it involves both verbal and non-verbal cues. For business leaders, understanding and managing change across cultures is often based in a major way on the successful interpretation of language. But more often than not, it’s language itself that creates barriers to effective communication. English speaking countries are not exempt, as there are subtle differences in phrases, words even gestures that can be interpreted differently depending on location and background.

For instance, the “okay” gesture with thumb and pointer finger touching means a simple “good job” or “okay” to a North American business person. But the same gesture in Japan means “money” and in France it means “zero” or “worthless”. It might be a major blunder to give the “okay” sign to a French speaking business associate upon completion of a task. In Greece, giving the thumbs up may land you in a fight as it is commonly interpreted as a rude insult.

The challenge for leaders and executive decision makers is in learning to understand subtle nuances and the cultural differences preventing productive interactions. Whether it’s North America, Europe, Asia or somewhere else, cross-cultural change management and the challenges of change in general can be made easier by understanding and appreciating cultural diversity, whether it’s language, manager-subordinate interaction or simply a hand gesture. The good news is, organizations across the world – and the people who run them- can successfully initiate, execute and manage change, it just requires a little effort. And regardless of the country of origin, an effort to understand one another made in good faith is always appreciated.