https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_8696ff19fd00a174ee9aab9fc7810653921e20057d72b17325aeb66a2cf551657b879c5e748d3480cc9379be55bed878b9a8802f6935958fcc061fd49c3e1f59.js
https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_50623f5be1cc3994ca23f13b8c3232da0a4a6c642cd37d7533b138d162a356da151f111fc90bb59d30fd2ebfe84aa30f8762c0bd402e3a61cacbf72760d4a23f.js
https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_a974bd4e6480297a069d5181728d595bafe302164377feddbbdb3da03517c235d76136a6bd56f55aba5f606d6d6d3e1a4c53b03c41f816067ad4995838495f94.js
https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_1ed3df173a5ac7d7855370950c4718f27351a3d059bbe679a9d85ad29a48dbcf157983a0e1bc9c7db89d817d357704878d31a6ddb581ef7463d2d7a6bbef7e25.js
Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn
    The Business TimeThe Business Time
    Subscribe
    • London
    • Business
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Technology
      • Auto
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
      • Travel
      • Food
    The Business TimeThe Business Time
    Home»Lifestyle»How to Change Your Mindset for Cross Cultural Thinking
    Lifestyle

    How to Change Your Mindset for Cross Cultural Thinking

    EditorBy EditorJanuary 7, 2022Updated:January 7, 2022No Comments6 Mins Read Lifestyle
    Cross Cultural
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Twenty years ago, I was sitting in one of the first cultural training courses I ever attended, listening to a hugely experienced trainer, Franck Mugerwa talking about the cultural communication styles of Sub-Saharan Africa. One of the executives asked a question, the answer to which was so obvious but was so important to my understanding of how to approach cultural differences.

    The question was, “How can I, a middle-aged white man, adapt my behavior to match the Angolan colleagues I work with?” Franck looked at him, and asked, “Are you Angolan? Are you black? No, of course, you aren’t – so don’t try to be.” We often assume that the way to achieve effective intercultural communication is to abandon our own cultural defaults and match our behaviors and actions to the culture of the people around us.

    Table of Contents

    • Can you adopt a culture and be authentic?
    • Agile roles
    • ABCDE strategies
      • Adapt
      • Blend
      • Co-create
      • Divide
      • Enforce

    Can you adopt a culture and be authentic?

    One of the fashionable business buzzwords at the moment is ‘authenticity’ – it’s clear to anyone that you can’t be authentic if you are trying to replicate someone else’s cultural style. More importantly, blindly adopting another cultural style negates the value that you add and causes accusations of insincerity or even cultural appropriation – and in the worst case, you just look stupid!

    So where does that leave us? Is all our thinking about cultural differences just of academic interest only?

    In an NFL team, you need a variety of and approaches: if everyone wanted to be the quarterback, who would catch the passes? In soccer, if everyone was a defender, who would score the goals? Each person has a role that they are comfortable with and which they are good at.

    Agile roles

    But there are times when the center forward must come back and help defend, or when a defender needs to go into the opposition penalty box to strengthen an attack. The team needs each person to be good at their specific roles, but to be agile enough to make the right decision at the right time to get the best out of a situation. Sometimes that will be to stick to their role and at others, it will be to venture into a different role.

    ABCDE strategies

    In the same way, we need a versatile toolkit of options to manage effectively and maximize the productivity of cross-cultural situations. Fortunately, we have the ABCDE Adaptive Strategies to help us develop a truly effective culturally intelligent mindset.

    • Adapt
    • Blend
    • Co-create
    • Divide
    • Enforce

    Adapt

    Adapting is a good starting point. It is a conscious effort to move towards the style of the other person. It is not surrendering your position, or imitating the other, but making a deliberate step towards them to reduce the gap. You will find that when you make the first move, frequently others move towards you – a small adjustment from all can lead to a significant improvement in the collaborative culture.

    It’s not always the right move – particularly when you are trying to move away from a toxic or unproductive culture, but for a new project or team, adapting can build trust and effectiveness quite quickly

    Blend

    The blend is similar to Adapt, however, it puts a more intentional focus on each person making changes. When you blend cultural approaches, you take the elements of each you want and ask each person to incorporate a new third way. For example, you may need to encourage a more relationship orientation to develop trust and better collaboration, while at the same time you want to encourage more direct feedback by building an explicit orientation for communication.

    It is a compromise solution that involves everyone making an adjustment with the goal of creating a new, more effective culture.

    Co-create

    Co-creation can be a difficult but extremely worthwhile process. In effect, you invite your team to start with a blank sheet of paper and agree between them an ‘ideal culture’. Each person contributes to identifying a culture that they are comfortable with and classifying it in some kind of mutual agreement.

    Co-creation requires a certain level of mutual trust at the beginning and needs a high level of determination to implement the culture. It works best if it focuses just on the areas of the biggest gap rather than addressing everything at once.

    Divide

    Sometimes, the best solution is to just overlook the differences and get on with work. This is particularly effective for short-term projects or in creative situations where a cultural conflict of styles may lead to more innovative outcomes. Again, Divide relies on a strong leader prepared to mediate and facilitate collaboration – and deal with conflicts that step over the line. The divide is not ignoring difference, but a conscious decision to disregard it.

    Enforce

    And in some cases, the leader needs just to enforce culture. An underperforming team may need the shake-up of an enforced cultural change to refresh and revive them. Similarly in a dangerous situation, there is no room for compromise and the leader must ensure that the team conforms to a single cultural approach.

    It is a risky strategy – it can cause resentment and disaffection and may increase turnover, so it must be balanced carefully to ensure that the benefits outweigh the downsides.

    The key to cultural intelligence is choosing the right path from a range of options. The ABCDE strategies give us a toolkit that allows us to remain authentic, but with the agility to flex in the right way to get the most out of each relationship and situation. As more organizations actively seek to diversify their workforce, an intentional approach to harnessing culture will become even more important.

    __

    This post was written by Chris Crosby, CEO, and co-founder of Country Navigator. Country Navigator is the provider of cultural diversity and inclusion training in the workplace, creating unique and tailor-made solutions for businesses through inclusion, innovation, and collaboration. From cultural influences to unconscious bias, Country Navigator’s cultural diversity and inclusion training give detailed and highly accurate analysis across parameters including explicit and implicit communication and individual and group identity. Chris has over 30 years of experience in helping leaders, teams, and organizations to work better across cultures.

    Cross Culture Cultural Adaptation Mixed Culture
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleHow a Business Cash Advance can Aid your Business
    Next Article Tips For Effective problem solving in the Workplace
    Editor

      Related Posts

      Understand the Importance of Hormones With Dr. Rachel Jones’ Hormone Clinic

      June 25, 2025

      Reducing Stress for Better Health and Well-being

      June 16, 2025

      Francisco Javier D’Agostino, cleared by OFAC, removed from U.S. sanctions list after no Maduro ties found

      June 9, 2025
      Latest Post

      Rethinking the Modern Meeting Room

      July 1, 2025

      Making Sense of Your Overtime Pay on Pay Stubs

      June 25, 2025

      How to Decide on the Best Payment Method to Use

      June 25, 2025

      Understand the Importance of Hormones With Dr. Rachel Jones’ Hormone Clinic

      June 25, 2025

      Why Convenience Matters to Consumers?

      June 25, 2025

      Online Casino Trends and Features: What Gives the Upper Hand to Crypto Casinos

      June 17, 2025

      Reducing Stress for Better Health and Well-being

      June 16, 2025

      Where to Spend Your Upcoming Vacation: The 2025 Hot List of Cities to Visit

      June 16, 2025

      The Ultimate Guide to Branding in 2025

      June 12, 2025

      Mentorship: 3 Tips on How to Do It Right

      June 10, 2025
      About
      About

      Welcome to The Business Time – UK’s Leading Business Magazine. We are a UK-based business magazine that covers all trending and relevant business stories around UK.

      Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn
      Latest Post

      Rethinking the Modern Meeting Room

      July 1, 2025

      Making Sense of Your Overtime Pay on Pay Stubs

      June 25, 2025

      How to Decide on the Best Payment Method to Use

      June 25, 2025
      Quick Links
      • London
      • Business
      • Finance
      • Marketing
      • Technology
        • Auto
      • Education
      • Entertainment
      • Lifestyle
        • Travel
        • Food
      © 2025 The Business Time.
      • About Us
      • Privacy Policy
      • Write for us
      • Contact us

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

      We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
      Cookie settingsACCEPT
      Manage consent

      Privacy Overview

      This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
      Necessary
      Always Enabled
      Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
      CookieDurationDescription
      cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
      cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
      cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
      cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
      viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
      Functional
      Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
      Performance
      Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
      Analytics
      Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
      Advertisement
      Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
      Others
      Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
      SAVE & ACCEPT
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_2cbc0bded7ad31701db2d10684d00c8f3ca4f057eae1881978f8d66d1a8c6ae439d60213b645297a36ca792350523d0f4f7a997a7fd50a2239b8691ee0ea74c8.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_8248e7841862fa0d2de8dc18a21907f6b387d36fd7359f282382ccd5837c5a35281e12be1000ddff6bd54b47af35ee2344e941e51bbdd1a4f0b0004b66aa294c.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_b3445612f00e6a6f84a3fd3d59376d1b7fbb3031627415114f052e3d637eab6145cdc63e947e68492ca77d5d6d8e3bcc0827d269223f005b3fe1405e978f9ce0.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_22c361e44dde632dedaff2625f6631e2fb02ba3b6487097b48baa09f02cd81fd381ebb7d053f525e52e56655b1f8e2b89ddcc0a002e1b0c35c0a6920823641d7.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_4cf9cbd697a626e664443cdb20fad0eee1226995f637cf6e88715f76459de99fee684a9363324f9362be0f439c317e1cfdb7b0eaae09046b3dac3d8a48e600a5.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_ff091473f5de3037237c4a75a04fd03026c362a8690e43f9e8b4faa4b16c088ab9f42983965adde4c4a08c1a3de1c2b68b006824fb1cf8697a637f80adfe9305.js
      https://thebusinesstime.co.uk/wp-content/cache/breeze-minification/js/breeze_74120ddd3be549e5ab35c7d4b17d5b655b4e063d4720fbbfc400eb981775bc8c26eb61945936b581aaa07668da9fff1ae9a88b18307b51b00df0a7eafe456a95.js