How to improve cross-cultural communications in the workplace

How to improve cross-cultural communications in the workplace

by 
Michelle Raymond
Communicating successfully with people from different cultures is a continual process of learning. This list of 10 tips will teach you how to overcome obstacles that may impede respectful, meaningful conversations with people from diverse backgrounds.
The way we communicate with other cultures is a significant part of inclusion within DE&I. It’s very easy to mess-up, ignore, patronise and worse still offend staff members, customers and clients when we fail to understand the nuances of cross-cultural communication. 
We know that communication styles are patterns that people learn from the range of cultures in which they have membership. It is equally true to say that every culture has a 'communication style norm' that is used by a majority of people in that culture.
However, there are cultures within cultures so it is important, as practitioners, to understand that there are different levels of communication at play all of the time.
The key to success is understanding and accepting the differences of a multicultural team, and then using them to enhance the way the team analyses situations and makes decisions.
Below are 10 strategies that will help you leverage greater communication amongst diverse teams and promote inclusivity, based on my recent experiences.
Being chair of a number of grievances and disciplinaries in recent weeks, I have seen first-hand that miscommunication, a lack of understanding of other people’s cultures and misaligned assumptions has exasperated the situations and has made finding a solution considerably difficult, if not, impossible.
These strategies are vitally important in the quest for cross cultural harmony, however I have found that numbers 2, 4, 7 and 8 have had a profound impact on the way I approach diversity.