Is it really necessary to put time into intercultural questions? Some respond in the negative. On the grounds that every situation of communication and management already is an encounter with another person, a different individual and thus requires openness, curiosity and decoding. Admittedly, and yet we mostly tend to judge our own reactions and behavior as natural and if the other person is acting or thinking differently, we suspect him/her of, either, cheating, stupidity, lack of manners, arrogance, …

Thus, if we want to work efficiently and respectfully, with our hierarchy, our teams, our customers, our suppliers, our partners, of other cultural origins, we improve our chances of success when we

• have available a frame of references to decode cultural differences
• are aware of our own preferences
• know how to build adaptation strategies.

My interventions are based on the concepts developed by Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Edward T. Hall, Richard D. Lewis, Philippe d’Iribarne and Felix Brodbeck.

Exercises and questionnaires help everyone to get aware of his/her relationship to groups, to hierarchy, to rules or of his/her communication preferences, like implicit-explicit, expressive-neutral.

Starting from this assessment, an expatriate may adjust his/her style of management; a multicultural team may establish an efficient way of working acceptable to all members.

While coaching a team – and teams I accompany are often multicultural – it happens that I introduce a cultural dimension in order to enlighten a situation or get things moving again.

In all countries, managers have to guide, motivate and decide; the way they conduct these key management functions are partially determined by their own cultural origin and by their environment. In a global world, they turn to chameleons, capable to adapt to different situations and countries.

Nancy J. Adler