Cultural differences can impact the training delivery and how the learner receives the information. Around the globe, organizations and their employees think, work, act, learn, and lead in different ways -- these vary based on national, ethnic, and corporate cultures.

Learning Objectives:

Barriers to Communication: to prepare for intercultural communication talent development professionals are recommended to know that there are differences when providing training. If left unattended to, cultural differences can cause misunderstandings, conflict, and poor learner interactions or involvement of participants in a training session. Culture as an “individual’s patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting” -- how do people interact with one another? What are some attributes and characteristics of teams, groups, or organizations you work with?

READ: Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture via SHRM

Language and Speech: we might all speak the same language, but there are so many nuances, differences, and misunderstandings that can occur. From accents to how we pronounce words.There might also be differences with pace or linguistics for how language is used. Other challenges might come from gross translation errors or nuance errors.

Environment: relates to a culture’s existing technological level and physical environment; this is primarily based on knowledge rather than culturally intrinsic values. Examples of this include: 

Psychology: the way thoughts and ideas are process may also vary from different points of view globally, here are four ways cultures think and express themselves:

Nonverbal Behavior: Did you know that 65% of a message's meaning is conveyed through nonverbal behavior? It’s true This could be from eye contact to a laugh. Nonverbal behaviors include both your appearance (first impressions, artifacts, and physical traits) and body language (posture and how we talk, stand, walk, sit, etc. Types of body language include:

Patterns of eye contact include -- eye movements and their meaning:

READ: Nonverbal Communication in the Workplace via The Balance Careers

Proxemic Zones and Difference Between Cultures: a term coined by anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1977 defining the study of the cultural, behavioral and sociological aspects of spatial distances between individuals; this might vary by country and culture. For example, the four types of distance between adults in the US are:

Some people feel threatened when others are too close to them -- but they also find people standoffish if the are too far apart. Fun fact: friend co-workers tend to sit beside each other at a table, where mere acquaintances or enemies in a work setting might sit opposite one another. (More to come on this topic AOE 11. Global Mindset)

READ: How to Create an Effective Cross-Cultural Training Program via SHRM

Basic Communication: information theory came from scientists’ interested in electronic communication systems (you're very welcome), it’s also called communication theory, computer mediated communication, human information processing, etc. just to name a few. Listening is one activity in a relational process -- speaking is the other. Together they make a dyadic (two-part) system -- so here are some common concepts and terms talent development professionals and researchers use in this area:

Barriers to Listening: Listening -- it’s a challenge. Sure you can hear, but are you actually listening and understanding what is being communicated? An average person talks at about 140 words/minute and a listener can understand about 280-560 words/minute. That being said, most of us can think three times faster than the person sending the message. However, 15% of the spoken word is lost in a training situation where the speaker talks fast, is rushed with delivery or speeds up because they are anxious to get the presentation over with. Other communication problems may include:

That being said this listener issues may include:

There are many theories that distinguish or have set learning preferences and styles -- most have been debunked by now. You know this from what I already shared in episode 3.2. Individual Learning Preferences.

That being said, there are different modalities to learn and some people prefer a mix to fully understand -- I know I do. Here are some ways to offer individual choice and options for learning preferences -- consider these formats:

How do you prefer to learn? Are you more of an informal or formal learner?