Building cultural competence in Asia

Dr Margaret Byrne is an award winning management consultant, executive coach and researcher on leadership and change management. She was interviewed at our recent Company Directors Conference in Kuala Lumpur about the need for Australian business leaders to build cultural competence in order to succeed in Asia and to collaborate effectively with their Asian colleagues.

"It takes two to tango”, said Dr Byrne. “The best way to think about this is a gap analysis.”

“When it comes to Australians operating in Asia, the chance of clash is enormous because of a mismatch in fundamental assumptions and expectations about roles, about relationships, [and] who should do what and when”, says Dr Byrne.

Even a simple icebreaker such as “How was your weekend?” is laden with “a whole network of embedded cultural assumptions and expectations” that people from other cultures do not necessarily know how to respond to or how to handle, argues Dr Byrne.

In her view, Australian culture values “individualism, egalitarianism, and other principles like universalism”, whereas Asian cultures are more “group focused” and “‘we’-based” and place a greater emphasis on hierarchy, context, and behaviour.

Dr Byrne uses the example of how, within Asian culture, communication varies significantly according to rank and hierarchy. “If you are very, very important, I’m going to be incredibly differential to you”, suggests Dr Byrne. “I will vary my communication style depending on how I think you are situated in relation to me.”

Dr Byrne suggests that cultural competency is just as much about understanding one’s own cultural values as it is developing a sensitivity to another’s.

“We get our clients to identify what is a cherished value they hold, they live by and how might they judge people who don’t think that way and what might be their biases”, she says.

“This is a critical skill”, says Dr Byrne, “called externalisation”. Externalisation is “the ability to look at yourself through the eyes of someone else who wasn’t brought up like you.”"It takes two to tango”, said Dr Byrne. “The best way to think about this is a gap analysis.”

“When it comes to Australians operating in Asia, the chance of clash is enormous because of a mismatch in fundamental assumptions and expectations about roles, about relationships, [and] who should do what and when”, says Dr Byrne.

Even a simple icebreaker such as “How was your weekend?” is laden with “a whole network of embedded cultural assumptions and expectations” that people from other cultures do not necessarily know how to respond to or how to handle, argues Dr Byrne.

In her view, Australian culture values “individualism, egalitarianism, and other principles like universalism”, whereas Asian cultures are more “group focused” and “‘we’-based” and place a greater emphasis on hierarchy, context, and behaviour.

Dr Byrne uses the example of how, within Asian culture, communication varies significantly according to rank and hierarchy. “If you are very, very important, I’m going to be incredibly differential to you”, suggests Dr Byrne. “I will vary my communication style depending on how I think you are situated in relation to me.”

Dr Byrne suggests that cultural competency is just as much about understanding one’s own cultural values as it is developing a sensitivity to another’s.

“We get our clients to identify what is a cherished value they hold, they live by and how might they judge people who don’t think that way and what might be their biases”, she says.

“This is a critical skill”, says Dr Byrne, “called externalisation”. Externalisation is “the ability to look at yourself through the eyes of someone else who wasn’t brought up like you.”

How Australian business leaders can build trust and confidence in Asia

Dr Byrne says it is important to understand that trust means different things to different people and needs to be seen from both sides.

"It’s an abstract term”, suggests Dr Byrne. “An umbrella term with a whole lot of things sitting underneath it.”

While Australians measure trust according to competency, Dr Byrne argues that Asian cultures measure trust by the amount of interpersonal information exchanged.

“Australians don’t divulge enough and they don’t talk enough about themselves to enable people in Asia to get to know them”, she argues.

“You have to be willing to share things about yourself…and allow them to get to know you”, says Dr Byrne. “They will trust you if they feel you are sincere and likeable and that can be quite a new experience for an Australian”.

According to Dr Byrne, Asian business leaders “want to see what sort of person you are – are you a friend over the long haul?”