Culture

🌍 What is the most unusual local custom you’ve come across?

🌏 Understanding local culture is a critical factor in getting international teams to collaborate effectively.

🤟 Language is the most obvious factor influencing communication.

🤔 But it’s rarely the most important. 

Other factors play an even bigger role, including:

🧠 Societal beliefs and norms

📜 Local history and cultural context

👔 Organisational hierarchies

👩‍💻 Working behaviours and expectations

💯 Each of these can significantly shape how people communicate, make decisions, show respect, and build trust. 

💯 Miss them and even your best intentions can fail to land.

📊 Research backs this up - Erin Meyer (INSEAD) shows that misunderstandings in global teams are far more often caused by different cultural assumptions than by language barriers alone (The Culture Map).

💯 Top tip: Take time to prepare and truly understand the people you’re bringing together - their cultural norms, expectations, and unspoken rules - especially when collaboration needs to happen over time.

🧠 Remember effective global collaboration isn’t about working harder at communication - it’s about working smarter with culture.

👉 What is the most surprising or unusual local custom you’ve experienced?

#culture #communication #engagement #collaboration #teamwork