How to improve cross-cultural communication in physical meetings

Prolog: World in my eyes.

Yay, our annual global conference! Three full days of meetings, workshops and decision taking. Not to forget the obligatory bus / boat trip of the city and the traditional dinner in a historic setting. It’s a shame many colleagues stayed within their own cultural group, contributed almost nothing during the meetings and tended to “group-graze” (sitting together at tables during meals and talking exclusively in their own language).

Situation: Global meetings, world-class expectations.

For global meetings, often no expense is spared to fly participants half-way across the world, taking them out of daily business for a prolonged time. One main benefit should be the direct interaction of attendees in presenting, discussing, arguing, workshopping and deciding on important company issues, reflecting local viewpoints. This benefit can sometimes not materialize if many attendees do not participate to the extent expected of them.

Option: Try these handy tips for better global meeting outcomes.

Insist on local organizations sending fluent English speakers to the meeting.
Allow questions in local language and have them translated to English for all participants.
Repeat questions to all to ensure that everyone (including you) understood the meaning.
Approach individuals of which you suspect they did not catch all important facts during meeting breaks and offer to elaborate if needed. In general, allow more break time for global meetings.
Mix and match attendees during meals via pre-defined seating arrangements to avoid “group-grazing”.
Speak twice as slowly as normal and refrain from using complex words.
Make sure all important presentations were sent out as pre-read before the meeting (one week to allow enough time for translation and internal discussion) and stick to the slide wordings during presentation.
Workshops on global topics involving many different cultures may not have the desired effect, as sometimes English native speakers tend to dominate and some cultures tend to be less critical / vocal in their opinions in front of a larger group. Instead, try out smaller workshops within similar cultures and then bring the results together on a global level (either during the meeting or afterwards).
Ensure participants flying though more than 4 time zones have a full day to rest & adapt for maximum meeting efficiency.

Take-away: Global meetings are expensive. Careful selection and steerage of attendees with special emphasis on cultural backgrounds can help make them more successful.

John Guenther Consulting helps international companies reach their marketing business goals through interim assignments in leadership and project management roles. John is a seasoned marketing executive with 25 years of marketing & sales experience in global roles and diverse industries. His focus is on B2B marketing, transformation of marketing organizations, optimization of marketing & sales cooperation, brand management and agile leadership of complex marketing projects. Learn more at www.john-guenther-consulting.de.

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