Listening: the best Intercultural tool

Intercultural Savvy / / By

As I mentioned in my last post, listening is an essential component of effective communication. For the Global Leader it is important to remember that listening manifests itself in various forms across diverse cultures worldwide. Cultures bring unique sets of norms, values, and traditions, shaping the way people listen and engage with one another. We find the attentive listening style of collectivist cultures, and the indirect listening patterns in high-context societies. All in the global tapestry of listening.  The dynamic interaction between culture and communication, emphasizes the importance of cultural competence in helping successful cross-cultural interactions.

Listening within the Intercultural Dimensions

One can’t talk about listening without talking about Silence. Remember Alfred BrendelI’s quote on “The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent’.”

I talked previously about Hofstede’s Intercultural Dimensions of Collectivism, Power Distance, and Uncertainty Avoidance. Anthropologist Edward T. Hall later introduced the concepts of high-context and low-context cultures. He developed the idea of cultural context to understand how different societies communicate and convey meaning. The context sets the degree to which protocol and tradition dictate how communication should proceed.

  • High-Context cultures put greater emphasis on protocol. Communication tends to move from general to specific. Silence is used widely. High-context cultures prize sophistication and nuances. Messages are heard, but there is also the reading between the lines, or as the French say, something mentioned at a deuxième degré (second-degree). They build this capacity given their history of a shared cultural context. High-context cultures tend to rely first on existing relationships outside the business arena. These shared understandings make explicitness unnecessary.  This is related to the importance they give to building relationships.
  • Low-context cultures: Communication tends to be more to the point. This approach that can come across to individuals from high-context cultures as rude. There is little use of silence. Most Western cultures are low-context cultures. They practice explicitness and directness in their communication style. They depend on the people in the immediate communication situation to convey meaning and create a unique context. Communication takes over the interpersonal relationships involved. As an example, the USA is seen as an extreme high-context culture.
Language barriers can prove torublesome to Global Leaders
Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Listening in an Intercultural Environment

Listening practices vary significantly across different cultures around the world:

  • North America and Europe: direct and assertive communication styles are commonly valued. Active listening, while maintaining eye contact, nodding, and providing verbal affirmations, is often encouraged. But most importantly questions are answered quickly. Silence can even be considered uncomfortable. Individuals are expected to express their opinions openly and directly, with interruptions during conversations considered acceptable in some contexts.
  • Parts of Asia and the Middle East: In these high-context cultures, communication is often indirect and relies heavily on nonverbal cues and contextual understanding. Listening involves attentive observation of facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. They tend to comprehend the underlying meaning of messages. Silence is very valued, which allows individuals to reflect and absorb information before responding.
  • Latin American countries showcase a distinctive listening style, emphasizing warmth, personal connections, and storytelling. Active listening is prevalent, individuals demonstrate engagement through enthusiastic gestures, vocal interjections, and sharing personal experiences. In these cultures, conversation is likely to be animated and lively. Interrupting is more common as a sign of active participation and interest. They are found to be more to the right side of the High Context scale but never as much as the Asian or Middle East cultures.

As I have expressed before in a previous post on Being Culturally Aware, these are generalizations and cultural tendencies, not all members from a same culture are the same. There are no opposites, nor are there good or bad characteristics, and there are no better or worse. Continuously appreciate the differences, bridge cultural gaps and promote mutual understanding.

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Relating with others

  • If you are on the High Context side, express the need to have your space or time for reflection and silence, ask for the extra moment (one moment please). Use positive statements to encourage others. Don’t take interruptions personally.
  • If you are on the Low Context side, moderate your pace of conversation, recognize these differences and give others their space and time to respond, invite people to speak and try to avoid interrupting.

Further Reading:

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