A successful executive from a French IT software company moved to the U.S. to expand the business into a new market. Tibeau, a skilled communicator, had earned admiration from his team in France, where he quickly advanced his career. He was seen as the ideal choice to lead the company’s new U.S. office.
However, one year later, the results were disappointing. Employee turnover was high, goals were not achieved, and the team did not respond to Tibeau’s management style as expected.
Does this story sound familiar? It’s a common challenge for anyone transitioning to a different country. It can happen to anyone who is moving from one country to another. Business culture is what our business environment expects from us, yet we often overlook the need to adapt to new cultural norms and expectations.
First, it’s essential to understand your own cultural style and work preferences. We collaborated with Tibeau to help him identify his cultural profile and working style.
In terms of communication, there are generally two approaches: direct (low-context) and indirect (high-context). Tibeau’s communication style was nuanced and would be described as high-context, which is common in France. Meanwhile, his American team expected a more direct communication style and didn’t realize there were “hidden” messages they needed to interpret.
Research in cross-cultural studies offers insight into these differences. For instance, in The Culture Map by Erin Meyer, the “Communicating” scale places the U.S. and France on nearly opposite ends of the spectrum, highlighting their contrasting approaches.
The cross-cultural program enabled both sides to collaborate more effectively across cultures. The trainer introduced the principles of cultural intelligence, exploring various cultural dimensions to illustrate the U.S. approach in comparison to Tibeau’s style and to highlight differences between U.S. and French cultural norms.
When learning about a new country and culture, it’s essential to compare its cultural positioning with our own.
Communication is important, but it was not the main issue of misunderstanding in Tibeau’s office. We created the needs assessment for the US team to complete. Based on the results, we identified that the way Tibeau communicated his feedback was very discouraging for the US office.
Tibeau thought his team would be motivated and full of energy to achieve new goals after the feedback sessions, but the reality showed completely opposite reaction. What went wrong?
Let’s come back to the mentioned research of Erin Meyers and look at the “Evaluating” scale below:
Even though his American team was direct in their communication, they wouldn’t expect to receive the negative feedback directly. Opposite to that, Tibeau preferred to be open, direct, and was “trained” to express his disagreement in a direct way. It was not personal, but rather the expectations of the business culture when he worked in France.
If we look closer to the French education system, the pupils are encouraged to challenge the statements and express their feedback in a direct way from young age. As for the American education system, it’s based on praise and celebration of pupils’ achievements. This is just a little glimpse of different “norms” between two cultures which affect the business culture.
In Tibeau’s case, he had to rebuild trust—a longer and more complex process than if he had understood the cultural differences from the start. We worked with him on adapting his management style, including how to give both positive and constructive feedback in a way that made his team feel appreciated and motivated. Tibeau was open to these changes, becoming less direct in his delivery of negative feedback, less confrontational, and clearer in his everyday communication with his team. We practiced an effective feedback technique with him, and his U.S. team also gained awareness of cross-cultural differences.
In the U.S., feedback is often "sandwiched" with positive messages to soften criticism, which is typically delivered privately. In contrast, in France, feedback tends to be direct and unvarnished, with criticism often given openly, even in front of others.
We held several cross-cultural workshops with the French leadership team and the American team separately. Following this, Tibeau participated in one-on-one coaching sessions to help him further adjust his management approach to better align with his team’s expectations.
There are several factors to consider when working across cultures. Here’s what one of our trainers emphasizes about the differences in communication styles:
“Aside from language ability, being able to express oneself and demonstrate one’s knowledge and expertise are critical parts of the foreign assignment. Whether a culture is labeled as direct or indirect in its communication style is only a small part of the equation. The reasons behind one’s preferences and style are based on underlying values and assumptions. Individual or Group orientation, Hierarchical or Egalitarian backgrounds, are only some of the areas which can impact how we successfully express and collaborate. Communication differences are only a small manifestation of these beliefs and expectations.
Exploring and understanding core values within a culture is at the heart of a cultural program. Comparing and contrasting these norms and expectations with one’s own culture takes the program to the roots of the cultures involved and reveals reasons behind behaviors which may assist in adapting and aligning expectations.”
Global LT offers various cross-cultural business programs designed to help managers, executives, and assignees effectively work with people from different cultural backgrounds. Our programs focus on building both personal awareness and team awareness. We provide strategies that improve collaboration, motivation, and goal achievement for international teams.
This year, we have run programs focused on countries such as Germany, Mexico, France, India, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Sweden, and many more. Here is just a sample of the feedback we've received:
“I liked it a lot. It really helped me to understand several aspects that I needed to be made aware of. For sure it helped me to think twice about any prejudice that I could have. I really liked that the Trainer was Mexican and the love to the culture he expressed.”
“Me gusto mucho la forma en que fue llevando el programa Ricardo, porque por un lado esta muy completa su presentación pero a demás se veía muy personalizada al estar muy interesado en resolver nuestras dudas e inquietudes.”
“The training was really interesting and helped a lot for my future assignment in Shanghai. Kasia made the message crisp and clear as well as entertaining.”
“The program was really useful to understand different cultural characteristics of France. It will really help us Integrate well with the local people. Sylvie was very friendly and open to lot of questions. She ensured that all our queries were well answered.”
“Jörn was absolutely great. He was timely, flexible, and extremely knowledgeable on cross-cultural awareness with a range of perspectives from his experiences. I would love to continue on with him if I was able to!”
“Mary has such an inclusive and reassuring demeanor and she made our cultural integration into the US one filled with excitement and optimism as opposed to anxiety! What a breath of fresh air!”
Feel free to contact us and share your own cross-cultural story! We would love to hear about your experiences.
This blog post was written by Marina Rowe, Cultural Program Manager.