Intercultural business communication articles

You are starting where most of my clients find themselves. You cannot see what is happening when you communicate within intercultural contexts. We all suffer from intercultural blind spots — you cannot change what you cannot see. What I find is that most people using English within intercultural contexts see the need for improvement. However, they cannot see exactly what kind of improvement is needed. My hope is that the intercultural communication articles below will help you begin that journey.

We build our futures together in the words we exchange today

Communication is a two-way street called intercommunication. If neither side knows how to take responsibility for communicating clearly and concisely, then miscommunication is inevitable. By becoming more aware of what is required within intercultural business contexts, you can not only speak and listen better, but can also help others speak and listen better.

After decades of experience in a variety of communication fields, including work with international companies, my five-step CLEAR method for expressing opinions has been designed to establish such a standard; one that is effective, while also being simple to learn and to apply. It’s a standard that is flexible enough to be endlessly adapted to suit your needs as they change over the course of your intercultural career. My sincerest desire is that you master expressing your opinions in English as a second language clearly, concisely and confidently.

The Top Two Mistakes to Avoid When Making Requests Across Cultures
Unfortunately, few people are aware to what degree they have been conditioned by their cultures about the “right” way to make a request, to respond to a request and to fulfill a request.

Communicating Clearly Across Cultures
We simply don’t recognize that many of the problems we encounter in our daily work, in both our own cultures and internationally, can be solved by paying attention to speaking and listening.

Do You Need Intercultural Communication Training?
I am convinced that no single method or approach provides a complete answer to the changes we all have to make continually when working across cultures.

The Top 5 Lies Told by Intercultural Teams
I hear many of my clients, who work within intercultural teams, tell the five lies in this article. I call these lies “intercultural blind spots.”