A is for Assumptions.

Cultural assumptions. We all make them, even in new cultural contexts. We rely on our prior experience to inform our situation and act on those beliefs.

The definition of a cultural assumption is something that you accept as true, without question or evidence, about another culture or someone from that culture.

But what happens when we get it wrong? Whether we had a gap in our knowledge or experience, it can have a negative impact on a person, business, or project. Therefore, identifying and mitigating cultural assumptions is a key skill in a diverse workforce. In a cross-cultural context, how can we start to repair this?

Here is one process I’ve been creating to articulate a helpful pathway to mitigate a negative impact of a cross-cultural assumption:

– Apologise for the negative impact
– Learn about the information you were missing through asking about the other person’s perspective, internet research, relevant training and/or some experiential learning
– Demonstrate you’ve changed your approach
– Plan your future actions in a similar situation to avoid the negative impact
– Inform others appropriately so everyone shares the learning (without identifying information)

A-Z of Cross-Cultural Awareness
This blog post is part of a series of short posts on cross-cultural awareness. Keep an eye out for the rest of the series.