%% date:: [[2022-08-29]] Author:: [[Erin Meyer]] %% # [[sources/Book/The Culture Map]] ## Summary > [!abstract] Summary > While individuals may have different personality traits from others from the same culture, understanding cultural tendencies is helpful because the culture informs the starting point for how an individual sees the world. > > Different cultures have different ways of working, especially when it comes to eight dimensions: communicating, evaluating, persuading, leading, deciding, disagreeing, and scheduling. > > Identifying the culture you're in, and the cultural tendencies that are at play, can help you tailor your approach and improve your understanding of your colleagues. ![[My Culture Map vs my countries.png]] ## Main Points ### Culture is the starting point for an individual's personality While Meyer recognizes that individuals may be different from the culture they belong to, she believes that understanding their culture may help them, and others, provide a context for their behaviour. ### There are eight aspects of working habits that cultures can be distinguished by Meyer posits that there are eight dimensions of personality that are related to culture. #### Communicating ![[The Culture Map - Communication.excalidraw.png]] %%[[The Culture Map - Communication.excalidraw|🖋 Edit in Excalidraw]], and the [[The Culture Map 2022-08-29 19.16.04.excalidraw.dark.png|dark exported image]]%% - **Low-context** communication seeks to convey ideas in the simplest way that includes everything the listener needs to know. The [[USA]] is the lowest context country in the world. - "Tell them what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you've told them" is a presentation style that practices low-context communication. - In low-context cultures, those who communicate explicitly are the most educated. - **High-context** communication is subtle, layered, and nuanced. Many Asian cultures prefer high context communication because it builds on a foundation of things already known to all. - In high-context cultures, the most educated communicate with a lot of nuance. Meyer believes that within a multicultural team, it's better to practice low-context communication, because high-context communication only works when people share a cultural context. #### Evaluating Evaluating has to do with how people like to receive feedback-- in particular, negative feedback. Directness of feedback can be conveyed in the following ways: - Tone - Strength of message delivered - Number of times the feedback is given - Whether the feedback is given publicly or privately - The type of feedback that is being commented on (personal vs professional) Cultures tend to prefer direct or indirect negative feedback: - **Direct** negative feedback is blunt, to the point, and can sometimes be delivered without regard for who else is listening. [[Nederland|The Dutch]] are infamous for their penchant for giving and preferring direct negative feedback. - **Indirect** negative feedback uses downgraders that soften the criticism ("kind of, sort of, a bit"). It may be done over time, with the negative message being interspersed between positive messages, or in private. Often the feedback is alluded to rather than explicitly stated. While Meyer talks about negative feedback a lot, she also mentions directness applying to positive feedback--and the two need not be congruent. For example, Americans notoriously exaggerate positive feedback ("excellent" is used to mean "good"), they downplay negative feedback. To make your feedback less direct, you can: - Say a good thing, say the bad thing, and then finish with a good thing (a [[Shit Sandwich]]). - Use downgrading messages like "maybe", "sometimes", "a little". - Be gentle in your tone. - Give feedback in private. - Give small bits of negative feedback over time, building up a picture gradually. - Deliver the feedback in a comfortable environment (use food or drink). #### Persuading Cultures can be different in the way they attempt to convince, or are convinced by, others. - **Principles-first** persuading uses [[Deductive reasoning]]: it starts from general concepts and proceeds to apply them by drawing logical conclusions. Westerners tend to be principles-first, and go from the micro to the macro. - **Applications-first** persuading uses [[Inductive reasoning]]: it starts from how something can be applied, and then proceeds to talk about the overarching concepts we can take from those conclusions. Chinese people tend to think from the macro to the micro. #### Leading Cultures also differ in terms of how they view leadership. - **Egalitarian** cultures treat everyone as equals, even if one of them have higher positions in the company. People from these cultures don't shy away from talking to superiors frankly. - **Hierarchical** cultures apportion respect based on position, and place a higher degree of importance on how leaders behave and look. They may subconsciously judge their own value based on how they perceive their leaders. #### Deciding Cultures can prefer to make a decision in different ways. - **Consensual** decisionmaking involves everyone in the team, even though it might take a while. Dissent is encouraged, and harmony is fostered by making sure everyone feels listened to. - **Top-down** decisionmaking involves the leader making a decision and expecting that decision to be followed without complaint or protest. An advantage of top-down decisionmaking is that it's usually faster. Trusting What determines trust between people is also influenced by culture. - **Task-based** trust is preferred by some cultures who place a higher degree of importance on getting something done. Someone who has consistently delivered is thought of as having earned the professional trust. - **Relationship-based** trust is preferred by some cultures who place a higher degree of importance on individuals and their personal circumstances. #### Disagreeing - **Confrontational** - **Avoids confrontation** #### Scheduling - **Linear time** - **Flexible time** ### Understanding the cultural context of other people can help you communicate with them. Learning how cultures think of the eight dimensions can be useful in helping multicultural teams communicate effectively. Here are some tips Meyer gives: - Prefer low context communication. - Use the language in the book to state up front what the expectations of the team with regards to communication should be. - Avoid working across cultures if possible. - Choose people who are internationally minded to do the communicating. - Tailor your communication style to the type of work that needs to be done (innovation is best done by diverse teams, but efficiency is best done by monocultures). ![[how-to-communicate-across-cultures.png]] <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VumFk-C4iFc?start=962&end=1100" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> ## Criticisms ### Lack of concrete data Meyer does cite some studies upon which she based her research, but most of the basis for her dimensions are anecdotal. ### Lack of data on other cultures Most of the anecdotes and examples are about major Western and some Eastern cultures, and even Meyer admits that Asian cultures may have a different axis that Western cultures do not, which decreases the usefulness of her observations. ### Overemphasis on cultural stereotypes Meyer stresses cultural aspects more than is comfortable-- while her online tools include an individual test, individual proclivities are barely mentioned in the book except to say that they exist and can deviate from cultural norms. ### Increasing incidence of multicultural backgrounds are not addressed at all Meyer assumes most people are going to be from a monoculture, but the reality is that the incidence of people who are from multiple culture is on the rise, and her framework may have a limited shelf-life because it doesn't give guidance on what to do then. ## Related Children:: [[My Culture Map]], [[Grafana Labs Developer Advocacy Team]] Parents:: [[Communication]], [[Culture Shock]], [[Multinationality]], [[Culture]], [[personality]] Siblings:: [[Strengths Finder]], [[Myers-Briggs Type Indicator]] - [[How to communicate across cultures]] ## Citation ``` [^map]: Meyer, Erin. (2014). _The culture map_. [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3KqVtma). [[Book/The Culture Map|My notes]]. ```