Global Talk: Communications for powerful international HR

Global businesses need to ensure all communications take into account culture and diversity. Tessa Boshoff, VP of HR at Wall Street English explains.

 Effective cross-cultural communication is vital to organisational success, fostering stronger relationships, better performance and inclusiveness in and between teams. To understand cross-cultural communication, you must first develop a curiosity for understanding the underlying cultural factors that impact how people communicate.  

Our world is becoming increasingly interconnected and workplaces are becoming more diverse, with remote work facilitating global teams. In addition, many businesses now sell to a global market. All this means it is vital to make cross-cultural communication a success. Harnessed correctly, you will build trust in the team, have good working relations and better business performance. However, done poorly can have real business consequences, including business decline or performance stagnation. It impacts relationships creating misunderstandings, upsets and misalignment. 

Understanding cultural differences 

The importance of company culture cannot be underestimated. Gallup has found that employees and teams who most align with their company culture consistently perform higher on internal performance metrics than those who least align.  

To be successful in global teams, organisations must understand that communication patterns and styles will differ across employees depending on a range of factors, including age, gender, race, cultural identity and more. People in different countries might react differently, communicate differently, and be motivated by different things. Without a clear understanding and a proper strategy, companies expanding globally risk increased miscommunication and a lack of trust, particularly between headquarters and regional hubs.  

While our differences can connect us there needs to be an awareness to adjust communication practices where needed. This is essential to avoid and resolve unnecessary conflict, work effectively in teams and create a positive working environment. While having a common business language, most frequently English is important, genuine cross-cultural communication extends beyond linguistic capabilities. For instance, at Wall Street English, we come together in different ways including celebrating national days and sharing the recipes of all our favourite national dishes. It’s a simple but effective way to learn about one another and ensure everyone feels valued.  

Below are some of the key strategies for implementing and improving intercultural communication:  

Establishing clear communication protocols 

Having clear guidelines for communication that work across different cultures and countries is vital to ensure alignment within a global organisation. Establishing a core set of values aligned with the company’s purpose sets the tone for how everyone should behave with their colleagues and customers in regional hubs. ‘Be Curious and Be Decent’ are two of our core values and this guides how we engage with and learn from our partners around the world. Clear protocols ensure consistent messaging, support better customer relations, and help comply with legal requirements, ultimately fostering a more effective and cohesive work environment. 

We host hybrid staff meetings internationally and invite our teams from all geographies to join and participate verbally or through chat functions.  

Remaining human in our approach is important, asking questions on how something may translate better culturally, learning from our mistakes if we’ve got something wrong. I find asking questions when working with so many different cultures around the world, an absolute key skill.   

Training to build cultural competence

We offer standardised, systematic training so that everybody has the same onboarding experience no matter where they are. We also make our training programmes more inclusive by introducing auto translations and local language customisation for local positions with lower levels of English in our network. 

We offer bespoke cultural training to Head Office team members who work on projects to help them be more successful when working with different cultures. Offering generic cultural training is a good start but will only get you so far when working as part of an international business.  

Cross cultural training helps teams understand how to communicate verbally and in writing e.g. Should they send a pre read and follow up notes or have a high-level agenda and leave room for discussion instead?  

In multinational companies, HR should invest in cross-cultural and sensitivity training to understand the complexities and significance of words, actions, body language and gestures in establishing meaningful networks. By doing so, you can build harmonious and productive teams. Also, it will help attract and retain top international talent, positioning your company to tailor its services globally. 

Additionally, implementing a buddy system with employees from different regions can form organic relationships and cross-cultural understanding. A peer-to-peer approach enables teams to create connections in their daily lives, strengthening bonds across cultures and borders.  

Developing Cultural Intelligence  

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is understanding and communicating effectively with diverse cultures. It is becoming an increasingly important skill in the business world, especially as research published by the School for CEOs found that 76% of senior business leaders lack high cultural intelligence – hindering their ability to create a sense of belonging and inclusion within their teams.  

Developing employees’ cultural intelligence takes time, but the benefits are immense. Better understanding across regions leads to improved collaboration. When people from different cultures feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas, teams can innovate more effectively. This diverse range of viewpoints also enables teams to respond more adeptly to challenges. 

As HR leaders, we can support better cultural intelligence in our organisations by creating opportunities for diverse employees to come together, whether through mentorship, training or social events. Additionally, informing colleagues around the world about special cultural or religious events that impact the work day, communication preferences and gestures. We have members of our India team visit and work alongside their colleagues in Barcelona a few times a year and vice versa to build connections that foster a more collaborative work environment.  

Encouraging open and inclusive communication 

Diversity, equity and inclusion are rightly top of mind for many organisations today. We must create inclusive workplaces where employees feel valued and appreciated. By promoting belonging and understanding of differences, organisations can create an environment that celebrates diversity.  

On the journey to establishing effective cross-cultural communication, mistakes and misunderstandings are normal. Our goal is to create an open company culture where people can learn from failures and ask questions. A feedback system is vital for this, and it’s important to create a safe environment where people feel comfortable coming forward with any issues. 

Unconscious bias and stereotypical ideas about a group of people are unfortunately commonplace in our world today. We need to listen to each other and be vocal if we find behaviour or jokes inappropriate. Addressing these issues directly and with sensitivity helps foster a culture of respect and inclusion. By actively working to dismantle biases and challenge stereotypes, we can ensure everyone feels welcome and respected in the workplace.  

Measuring and evaluating communication  

Measuring communication in a global organisation is complex but there are several ways you can evaluate and ensure continuous improvement. For example, employee surveys and feedback forms help you understand communication effectiveness and any issues that have occurred. Focus groups also help identify any common problems and best practices.  

We run annual engagement surveys in our Head Office in Barcelona and the last survey in Q4 2023 had a 99% participation rate across our Spain and India locations. Our employee NPS is 47 which means our employees are highly satisfied and are likely to recommend Wall Street English to their friends.   

Employee performance and satisfaction metrics are important. We measure the employee journey end to end. We have data related to our candidate experience, our employee experience, the quality of our training and exit data. This helps to inform our people plan, resource allocation and strategy for the following year. 

In an increasingly global workforce, it is more important than ever to understand cross-cultural communication to ensure efficient collaboration, high performance, talent attraction and business success. Diverse teams are one of your biggest assets and will ensure a competitive advantage when embraced fully, unlocking innovation, creativity and market reach. Ultimately, an organisation with effective cross-cultural communication will deliver win-win-win outcomes for employees, customers and the bottom line.