The Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review

 

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June 29, 2016 Focus on What You Have in Common When Working Across Cultures When working with a person from another culture, your instinct might be to try to identify cultural differences so that you can alter your own behavior to avoid any faux pas. But focusing on differences alone won’t help you build connections. To do that, you have to focus on similarities. Perhaps it’s a hobby you have in common, a shared love of football (European or American), or the fact that both of you are trying to Skype your families back home. You can discover these commonalities in conversation, through basic research, or simply by noticing the pictures and memorabilia on the person’s desk. The possibilities are endless. By focusing on similarities, you have the power to create connections and build relationships that either supersede cultural differences or make them irrelevant. Adapted from "To Connect Across Cultures, Find Out What You Have in Common," by Andy Molinsky and Sujin Jang

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