A trick question

The other day I was involved in a conference on cross-cultural training. An HR manager who had lived and worked abroad asked the question: “Can someone really understand a culture after having participated in a one day seminar on let’s say on Chinese culture? “  Is it really worth investing money in a one or two day training course?

These are legitimate questions, but were asked to put the speaker on the spot. The obvious and honest answer to the first  is an unequivocal “no” and the answer to the second question is definite and unequivocal “YES”.

I am American. I have been living and doing business in France for 40 years now. I have a background in history and anthropology and I would like to think of myself as a good or objective observer of people and cultures. I must admit there are still different facets of French culture I am still grappling to understand. Everyday there are dots that I connect between historical events, geography, family, technology, education, institutions, language and religion that lead me to a deeper understanding of French culture and behavior.  What I find even more difficult is to understand my own American culture. I feel the culture and its impact on how I process information and react to different situations and people. Describing US culture objectively and trying to help others understand  it has always been a daunting exercise.

“The strange becomes familiar and the familiar becomes strange”

However I believe that participants do and can learn a lot about a culture or about cross-cultural communication in a one day course. We get regular feedback from our participants 2 or 3 months after our seminars thanking us, and telling us how the training has helped them to improve professional relationships or adapt to life in a new country. The instructor’s ability to connect with participants on intellectual, practical and emotional levels is critical to stimulating interest and curiosity. In my own personal experience at University and in executive education courses there were those singular, extraordinary  moments when a Professor or instructor said something that changed my world view. In a one day course in the cross cultural classroom there are often those magic moments or “epiphanies” among our executive students when they suddenly understand a reason behind behavior or an attitude among their foreign colleagues, team members and managers that had confused them.  They then are better able to deal with specific situations and culturally driven behavior. There are moments among participants of new awareness of themselves and their own culture. They often realize how strange their own culture could be to outsiders,  “The strange becomes familiar and the familiar becomes strange ”So yes! There are tangible “take-aways””. There are simple effective action plans and there is a return-on-investment for almost all participants.