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One of the most oft-repeated gaffes during the reign of former U.S. President George W. Bush was his use of the term “Pakis” during one of his attempts at diplomacy.
To refresh our memories, he said: “We are working hard to convince both the Indians and the Pakis that there’s a way to deal with their problems without going to war.”
Now, Bush claimed that he didn’t know it was an offensive term, which simply did not wash in the U.K. In the U.S., however, there was sympathy for him because the term is not widely used there.
The point of this example is not to say that one nation is more or less sensitive than the other, but that words have vastly different meanings, even among countries that speak the same language. There is little doubt that the former president’s offense was unwitting, but that does not excuse it.
There is an important lesson here for internal communicators with a global audience: No matter how great you are at your job, no matter how embedded you believe your corporate values are into the global workforce, one message will never fit all.
So how can communicators ensure they get their intended message across to a global audience while being sensitive to cultural differences?
1. Be aware that one company does not equal one culture.
An internal communicator’s role is to engender an understanding of an organization’s vision, mission and goals; facilitate communication between leadership, management and employees; forge a sense of community and unite that community under a common purpose. To do this in more than one country, communicators have to take the time to understand the cultural differences within their organizations.
Two Dutch academics, Geert Hofstede and Fons Trompenaars, have spent considerable time over the past 30 years thinking about cultural diversity and its effect on business.
While each is critical of the other’s work, both men have found that culture has a significant effect on work practices, employee engagement and drivers of motivation. Both men have come up with a series of “cultural dimensions” that they use to explain how culture affects organizational behavior, but the simple, overriding message is this: No matter how strong you think your company culture may be, it is a big mistake to think that one message will elicit the same action in every global outpost.
2. “Localize” with local communicators.
Localization is the cultural and linguistic adaptation of products, communications and messaging. It takes translation one step further by considering the meaning and the feeling the message is trying to convey, and adapting the message to evoke the same reaction as the original copy.
This should be the aim of any global communicator.
Practically, it will most likely involve working with local communicators. When briefing locals, instead of thinking about the words in your message, think about the point of your message. What do you want employees to do as a result of this particular piece of communication?
Think about the action you want them to take. This understanding should structure your message, rather than a heavy reliance on the accurate translation of the words you have drafted from a specifically British/American/Australian (or other) perspective.
Your local communicator should be able to help you draft a message that will elicit the response you want. If you don’t have local communicators, a good language services firm should be able to help you.
3. Understand the work culture in all countries in which you operate.
Even if you have great local champions to help you localize your messages, you should still have a clear understanding of the national cultures within your organization and how they affect the way employees think, feel and act.
Some employees, such as those from the U.K., will want a message put in context with wider company goals. Others, such as the French, will be looking for long-term consequences, because they typically stay in a job for a long time. Malaysians, on the other hand, might expect an authoritative message with clear instructions.
Of course, this is an oversimplification of reality, but it demonstrates how Trompenaars and Hofstede can help you target your message because by speaking to people how they like to be—and indeed expect to be—addressed, you are more likely to get the reaction you want.
The best method for ensuring that what you write is working is to introduce easy-to-use feedback loops into your communication channels. Thanks to social media, this is now a lot easier and is a surefire way to gauge the effectiveness of your messages. Introducing feedback on messages can be as easy as allowing comments on your communications.
If your global messages are routinely sent from the CEO, have you thought about starting a blog where all these messages can be accessed at any time? It need not be complicated: A simple blog titled “CEO’s updates” tells people all they need to know about what that blog is for. Blogs allow people to comment, which gives communicators instant feedback about how the message is being received. Blog posts can also easily be incorporated into the body of e-mail messages. With a simple click you provide your global employees the opportunity to contribute by giving their feedback.
Micro-blogging programs, such as Twitter or Yammer (which is more commonly used in the corporate space) are excellent for announcing news updates and can easily include links to new blog posts or news items on the intranet. They also allow people to comment and give their feedback freely and easily.
You shouldn’t fear open comments. Research shows that employees tend to be responsible on open comment platforms. Guidelines for use should be no more than a few short points that make it clear that offensive behaviour is treated the same way online as it is offline.
Communicating to a global employee audience can seem at once daunting and exciting. It is no doubt a huge task for one person to produce messages that will appeal to people across multiple ethnicities, nationalities and cultures. However, by following these few simple steps, you will find that the excitement will soon trump any fears.
Gary Muddyman is the managing director of Conversis, a leading provider of globalization, internationalization, localization and translation services. Contact him at
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