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Homepage > Business > How to adapt your presentation across cultures?
September 2, 2018 In Business

How to adapt your presentation across cultures?

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Have you ever really thought about the ways in which you describe yourself and your work? Have you ever thought about how you can adapt your presentation to get better results? 

You surely have heard about the concept of the first impression and the impact it has on how other people perceive you. This is no different across cultures. Wherever you go, the way you present and introduce yourself in the beginning elicits certain responses in the people you are speaking with.

Now, although you are talking with the best intentions, the same presentation can be perceived differently around the world.

Imagine that…

Imagine you are to give a presentation on a topic you know much about. For the sake of illustrating the example let it be a physical product.

You have been preparing for a long time and of course you want to be perceived positively by your audience. You’ve prepared a great story-based presentation describing your experiences, how it influenced yours and other users’ lives, the effects the product has, the vision of how it can impact the market.

When you presented in the US, it was a huge success, so that gave you some extra courage for the upcoming presentation in Germany. In Germany though, something unexpected happened.

The audience started asking very thorough questions, including ones about the technical features, how it compares to other similar products in the market, the research and testing behind it. But also about your expertise, education and experience, as if they were checking if you are qualified enough to even talk about it.

And you were completely unprepared for that.

What happened there?

It is not to say that all Germans are fans of statistics and research. But going there you will very quickly see that your education, degrees, experience have to be well documented and are of value. They support the perception of you as an expert. If you are making a presentation to a German audience, statistically speaking, there is a great chance that you will be asked more specific questions about the topic or product that you are describing and a successful presentation would be less focused on the emotions and stories.

The above situation can easily be reversed. Say that you have presented this very thorough fact-based presentation and you are speaking to an American audience. The follow up questions that come up will likely be more around “what’s in it for me?”. I’m sure the thorough preparation and data would not go unnoticed, but you might potentially lose some of the audience’s focus along the way if your presentation is not engaging them on an emotional level well enough.

The German and US cultures, on average, are almost on the two opposite ends of the Persuading scale, one of the cultural dimensions. And it really shows when there is any presentation involved.

Useful articles to expand your knowledge:

The Culture Map – What persuades you might not persuade me

The Culture Map – How do we make decisions across cultures?

 How to introduce yourself across cultures?

There is also another way to look at it. The way in which you introduce yourself can impact your overall success abroad and how you build trust and relationships. It can not only impact the way you are perceived by others, but also how you feel about yourself!

The nature of my work is that I connect with a lot of teams and colleagues around the world. Often the initial calls start with a bit of introduction to understand what we do, who we are, how long we have been in the company. I always try to be mindful of the cultural differences and personal preference of people I’m talking with.

I have the pleasure of working with the colleagues from German offices quite often. If I connect with them for the first time, I tend to talk more about how long I’ve been with the firm, where I studied, what my previous and current roles are, and I try to keep it concise and factual. I rarely ever mention family or relationships if not asked directly. Majority of the German colleagues do the same. Only with time, after working with them for a while we would mention the wives, boyfriends, children or anything else personal. Again, it’s not the case with every single person, but majority of my interactions were like that.

In one case, I found out that a person has kids after more than half a year of working with them! Only because there was an emergency related to them that the person needed to attend to and couldn’t join out meeting because of that. They haven’t mentioned them before, but now occasionally when we have time we do share the latest about our families a bit more often.

When I start working with, say, colleagues from UAE, I am always more mindful of the timings of the calls and also that in terms of building trust, this culture is much more relationship-based rather than task-based. So we don’t schedule calls for the Fridays, even if the majority of the team is not based in UAE, or Thursday afternoons, to let the UAE teams finish off their tasks before the weekend and taking the time differences into the account.

When introducing myself, I would say the usual stuff, but I would add relational bits to my story. So instead of just saying that I moved to the UK in 2015, I would add that I moved to the UK with my boyfriend. Little things like that can make the conversation more relatable. They would also more often than not mention their children, families or experiences related for example to where I said I’m from. The introductions would generally take slightly longer.

The above of course massively depends on the situation. There is no need to do such big adjustments for just a one-off concrete conversation, but if you are going to work with the teams from other locations for a longer period of time or do a project together, it is definitely worth exploring the cultural differences to ensure you have them at the back of your head when any misunderstandings occur.

Further reading:

3 tips for a positive mindset and easier adaptation

Top tips for managing cross-cultural projects

Key cultural dimensions you need to be aware of when presenting across cultures

If you were to take away any next steps from this article, I would encourage you to read about the below dimensions to make sure you understand how they might impact the way you can present yourself and/or your products or services to people from different parts of the world.

How do we make decisions across cultures?

What persuades you might not persuade me

How to build trust while working across cultures

Deciding, Persuading and Trust scales are I think the most important to consider and have in mind when you are first starting to work with someone from a different cultural background. Similarly, if you are presenting to an audience from a different cultural background.

The adjustments in your communication style and language you use do not need to be massive at all! Sometimes just showing the understanding and a different choice of words or facts can have a big difference to the success of your international and cross-cultural work.

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Author

Marta Zielińska

Hi, my name is Marta. I am combining my psychological, business and intercultural experience to offer advice on successful living and working across cultures. I believe that everything is possible for such an ambitious and talented person as yourself! With some exercises, self-reflection and new knowledge, you can grow your cultural intelligence and build a successful international career, mind and life.

Learn more

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Sometimes we have a toolkit full of tools already - those that we learned through experience, different courses or articles, that someone shared with us. ⁠ ⁠ But - we may not be sure how to use them in practice! Or get overwhelmed by the amount of information out there and how to make sense of it, put it all together.⁠ ⁠ Meeting with a coach can support you in choosing the best tools, reminding you how to use them, or show you a different way to use the existing resources. ⁠ ⁠ Do you feel like you technically should know how to deal with X, but you just don't know where to start? ⁠ Maybe that's your cue to reach out to me to learn more about how coaching can be helfpul 😊 ⁠ DM me the word 'COACH' and let's chat! ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
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It can be difficult to work through these by yourself at first. As a coach, I can provide you with support and accountability in this process. You in? 😊 DM me.
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Do you sometimes catch yourself saying or doing things that feel ‘out of character’? That may happen as a result of the internal process that’s happening between the situation occurring and that result taking place. Good news is: you can have insight into the ‘in-between’! This S-PACE-R tool can help you analyse how your thoughts, actions, feelings and body reactions all impact each other to produce a certain result. Let’s look at an example. 👉Situation: you scroll through IG and notice a post from an expat who is at a party, laughing with friends. 👉Physical reaction: you feel a constraint in the stomach and notice your eyes watering. 👉Action: you go into the person’s profile and watch more of their posts. 👉Emotion: you feel sad because you don’t seem to be having such a rich social life abroad so far 👉Thoughts: “I’m a failure, I can’t find myself any friends here”, “This move wasn’t worth it” (These influences can go either way and can start at any point in the circle, by the way! Often, they also go on in circles and augment each other too!) 👉Result: You stay at home, soaking in your sadness, not going out, not putting yourself out there, not making friends - and proving your initial thought. You see the potential downward spiral effect here? Of course - it doesn’t need to be that way, or even as dramatic! But you’d be surprised how quickly we can notice these little interrelations in many situations in our lives. Having the self-awareness about these though can help you regain control and reframe thoughts where needed to facilitate more supportive behaviours and in turn gain better results! It can be difficult to work through these by yourself at first. As a coach, I can provide you with support and accountability in this process. You in? 😊 DM me.
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You hear me talk about cultural dimensions quite a bit here. I believe that understanding the drivers of our behaviour in that international context is super important to buildling confidence in working in another culture (so a slightly different focus than your MBTIs or Enneagrams etc). ⁠
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Ever wondered how your cultural background impacts your working preferences? 🧐⁠ ⁠ You hear me talk about cultural dimensions quite a bit here. I believe that understanding the drivers of our behaviour in that international context is super important to buildling confidence in working in another culture (so a slightly different focus than your MBTIs or Enneagrams etc). ⁠ ⁠ And it's not just theory and what-ifs! ⁠ ⁠ We've got a reliable tool which helps you get more insights into where you stand on ten cultural dimensions and how does it compare to the cross-cultural studies which have been conducted over the years. ⁠ ⁠ 👉️If you'd like to stop wondering and get more concrete - DM me the word 'CULTURE' and I'll share more details with you on how the assessment and your personalised report review with me work. ⁠ ⁠ The insight doesn't end just on doing the assessment and viewing results. In fact, my packages don't include just the assessment, they always come with a report review and consultation to give you the space to reflect on the results and how you can implement the insights to improve your intercultural communication at work or in personal life. ⁠ ⁠ You can read more details on the website in the 'Offer' Tab (link in bio) 😊⁠ ⁠ #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
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Intercultural communication is mostly about YOU, not them. ⁠
There, I said it! ☝️⁠
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Why is it about you? ⁠
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Well, it's not about 'them' behaving a certain way, doing things differently or weird or being hard to work with. ⁠
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You can't change 'them'. BUT - - you can understand yourself in relation to the other people's way of working, and decide if you want to do something about it. ⁠
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Your options are: ⁠
1️⃣ Do nothing. Keep the frustration, delay the results and progress, deepen the gap between us and them. ⁠
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2️⃣ Communicate to the other person directly to say that clearly something is not working and you find a way to work effectively together towards that same goal. ⁠
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3️⃣ And better yet - C) actually go beyond just that and build your cultural awareness before that conversation, and continue with that development going forward - to understand your own values, your own cultural influences, how they relate to the challenging situation you faced. ⁠
And finally - expand your repertoire of communication strategies, so that perhaps you can adapt and increase efficiency in your work without confronting the other person at all 😉⁠
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How does that sound for you? 🤔⁠
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Intercultural communication is mostly about YOU, not them. ⁠ There, I said it! ☝️⁠ ⁠ Why is it about you? ⁠ ⁠ Well, it's not about 'them' behaving a certain way, doing things differently or weird or being hard to work with. ⁠ ⁠ You can't change 'them'. BUT - - you can understand yourself in relation to the other people's way of working, and decide if you want to do something about it. ⁠ ⁠ Your options are: ⁠ 1️⃣ Do nothing. Keep the frustration, delay the results and progress, deepen the gap between us and them. ⁠ ⁠ 2️⃣ Communicate to the other person directly to say that clearly something is not working and you find a way to work effectively together towards that same goal. ⁠ ⁠ 3️⃣ And better yet - C) actually go beyond just that and build your cultural awareness before that conversation, and continue with that development going forward - to understand your own values, your own cultural influences, how they relate to the challenging situation you faced. ⁠ And finally - expand your repertoire of communication strategies, so that perhaps you can adapt and increase efficiency in your work without confronting the other person at all 😉⁠ ⁠ How does that sound for you? 🤔⁠ ⁠ #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
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Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
Which ones are you happy with? ⁠

Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠

Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠
⁠
⁠
#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
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Which ones are you happy with? ⁠ Which ones would you like to develop further? ⁠ Any that you'd add to the list as key skills for people who live abroad? ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
4 weeks ago
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It is a bit of everything everywhere all at once, would you agree? 😃😅

#expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
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It is a bit of everything everywhere all at once, would you agree? 😃😅 #expatcoaching #expatlife #livingabroad #expatcoach #workingabroad #lifeabroad #workabroad #careerabroad #internationallife #internationalcareer #globalcareer #globallife #globalleaders #culturalawareness #selfawareness #selfgrowth #personalgrowth #personaldevelopment #culturalcompetence #movingabroad #zyciezagranica #zycienaemigracji #pracazagranica #rozwojosobisty #polacyzagranica
4 weeks ago
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8/9
🤷I know what I need to do, but it doesn't feel genuine! 
🤷I know they do that, but it feels so rude, I just can't get myself to do it! 
🤷I know I've got to stop myself from doing that, but it just feels unlike me not to!

The above are quotes from people I worked with. 

The 1st person, let's call her Anna, moved from Poland to the UK, and really struggled with the small talk. It's not like we don't casually chat in Poland, but it doesn't play as big of a role in building connections in professional settings. She knew she needed to engage in the chit chat, but she wasn't used to it happening so many times in a day! It didn't feel genuine or meaningful as people talked to her almost in passing.

The 2nd person, let's call her Hope, moved from Malaysia to Spain. She wasn't used to the loud and dynamic exchanges common among the Spanish. Growing up she was told not to interrupt others when they're talking - it's rude! Silence played a big part in professional conversations, showing consideration and respect to those she was interacting with. In Spain, she found herself unable to fully engage in meetings, labelled as 'the quiet one'. She saw what others were doing, she knew she had to engage differently, but it was just SO hard to get over the initial beliefs! 

The 3rd person had the opposite problem to Hope's. Diego moved from Spain to the UK, and was struggling with the feedback he started receiving, along the lines of 'he's too excitable, he interrupts others as they're talking, he's too casual'. He knew he needed to tone down his communication, be more conscious about the pace of the conversation. He was able to do it, but what he struggled with the most is that it didn't feel like the real HIM anymore. He considered moving back to Spain because of that even though the UK career opportunities were clearly better for him at the time. 

All of them had the ability to shape their behaviour differently, they knew what they needed to do. It was not the lack of knowledge that was stopping them - it was the beliefs. In our coaching meetings we worked to find their origins, untangle them, and start creating beliefs that served them better in their new lives abroad.
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🤷I know what I need to do, but it doesn't feel genuine! 🤷I know they do that, but it feels so rude, I just can't get myself to do it! 🤷I know I've got to stop myself from doing that, but it just feels unlike me not to! The above are quotes from people I worked with. The 1st person, let's call her Anna, moved from Poland to the UK, and really struggled with the small talk. It's not like we don't casually chat in Poland, but it doesn't play as big of a role in building connections in professional settings. She knew she needed to engage in the chit chat, but she wasn't used to it happening so many times in a day! It didn't feel genuine or meaningful as people talked to her almost in passing. The 2nd person, let's call her Hope, moved from Malaysia to Spain. She wasn't used to the loud and dynamic exchanges common among the Spanish. Growing up she was told not to interrupt others when they're talking - it's rude! Silence played a big part in professional conversations, showing consideration and respect to those she was interacting with. In Spain, she found herself unable to fully engage in meetings, labelled as 'the quiet one'. She saw what others were doing, she knew she had to engage differently, but it was just SO hard to get over the initial beliefs! The 3rd person had the opposite problem to Hope's. Diego moved from Spain to the UK, and was struggling with the feedback he started receiving, along the lines of 'he's too excitable, he interrupts others as they're talking, he's too casual'. He knew he needed to tone down his communication, be more conscious about the pace of the conversation. He was able to do it, but what he struggled with the most is that it didn't feel like the real HIM anymore. He considered moving back to Spain because of that even though the UK career opportunities were clearly better for him at the time. All of them had the ability to shape their behaviour differently, they knew what they needed to do. It was not the lack of knowledge that was stopping them - it was the beliefs. In our coaching meetings we worked to find their origins, untangle them, and start creating beliefs that served them better in their new lives abroad.
1 month ago
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