From the course: Mistakes to Avoid When Resolving Conflict

Leaving out culture

From the course: Mistakes to Avoid When Resolving Conflict

Start my 1-month free trial

Leaving out culture

- Amy, a client that I was working with, was having a problem with speaking up and sharing her opinion, particularly in meetings. Her boss was really concerned because she had the idea that Amy had some really good things to share but she just couldn't get them out of her. When Amy started working with me, we started talking about culture, and she shared that as an Asian woman, she was taught that giving her opinion could be insulting and that she really should be more quiet and observant than anything else. She doesn't want to draw that much of attention to herself. This was such a revelation for her, and once we started talking about culture, she was able to see that while culture was very important to her, she could still incorporate some of the techniques I was teaching her that enabled her to speak up in meetings, and it helped her tremendously at work. Being sensitive to culture is incredibly important. In fact, not considering cultural norms, beliefs, and expectations can cause a secondary conflict or, worse, an HR issue. So, you need to consider that these norms are embedded in us, and sometimes people act in a certain way without realizing it. For example, some women were raised culturally to be quiet and to not be seen. And culture isn't just about ethnicity or race. It's also about gender roles and sexual orientation. You also need to acknowledge that when there's a conflict, culture can have an effect on the conflict. Things like people being silent and using that as a way of participating. Or people may have a certain tone that they use culturally that may sound intimidating to others. So here are three ways to make room for culture in conflict. Recognize that culture can always be a possible reason for why there's trouble coming to a resolution. Open the discussion by giving an example from your own experience of culture. Maybe you were raised with certain beliefs and you want to share that as a way of getting others to express what they were raised with. Finally, create psychological safety by making it okay and normal for people to bring their whole selves to work. I suggest you start practicing this by identifying and writing down three ways your culture influences you in the workplace and how it might manifest itself in conflict. For instance, maybe you were taught that boys should be tough but girls should be sweet. If this is the first time you've been asked to consider culture, this may not come easily to you, so be patient with yourself. If you have considered culture before, I encourage you still to practice because you can only get better.

Contents