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Je suis \u00e0 peu pr\u00e8s s\u00fbr que je suis fran\u00e7ais et pas seulement dans le nom.<\/p>\n
Communication is hard. Whether, as Kahneman points out in Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em>, it is the ways our brain\u2019s System 1 & 2 function in decision making and \u201chumans confounding tendencies to believe that what we know is the correct truth while new information presented conflicts with our truth\u201d[1]<\/a>. Or, as Kegan and Lehey argue against in An Everyone Culture<\/em>, the organizational structure that encourages employees to hide their vulnerabilities as they work side by side.<\/p>\n Communication complications magnify across the board room filled with people from different cultures. Erin Meyer, who has studied communication patterns around the world, wrote The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business<\/em> to offer a construct of \u201c8 scales that map the world\u2019s cultures\u201d.[2]<\/a> These scales are tools to help global leaders navigate the dimensions of communication that can be complicated by the dynamics of cultural disconnects.<\/p>\n Meyer moves through the 8 scales deftly by sharing many anecdotes from her personal experiences in her work around the globe. Her stories reveal the challenges of cultural communication clash.\u00a0 However, I found myself connecting these international business issues with similar clashes within the context of churches I have served in the US.\u00a0 The subject of racism in the US has been a flash point in churches especially in this current decade, after the murder of George Floyd.\u00a0 It is an issue that has created a chasm between members of a particular church. Meyer\u2019s premise is that human beings tend to lean into evaluating misunderstandings, differences, conflicts by attempting to make judgments on the personality of the other all the while this evaluation is from one\u2019s own cultural perspective.[3]<\/a> Humans use the justification, \u201cspeaking of cultural differences leads us to stereotype, and therefore put individuals in boxes with \u2018general traits\u2019.\u00a0 Instead of talking about culture, it is important to judge people as individuals, not just products of their environment.\u201d[4]<\/a> How often I have heard people claim, \u201cI\u2019m not a racist\u201d and what is often implied by this underneath is therefore racism doesn\u2019t exist. Though this issue is not cross-cultural in Meyer\u2019s book context, I think the essence of her argument is foundational to understanding\/addressing the communication chasm in churches. As a church leader I can encourage others to recognize that as people of faith we are called to nurture a growing spirit within ourselves.\u00a0 To do this we must name and claim that we form our values and judgements from our own \u201cgoto\u201d cultural lens. Then we must challenge ourselves to recognize that our lens, our experience, isn\u2019t the only way to embody the truth and\u00a0 be open to be shaped by the other\u2019s experience of the truth.<\/p>\n As I read, I also found myself asking, \u201cHow am I American?\u201d Meyer talks about the scales being relative to what countries are in the mix of communication, so as I consider this relativity it seems that in America, I am actually French (although I lead like an Australian).\u00a0 I \u201cread the air\u201d like the French. I persuade like the French. \u00a0I trust like the French.\u00a0 I disagree like the French.\u00a0 This explains a great deal as to why I have often felt like my communication ends in a black hole. I feel that people don’t track with what I\u2019m saying, or that they are off put. \u00a0I may be able to connect, but if I live into my own FRECNH way, I am met with blank stares.<\/p>\n I struggle in low-context environments. The \u201ctell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them\u201d[5]<\/a> stresses me.\u00a0 Accordingly, my sermons may be critiqued as \u201cdrive by sermons\u201d; I speak le deuxi\u00e8me degr\u00e9,[6]<\/a> hoping the listener will care enough to do the work of discovering the deeper word of God. My natural communication style is high-context but I have begun to learn how to refine my approach recognizing Americans don\u2019t usually meet me in nuance. I finally agree with Meyer where she says, \u201cbeing an agile communicator, able to move adroitly in either direction, is valuable skill for anyone in business.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n The other dimension in which I am strongly convinced I am French, is the \u201cDisagreeing\u201d scale.\u00a0 Meyer begins chapter 7 sharing her personal anecdote at a dinner party in France where she was the only American.\u00a0 As the story unfolds, I see myself firmly ensconced at that table thriving in the \u201cconfrontational\u201d style discussion. I often have found myself at odds within the churches I have served because of my passion. I live into highly energetic disagreements without any intention of making it personal. The problem comes with members who eagerly avoid conflict. Churches tend to identify with Prince Shotuku\u2019s Seventeen-Article Constitution that is founded on harmony.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Although I must admit I think harmony has been one of the culprits in what Friedman calls, \u201chostile environment\u201d.[9]<\/a> This nature of harmony opens the door to triangles, and according to Friedman triangles know no culture.[10]<\/a> I concur with one of Meyer\u2019s French teammates who said, \u201cWe make our points passionately.\u00a0 We like to disagree openly.\u00a0 We like to say things that shock.\u00a0 With confrontation, you reach excellence, you have more creativity, and you eliminate risk.\u201d[11]<\/a> I am learning to reign myself in for I am seeing I am a lot to take in here in America. This is just another dynamic of Friedman\u2019s call for self-regulation.<\/p>\n Erin Meyer may not have had someone like me in mind as her audience, but The Culture Map<\/em> has proven to be an important tool for my meaning making map. Now I will be curious to discover what country members of this church hail from. Creo que tal vez mexicanas, pero definitivamente no son francesas.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Richardson, Nicole. Through the Thinking-Glass<\/em>. October 21, 2021. https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/through-the-thinking-glass\/<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Meyer, Erin. 2014. The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business<\/em>. Illustrated edition. New York: PublicAffairs. Pages 14-16.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid. Pages 12-13.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid. Page 13.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid. Page 35.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Ibid. Page 38, 50.\u00a0 Meyer says that this \u201csecond degree\u201d requires people to read between the lines.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Ibid. Page 50<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Ibid Page 199.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Friedman, Edwin H., and Peter Steinke. 2017. A Failure of Nerve, Revised Edition: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix<\/em>. 10th Anniversary edition. New York: Church Publishing. Pages 141-167.<\/p>\n