learning to leading: culture sensitivity in an international community

Being exposed to an international community is a good way of becoming sensitive to what is acceptable to cultures other than one's own, or to normal behavior in one's own culture that is unacceptable in another culture. In a way, people exposed to such a community break themselves from their culture's stereotype; their behavior becomes more akin to what is "globally accepted".

In the training course I'm attending, I am surrounded by people coming from different cultural and national backgrounds. It's a good place to be for leaders in the making: a lot of conflicts arise from ignorance about cultural sensitivity and can just as easily be avoided if only people are aware or are sensitive about cultural differences.

Before going to another country, whether for work or for recreation, it is useful to research about cultural "peculiarities" (the departure from one's culture); these may take the form of gestures, other behavior patterns. Here are some examples of gestures that mean different things in different places:

1. The "thumbs up" sign means "okay" in several countries; in Central and South Asia, this hand gesture may be seen as rude.
2. The index finger being pointed straight at someone can make people from several cultures very uncomfortable.
3. The "okay" sign (with the thumb and index finger forming an O while the rest of the fingers are outstretched) may mean money in Japan but may be vulgar elsewhere.
4. Chopsticks must not be placed vertically on a container of cooked rice; this symbolizes death in East Asian countries.
5. In some cultures (including mine), a nod means "yes" but it may mean "no" in others.

Conflict (due to cultural differences) are hopefully averted just by learning the acceptable and avoiding the unacceptable behaviors.