Building Cultural Awareness for Effective Coaching
If you are working to make your coaching client list more diverse, the best place to start is with a refresher in cultural sensitivity

Written By Gary Reinecke

ICF Master Certified Coach, Resource Designer, Mission Strategist : InFocus
Remote work, virtual meetings, and accessibility have certainly expanded the reach you can have in your coaching practice.  Technology is an important aspect of reaching across borders that has accelerated the possibilities of working internationally.  In addition, we have learned that although the world is smaller there still exists significant cultural gaps that must be navigated.

Where does cultural sensitivity come into coaching?

Many years ago I was working with a group of pastors and church planters from a culture different from the one I was accustomed to.  

The first time we met, the majority of the participants showed-up several minutes late.  Each had a legitimate reason.  I thought that was unfortunate, but moved on.  However, as time passed I observed a pattern emerging – the leaders were showing up later and later.  Eventually I realized I was not doing my part to communicate expectations in a way that registered that our meeting needed to be a priority.

This created a sense of urgency with the various participants for a few months, altering their behavior; but over time, they defaulted back to their original behavior.  I tried everything I knew to keep the meetings as punctual as promised but struggled with this same issue the entire year.  What I failed to understand was how different cultures view time.  More importantly, I had not learned how to adapt and navigate the cultural map when our values clashed.

How does cultural awareness help move things forward?

I’m reading a book entitled The Culture Map by Erin Meyers.  In it the author describes the difference between the way people communicate in Low and High Context cultures.  I’m discovering the nuances that differentiate cultures and the implications for coaching across cultures.  Here is how she contrasts Low and High Context communication.

Low Context: Good communication is precise, simple, and clear.  Messages are expressed and understood at face value.  Repetition is appreciated if it helps clarify the communication.

High Context: Good communication is sophisticated, nuanced, and layered.  Messages are both spoken and read between the lines.  Messages are often implied but not plainly expressed.  (p.39)

In my illustration above I believe I could have benefitted from understanding more about the differences between the cultural context and nuances I was facing.  In addition, I would have benefited from knowing more about how the participants viewed other areas like time, confrontation, and making agreements.  

8 Areas to Grow in Cultural Sensitivity

Here are the eight areas to be mindful of when working cross-culturally according to the author. I’ve added a short explanation and an application question that will help you reflect on each area so that you can increase your ability to coach clients across cultures.

1. Communicating

This is where the game is won, or lost.  Even when we believe communication has taken place; the cues we look for may not translate in different cultures.  Be curious, open, and committed to learning new ways of communication.

Reflection Question: How are the nuances, embedded in the words and phrases I use with my client, hindering our communication?

2. Evaluating

What works with one client may not work with another. In fact, your approach may even be offensive in some cultures. That doesn’t mean you can’t be an effective coach. Remain teachable. Do your own assessment with each client to determine which approach works best. 

Reflection Question: What is getting in the way of helping my client assess the situation they face?

3. Leading

When you work in some cultures the leader may be sitting on the outside of the circle looking in; while in other contexts the leader is in the center.  Reading the room or the client is critical to your success as a coach.  Even when you believe you have figured out the preferred style and the subtleties, leadership can vary from leader to leader.  

Reflection Question: What style of leadership does my client most naturally respond to? 

4. Deciding

When you make decisions you follow a particular process that may not be super obvious to you, but you do have a process. Take some time to identify your own decision making process. Then, do the hard work of learning how your client makes decisions before you assume they are just like you.

Reflection Question: Culturally, how does your client make decisions?

5. Trusting

The speed of trust!  Everything rises and falls on this important aspect of coaching.  Understand what elicits trust in your clients by asking them a series of questions that will help you learn what builds trust and just as important, what erodes trust.

Reflection Question: What can I do to elicit trust with my client?

6. Disagreeing

Think of the way you deal with conflict.  Now reflect on how your spouse deals with conflict.  Now you understand why you must figure out how your client approaches conflict.

Reflection Question: How does my  client approach conflict?

7. Scheduling

Time is viewed differently across cultures.  Some will view coaching appointments as commitments that will be kept unless an emergency arises.  Others will make it a priority, if nothing else requires their immediate attention on the day of your appointment.

Reflection Question: How does my client view time?

The Culture Map

The Culture Map is an informative resource to assist in your coaching relationships as well as training leaders across cultures.  

Whether your clients are coaching in the same culture or across cultures, is it helpful to assess their level of self-awareness to cultures.  If you are interested in learning about tools to help your clients in cultural awareness – CLICK HERE.  

Giving Constructive Feedback: Skill Builder Booklet 

At its most simple level, feedback giving and receiving is just one party communicating information to another about something that he or she has experienced and thinks that the other person needs to know about. Unfortunately, this simple process is often done poorly and the intended benefit is lost. Because offering any kind of feedback takes practice and is a communication art to develop over time, this ministry-specific PDF booklet explores the whole process of giving and getting constructive feedback in summary. It does this by offering a six-step model to guide behavior to communicate more constructively as a feedback giver as well as a feedback receiver.

Communication Effectiveness Profile

Getting your message across in a way that is clear and coherent to everyone that is listening is a critical skill in organizational as well as personal life. The Communication Effectiveness Profile provides a highly structured process through which to look at the large and often complex subject of communicating with others. The subject is therefore broken down into seven sub-categories as follows:

  • Empathizing
  • Receiving
  • Clarifying
  • Understanding
  • Reading Nonverbal Clues
  • Feedback Giving
  • Transmitting Your Message

Communication: Coaching Guide with Storyboard 

This coaching guide on Effective Communication Skills follows the four stages on the storyboard:

  • Understand and appreciate both your style.
  • Create the right environment.
  • Address any communication barriers.
  • Work your way towards mutual understanding.

The four stages are broken down into the 11 frames on the storyboard.  Suggested questions are provided that you can ask your client to help open up the conversation. Your client can refer to their own separate storyboard as a guide to the conversation as you invite your client to think about ways to enhance their communication.

Photo by Thirdman

Cover Photo by fauxels

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