Three potential derailers to avoid in Anglo-Saxon cultures
What should you avoid as a leader or as a professional working in America, Britain, Canada and Australia, because it could lead you off the tracks in a successful career?
- Not paying attention to the context, the situation, the background.
Everything has a context; but the Anglo-Saxon cultures emphasise being objective, going straight to the point and deliberately overlooking the context. By contrast, Germanic and Latino cultures are regarded as high-context cultures, in which a lot of attention is dedicated to the background of situations, rather than focusing only in the immediate issue.
Values are the core of culture. So, whenever we talk about culture differences, we are actually talking about values. The reason behind the differences among Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Latino cultures are all about values.
2. Related to high-context and low-context focus is the notion of multitasking.
In this case, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic cultures both emphasise approaching one task at a time, while Latino, Mediterranean and African cultures foster multitasking: the ability to do two, three or more things simultaneously.
Some British and American researchers set out to prove that multitasking is actually impossible. This is kind of weird, because we can see everyday examples of multitasking… so, why try to prove that it cannot be done?
Well, basically to justify culture values: that it is “good” to tackle one thing at a time, while it is “bad” to do more than one thing at once. These researchers argued that, in fact, people who think they are multitasking are actually simply shifting their attention very quickly back and forth between tasks. They are approaching each task at a time, and not really paying attention to three things simultaneously.
The problem with this “conclusion” is that it is flawed by culture bias. Multitasking can very well be accomplished by shifting your attention quickly among three different things. Nobody said that in order to call it “multitasking” a person needs to pay attention simultaneously (at any given moment) to the three tasks. So what, if the person pays attention for two seconds on the stove, five seconds on the baby who is playing in the kitchen floor, and five seconds on the phone where she is texting, then back to the stove, and so on? For all practical purposes, this person is multitasking and millions of mothers are doing this all over the world while you are reading this.
The issue here is the definition of multitasking. Yes, it can be done more easily by certain people compared to others. Yes, as a general rule, more women can do this better than most men. And yes, certain cultures foster these skills (quick-shifting among tasks) while others emphasise that one should avoid doing this. Most Anglo-Saxons and Germanics have more difficulty with this, but they do not need to feel so bad about it.
3. Another common behaviour related to values that could potentially derail a leader or employee’s progress is short-term thinking. Once again, this is more commonly emphasised in Anglo-Saxon cultures, where most people focus on quarterly results and anything that goes beyond the next quarter tends to be seen as “long-term thinking.” Compare this with the Chinese culture, where thinking in decades is common for most people.
No culture is better than another.
However, if we look at “potential derailers” in the Anglo-Saxon cultures, then we should look at these three aspects: overlooking context, difficulty in multitasking, and short-term thinking.
This is important because the world is becoming increasingly complex; and complexity requires you to be skilled at considering the context, multitasking, and looking long-term impact. Climate change is an example, but there are many others.
So, how can one overcome these potential derailers?
First, be aware of this as an issue.
Second, be aware that culture has an impact on what you do. It’s up to you to do something about your own behaviour, or not. It’s your choice.
Third, try to develop the opposite behaviour by deliberately practicing a different attitude. Look at the context. Experiment with multitasking. Ask yourself about long-term trends and the long-term impact of what you are doing.
This should keep you out of trouble.
