‘Bridging Borders: Intercultural Insights’, with Charlotte Kennett
Charlotte Kennett, Senior Director of Global Customer Experience at SS&C Blue Prism, brings a wealth of international experience to her role. As she recently conducted a masterclass on intercultural management for the Women in CX community, we were interested in hearing more!
Building on the insights shared during the masterclass, we delve deeper into Charlotte's experiences and expertise in managing global projects. From her diverse background as the ‘English girl’ in Switzerland to her professional journey across continents, Charlotte offers candid reflections and practical advice for navigating cultural differences.
You've had a diverse career working in international roles across different countries. How has your own intercultural background influenced your approach to managing global projects?
That is such an interesting question! I think it really started from my own cultural “shock” across the years.
As a kid in Switzerland, I was always the “English girl”, and when I moved to France at 18, I was the “Swiss girl”. I have always been acutely aware of cultural differences growing up, without being able to necessarily put my finger on the “why” or being able to explain it, but it always fascinated me.
Thankfully, I also got exposed very early on that people in different countries work very differently, and that it requires being open-minded, curious and flexible, especially if you want to be able to influence and get work done!
My first role was working for the European headquarters of a Japanese company in France, I don’t think you can get much more diverse in terms of a cultural melting pot!
Can you share an example of how cultural differences have meant you’ve had to adapt based on the country or region you’ve worked in?
I remember my very first business trip to the UK, while I was interning for a French agency. France has a relatively codified work culture, and tends to be process-heavy and hierarchical. And, despite having English parents, I also grew up in Switzerland, where structure and respect are very much engrained in our DNA: I wasn’t aware of how chill the Brits are in a work environment. I remember feeling genuinely offended and vexed when someone I didn’t know, addressed me as “Charlotte” instead of “Mrs. Kubler” (my maiden name) when we first met.
After realising it wasn’t just one individual that was overly cavalier, and that that’s just how people were at work in the UK, I just needed to learn to relax my approach a bit. That event was actually what triggered my ambition of moving to the UK! Hofstede will define this as the “Power Distance” within his Cultural Dimensions model: France has a high Power Distance Index (PDI), whereas the UK’s is lower.
In a more recent example, we noticed that we tended to score lower in the Nordics when running NPS/CSAT programs. At first, we were concerned that there was genuinely a delivery issue in the region. However, when digging into the comments, scores and meeting with the teams and customers 1:1, we realised that customers would genuinely consider a 7/10 or 4/5 a good score. Here, these findings and learnings encouraged us to adapt how we interpret and action the data in a global context.
During your WiCX masterclass, you discussed the concept of polychronic versus monochronic cultures regarding time perception. Can you explain how these concepts work?
This is, for me, the most important thing to consider when working across cultures: acknowledging that different cultures have a different perception and approach to time and tasks.
A monochronic culture will have a very linear approach to time: one task after the other. They will tend to plan methodically and be punctual. They will base their work on facts, research, and documentation. This is the predominant view for Germanic, Northern European and Anglo-Saxon countries. (This research comes from T. Morden, Models of a National Culture, 1999)
Whereas a polychronic culture will be driven by the outcome and output over the series of tasks required to get there. As a result, they don’t see punctuality or plans as a necessity and will prefer to get first-hand information, flexibility and multi-tasking. We’ll often see this within Eastern European, Latin, African and Arabic countries.
“This is, for me, the most important thing to consider when working across cultures.”
Knowing that the Swiss tend to be one of the most monochronic cultures, imagine how much outside of my comfort zone it was for me to run a project in the Middle East, where our customers would just not turn up to meetings, or when they did, just wanted to talk about non-work related things! We got there in the end, and what helped was being open about our differences and trying to find a middle ground.
In your experience, how has this difference in time perception affected project management and business interactions?
Any business wanting to do work with an international customer base needs to be aware of some of these fundamental differences and be willing to work with people locally to help them “localise” their approach. As a business or professional, if you are unwilling to be open-minded or flexible, you just won’t succeed. It’s as simple as that.
If you are working within a monochronic culture, you need to factor in that learning curve, and potential curveballs that working with a polychronic culture may bring within your project, risk mitigation and change management plans.
Areas of contention I’ve often seen this come up in are mostly linked to legal documentation, as well as time-based billing (when the contract is linked to a set of hours). In these cases, I recommend anticipating and defining an acceptable legal framework and reviewing elements of the business model (like moving away from hourly rates).
As an example, I remember being told by a business partner in the Middle East that the project I was on was the first time that our joint customer had signed a contract with a technology vendor and that most deals are agreed upon with a shake of a hand. I couldn’t wrap my head around that!
You mentioned an experience of joining a meeting that started with a prayer. How do you believe leadership can balance cultural practices within a diverse team while maintaining inclusivity and respect?
This is such a loaded and sensitive topic. I feel that it comes back to the comment I made above: if you want to do international business, you need to do it with an open mind and flexibility. You need to be able to acknowledge differences and be willing to adapt your messaging (and leadership) to your audience.
However, and for this example specifically, I think it’s important to separate geographical and organisational culture. Some organisations have spirituality and religion as part of the fabric of their culture and ethos, and whoever decides to engage with this organisation will choose to do this knowingly. In the same way, they may engage with organisations that have certain political views or values in general.
From a more generic perspective, if you are choosing to bring religion and spirituality into a work context, you need to be mindful of the impact this may have. Yes, spirituality and religion have a very important part in many cultures, in the same way that other cultures completely dissociate them from matters of business and politics and may alienate some stakeholders.
Of course, you will never be able to please everyone, but without that first step of awareness, then the rest will never follow.
I am a strong advocate for educating anyone working in a global role on some of the fundamentals of intercultural management, and I firmly believe that anyone in a form of management or a leadership position should be given some form of training on the topic. Yes, this is a diversity and inclusion matter on top of it being a cultural one.
“You will never be able to please everyone, but without that first step of awareness, then the rest will never follow.”
You emphasised the importance of understanding how cultures process emotions, whether they are outwardly expressed or internalised. How do you navigate these cultural differences?
As the name would indicate, cultures that tend to exteriorise their emotions will express their feelings relatively easily, and ones that are internalised will tend to keep these emotions to themselves.
For example, it will be very hard to get a “no” from someone in Japan, as that is considered too much of an emotional response. They will say “we will consider it”. In a support setting, peer-to-peer communities won’t often work in Japan, because it would require individuals to acknowledge that they weren’t able to do something, and they don’t want to lose face.
Whereas in French, there is this expression that says that “complaining is the digestion of your soul” – which I think is a great way of illustrating why they are a culture that is notoriously vocal about their emotions.
Added to that layer of externalised/internalised, it’s often important to consider the importance that work has in the culture. Do people tend to work to live, or live to work?
Whereas both the Japanese and Nordic cultures are considered to be internalised when it comes to expressing these emotions, the Japanese have a very close relationship with their work on day-to-day life. Whereas we (I) are all very jealous of the funded parental leave our friends in the Nordics have.
In these situations, I often think it’s best to be curious, open and honest. Ask one of your local colleagues what are the usual working hours in the region. What type of small talk happens at the start of meetings? Be observant!
As someone with extensive global experience, how do you approach adapting to new cultural norms and practices when entering a new market or engaging with a new team?
Curiosity, flexibility, honesty.
Be curious: Get to know the humans you are engaging with. Beyond the geographical culture they are part of, are they part of any sub-culture worth noting? How do they engage and interact? Ask questions!
Be flexible: You are going to need to adapt how you work. Try to see if you can find a middle ground with whomever you’re working with, or adapt your messaging/strategy. One size doesn’t fit all.
Be honest: You’re going to mess up. As an individual, as a leader, as an organisation. Be open to feedback, do your research, listen to what people have to say, own it, and do better.
If you have the opportunity to travel to the locations/destinations of the people you are working with: soak it up. Not everyone will want to spend time with you outside of meetings (see my notes above; that’s OK!), but there is so much you can learn by just browsing in a local supermarket or taking public transport.
If jumping on a plane across the world isn’t an option… don’t laugh at me, but TikTok is a treasure trove of real-life examples of cultural differences. Again, no better way to learn than from the people themselves!
