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88 Cross-Cultural Communication
key to successful business relationships, and the conversation around the 
water- cooler, the formal banquet and the coffee break are all networking 
opportunities to get to know people personally. One hedge fund manager 
once said that the best way to get to know his investment partners on brief 
visits to London was on the way to the lift after the meeting, so he always 
made a point of seeing his guests out himself.
Three qualities are essential to effective networking:
the ability to listen, which we have covered earlier in this chapter;
the ability to empathize;
the ability to ask questions.
The ability to ask questions
There are two skills involved when networking: ‘how to break the ice’ and 
how to avoid embarrassing subjects, as the latter could be an ‘ice-maker’. 
Many political subjects may be taboo, for example, comments on human 
rights, pollution or changes of government, all of which may be unwel-
come, as may questions about wives, partners and families, which might be 
intrusive in some cultures but welcomed in others such as Latin cultures. In 
many parts of the world, the use of football as an ice- breaker may not go 
down well in countries whose national sport is ice- hockey or some other less 
widely played sport. Useful ice- breakers could include asking people where 
they come from, what they did in their previous job and whether they have 
travelled abroad much before. Such questions provide opportunities in a 
neutral, non- threatening way to find out more about people without touch-
ing on any controversial topics and giving them the opportunity to speak 
about themselves.
The UNEC project
In 2008, the EU Uniting Europe through Culture (UNEC) project provided a 
formula for analysing cultural differences. It identified five steps for dealing 
with cultural communication misunderstanding and behavioural differ-
ences by analysing cultural experience:
(1)
Know your own culture. Understand what happens in your own culture. 
This can often happen only by confronting step 2.
(2)
Identify difference. Examine what is different in the foreign culture 
from the expected communication style or behaviour in your own 
culture.
(3)
Empathize. Attempt to understand why people in the foreign culture 
communicate or behave in different ways from what you expect. Try to 
ascertain what expectations and values these signify.
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Developing Cross- Cultural Communication Skills 89
(4)
Use your cross- cultural skills to manage the difference. Analyse what you 
need to do to adapt in order to achieve a successful outcome.
(5)
Reflect on what you have learned from the experience and how it will 
influence future behaviour. Analyse what you will do, say and think 
when you next face a similar situation.