Everybody has a set of beliefs that helps define who we are. We could call these our cultures. They dictate how we behave towards others and how we treat others. While there might be similarities between cultures, no two cultures are the same. When living with people of different cultures, it is important to learn about them in order to be more tolerant of others.
To discuss intercultural sensitivity, it seemed only natural to interview Anne-Claude Lambelet, a French national born in Vietnam who spent her childhood in Cameroon and Australia. Anne-Claude now lives in Geneva. As a relocation expert, she has spent her whole career working with people who were moving to Geneva from different parts of the world, or leaving Geneva to go and work in different countries. We spoke to Anne-Claude about how understanding each other’s cultures is important for people who have to work together in a multicultural environment.
Ms. Lambelet’s career path
Anne-Claude has spent many years in the relocation business. She worked for relocations companies and even had her own relocation company. “This was and has always been my passion,” states Anne-Claude. “Helping people who are moving to Switzerland to settle in and to get the services they need.”
During this time, Lambelet was one of the founding members of SARA, the Swiss Association of Relocation Agents. This association was formed to enable the relocation companies in Switzerland to be able to get international recognition for their exemplary services and the European quality seal given by EuRA, the European body for quality control in relocation.
After over 30 years actively in the relocation industry, including some years as the president of SARA, Lambelet decided to slow down and take on fewer responsibilities.
“Switzerland is a multi-cultural country in all aspects of it, from the people who live here to the people they do business with. It is only natural that you should understand how to reach out to people you work with or for.” She is currently an Intercultural Competence and Career Transition Expert. In this position, she gives cultural training to different groups of people who work for multinationals. She is also a Board Member of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR) Switzerland and a International Dual Career Network (IDCN) preferred provider.
Necessity for intercultural sensitivity
“Take the example of an American and a Japanese person working together in Geneva. They have something in common: their job. Everything else related to how they work and how they relate to each other is not necessarily the same,” relates Anne-Claude. According to her, it would clearly be helpful to their relationship if they understood why and how each of them react to different situations. That way, they are able to accommodate each other.
Most of our intercultural exposure is through the internet or the media, in which sometimes aspects of a culture are highlighted without necessarily explaining why. Also, geography has an impact on behavior: when some have been living in one place for a long time, they begin to adapt their behavior to that environment. For example, people who live in places where it is very cool in the morning and then hot in the afternoon tend to learn to do most of their work early in the morning. They wake up early, work hard and many of them finish work early in the afternoon. Now if they move to a place where this is not the case, it is not uncommon to see them extremely active in the morning and less in the afternoon. They may tend to be “morning people”.
When and who should learn
It is a very crucial thing to learn how to be sensitive to other cultures as soon as possible. “In fact it should be taught at a school level, even before university,” says Lambelet. Someone who is Swiss, living in Switzerland and making Swiss watches might think they do not need this kind of training. However, one day he or she might have to sell products to China, one of the leading consumers of Swiss watches. By understanding the culture, he or she might be better equipped to work on products for that specific market.
Until now, cultural sensitivity has been taught mostly at the post-secondary level and mostly in service industries, like in hotel management schools.
How Ms. Lambelet believes this kind of training would help
When she gives a training session, the first thing Lambelet does is ask the participants to give an example of a stereotype about themselves. There are always stereotypes about cultures. Some may think that Americans are always in a hurry, Africans are always late, Asians are humble or Latinos like to have fun. According to Anne-Claude, “Once you know what others think about you, then it is easier to know what kind of reaction to expect from them.”
The training helps participants to realize that there is more to others than the stereotypes. Intercultural sensitivity training is a very important part of employee development and groups like SIETAR are making sure that everyone has access to it. Ms. Lambelet and her team have been giving this type of training to multinational companies, relocation companies, and colleges. She also offers seminars on the subject. The importance of her work here, for Lambelet, is clear: “Switzerland as a whole is a very multinational country. It would be a real pity if people did not see the advantages to learning from the other cultures.”
I wonder where the majority of your clients come from? Europe or from the US/Africa...? Was the tendency the same a couple of years ago?
Actually Anna, the trends keep changing. I wrote an article on the trends in relocation just before this one (see http://www.gbnews.ch/english/geneva-trends-in-relocation) and you can see that now there is a rise in expats coming from emerging markets like Asia and South America. The more reason why intercultural sensitivity is even more important now since this is a new trend. Before, it was enough to just understand the sensitivities of neighbouring countries, but now it is all about finding a compromise on which the world can rest.