Multicultural communication for real estate, the office and life
Dubai, as we all know, is an expat city with over 200 nationalities represented. Due to the cosmopolitan nature of the city, it’s important to build sensitivity towards different perceptions and improve your cultural quotient because we work and interact with many cultures on a daily basis. Is it possible to become more culturally aware as real estate agents in Dubai? Certainly! Let’s look at how to increase multicultural awareness both at the workplace and in life in general.
We actually tend to make stereotypes about others (although few will admit to doing so). How often do any of us actually consider how cultural context shapes a situation and think through the steps that can be taken to be more effective in dealing with people from outside our culture? I am fairly certain we have all had situations where our cultural differences made communication difficult. And when communication is difficult, the chance of a successful sale is next to impossible. This is why we should not discount the importance of cultural awareness in business environments.
We are fans of the work of Erin Meyers at Bayut Academy and we have created a multicultural awareness training workshop incorporating some of her work. The gist of her work is that you can improve your relationships by considering where you and your clients fall on each of the eight scales outlined below.
- Communicating: Implicit versus explicit
- Evaluating: direct negative feedback v indirect negative feedback
- Persuading: principles-first or applications first
- Leading: egalitarian or hierarchical
- Deciding: consensual or top-down
- Trusting: task-based or relationship-based
- Disagreeing: confrontational or avoids confrontation
- Scheduling: linear time or flexible time
Improving Cultural Awareness for Real Estate Agents
While all of these scales are important to consider, we will focus on some of these, which are most important to build multicultural awareness for real estate sales. In particular, communicating, trusting and scheduling.
Communicating
As an American, I believe we are the most explicit culture out there (meaning little intuitive understanding is required or straight-talk is the norm). This is not the case for Arab and Asian cultures (implicit) where communication is layered, subtle and reading between the lines is the norm. Issues can occur as people from explicit cultures may perceive an implicit communicator as secretive or lacking transparency. Conversely, people from implicit cultures may view an explicit communicator as being condescending and stating the obvious (“you really don’t need to say this, we all understand!”). It can become even more difficult if you are a non-native speaker or have to frequently deal with customers who speak a different language. To fine tune your communication skills, check out some of our useful English language tips for real estate agents in Dubai.
The point here is that while you may be considered a top communicator in your home culture, this style may not work so well with people from other cultures. In order to make sure a faux-pas does not occur, prepare ahead of time and adjust your communication style as a real estate agent to be more culturally appropriate.
Trusting
On the trusting scale, countries are rated from highly task-based to highly relationship based. On the trusting scale, the USA, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Australia fall on the task-based side. To put it bluntly, business is business and business relationships are quickly built and quickly dropped.
Conversely, the relationship-based countries which are located in the Middle East, the Sub-Continent, Russia and Latin America, spend time building relationships in order to establish the trust necessary to do business. These cultures meet for tea, coffee, after work and take time to build relationships. In these cultures, business is personal. A Dutchman trying to secure a quick transaction from an Emirati will most likely not be successful.
As a real estate agent, be aware of how to build trust with different cultures, because we all know one of the biggest tips to increase real estate sales is building trust.
Scheduling
Linear cultures such as Germany, Switzerland, UK, USA and Denmark approach project steps sequentially, one thing at a time and there is a focus on promptness and sticking to the schedule. In these cultures, there is a big difference between 9:00 am and 9:10 am. Interruptions are not widely accepted during meetings.
Flexible cultures such as the Middle East, Africa, and Latin countries, approach things fluidly and change tasks as opportunities arise. Many things can be dealt with at once and interruptions are widely accepted. The emphasis here is that adaptability and flexibility are valued over the organization. Here there is minimal difference between 9:00 AM and 9:20 AM. If you struggle with being on time and find working with linear cultures challenges, check our useful tips for time management.
While it is true that humans are fundamentally the same, we are driven by our cultural norms. We are all conditioned to understand the world in a certain way and to see certain communication patterns as effective or ineffective. In no way are we implying you should think that someone will behave a certain way based on their cultural background. However, understanding patterns and norms can be highly valuable in preventing cultural faux-pas or misinterpreting an intention. In a global city, such as Dubai, it is imperative that we have the ability to decode cultural differences in order to work effectively with clients and colleagues. An added benefit of multicultural awareness is that it enables you to have a broader view of situations.
It is challenging and also extremely interesting. Would you like to learn more and attend a two-hour workshop on multicultural awareness training to explore all the dimensions outlined above? If so contact us at academy@bayut.com.
