The Culture Map provides a framework for handling intercultural di erences illustrates
how di erent cultures perceive the world. It helps us understand these di erences, and
in doing so improves our ability to react to certain behaviours that might have once
seemed strange. With this knowledge, we can avoid misunderstandings and maintain
conflict-free communication, regardless of where we are in the world. It is only when
you start to identify what makes your culture di erent from others that you can begin to
open a dialogue of sharing, learning and ultimately understanding. as i read this book,
mind is open to di erent ways of thinking, synthesising information, and
communicating, well beyond the actual work we do every day. We may all speak the
same language, but we can still struggle to understand the barriers in achieving a goal
because we think, behave, emote, and process information in relation to our culture,
environment, education systems, thinking styles, and most importantly — how we build
trust.
Erin Meyer’s book, ‘The Culture Map’ can help us understand and adapt faster to
cultural di erences at work. 1. Are you working in a high-context or low-context culture?
Understanding this principle, was the ‘Aha!’ moment I was waiting for. When I
understood how explicit and implicit cultures communicate di erently, I got my answer
to many questions that were swimming in my head. i am from a high-context culture
(Uganda) that shares a long communal history where sound communication is based
on similar upbringing, shared knowledge, and reading between the lines — to a fairly
mixed culture here at the CR o ice. With some nationalities, nothing is implied, and
everything is explicitly stated. For others, it a little similar to my culture but that is just a
few people i interact with. I will say most most of my interactions are with those from
low-context cultures such as the US, Canada, and the UK, people who value simple,
direct, and concise communication. The way you think and structure information is the
foundation for how you communicate, persuade, write, and speak and this varies in
every culture based on how we’re taught to learn, reason, and build arguments by our
education systems. In some cultures, they rely on applications-first thinking, people are
very ‘specific and detail-oriented’, like to “get to the point quickly”, and focus on the
‘how’ of achieving a goal. Whereas in principles-first cultures, rely on ‘holistic’ thinking
patterns, they value laying the groundwork and understanding the ‘why’ before reaching
conclusions. And this di erence changes how you persuade and influence an audience
while building the narrative or while presenting to a group.
How is trust built in the culture you’re working in? Di erent cultures build trust and
understanding in di erent ways. In Uganda, we focus on building trust by building
relationships (also known as ‘a ective trust’), whereas in other countries, trust is built
based on performance and abilities, and these cultures focus on what is known as
‘cognitive trust’. A quality that’s intrinsic to the work culture here, is how the lines
between work and business relationships are almost always blurred. Your manager,
colleagues, and even your agency partners become some of your closest friends over
time (because you spend close to 10-11 hours every day together), and here trust is built
by being flexible towards each other’s working styles and unique motivations. Whereas
in Western cultures, work relationships are strictly business and trust is built only on
task-based performance. Personally, I believe, cultures that lean towards building
relationship-based trust can build happier team cultures that contribute to better long-
term results.
