Listening to the air

In high-context cultures communication is all about listening to the air, according to Erin Meyer. It is not about what is said literally but what is meant by taking in who said it, where, when and how. Oftentimes it is about what is not being said. This means that communicating with people from high-contect cultures requires great listening skills.

Reading the room

Messages are more subtle, implicit or layered in many African, Asian, Latin-American and even some European countries. It takes much more effort to see the whole picture and interpret messages correctly, even for people from other high-context cultures who are not familar with another context.  It takes practice to read from people's body language how they feel about the topic. The often cited expression 'Yes, no problem' in India could mean 'yes' and 'no problem' but also 'not sure, could be a problem' or  'yes, this is a problem'...the head gesture will give you a clue about what the person really is trying to say. If someone in Japan or China is not comfortable with the situation they probably try to leave the room or conversation without indicating. And this could very well have happend also in the meeting of Dr. Boateng in Ghana.

In working with people from high-context cultures it is therefore recommended to:

Do's:

- make an assessment of the situation and people involved

- observe non-verbal signs

- listen to what is not being said

- ask open questions for clarification

Don'ts:

- rush the conversation

- assume that you got it

- ask closed and direct questions