10 Cross Cultural Communication Worksheets to Improve Your Intercultural Skills
The world is evolving, and so is our cultural landscape. As a result, it’s becoming more and more important to have strong intercultural communication skills. Effective cross-cultural communication is essential for businesses, teams, and individuals who want to succeed in a world where international interactions have become the norm. If you’re looking for ways to upskill in this area, this article outlines ten cross-cultural communication worksheets that will help you do so.
1. Cultures Collide
This worksheet is an excellent way to get a group of people talking about diversity and the challenges of cross-cultural communication. The exercise breaks the room into small groups, and each group is assigned a culture. Each group creates a list of generalizations about their culture and then presents them to the other groups. The other groups then decide whether they agree or disagree and why. This exercise promotes discussion and challenges prejudices.
2. Communication Styles
Every culture has its unique communication style. This worksheet asks participants to identify how they typically communicate, exploring both their verbal and non-verbal language. It challenges the participants to consider the expectations and interpretations of the other cultures they interact with daily.
3. Mind Mapping
This exercise encourages imaginative thinking and problem-solving. Participants are asked to list all of the cultural barriers they face in their job or project. They then identify all of the possible solutions to overcome these barriers, creating a mind map that helps them see how different solutions could work together.
4. The Culture Map
In this worksheet, participants learn about different cultural orientations, including communication, relationship-building, decision-making, and hierarchy. People can use this resource to appreciate the varying cultural backgrounds and the nuances that exist across different cultures.
5. Cultural Intelligence
Cultural Intelligence assessment is an excellent tool for exploring your understanding of cultural diversity and your capacity to operate in a multicultural environment. Participants complete a survey that helps them identify their cultural competence, which enables them to improve communication skills and develop cultural competency.
6. Cultural Iceberg
This exercise asks participants to consider the visible and underlying elements of culture. The visible aspects of culture are easy to see, such as food and clothes, but the underlying ones, such as values and beliefs, are less apparent. Participants are asked to create their cultural iceberg to determine their cultural norms and how other cultures may differ.
7. Cultural Shock
Cultural shock is a common experience for many people when they enter a new environment. This worksheet helps participants appreciate the difficulties people experience when undergoing cultural shock or relocating. The exercise challenges people to identify their own cultural shock experiences and how they could help those entering their culture overcome their fear.
8. Stereotypes
This worksheet helps identify stereotyping and creates awareness about its potential risks and negative impacts. Participants explore the generalizations they make about other cultures, the sources of these generalizations, and the possible use in communication.
9. Intercultural Competence Rubrics
This exercise demonstrates how evaluations can measure cross-cultural competence in individuals. Participants are asked to write a self-report and a peer-evaluation on their cross-cultural competence after having taken a cross-cultural course.
10. Personal Reflection
This worksheet is a personalized reflection exercise. Participants are asked to reflect on their cultural awareness, the hurdles to overcome, what they have learned, and how they can continue to grow. This exercise challenges participants to identify areas for self-development by self-appraisal.
Conclusion
Cross-cultural communication is essential to personal development, business success, and team building. These ten cross-cultural communication worksheets provide practical tools to develop intercultural communication skills. By using these worksheets, individuals and businesses can foster cultural diversity and create inclusive environments.
