1) Intercultural communication is the ability to communicate across cultural divides, which is a key leadership skill. How culture impacts expectations of communication behavior and which skills are best for intercultural interactions are questions addressed by this research. 2) Effective intercultural communication stems from anticipating how cultural values influence communication, generating multiple explanations for confusing behaviors, and practicing perspective-taking. 3) Developing skills like attributional complexity, communication resourcefulness, self-other overlap and a growth mindset of curiosity, self-awareness and cultural humility can help enable more productive intercultural interactions.

1. Intercultural Communication
Lauren Mackenzie, Ph.D.
Marine Corps University

2. DoD Culture
Centers

3. OUTLINE
1. “Start with Why”
Culture impacts how we make sense of/explain behavior
2. The What: Intercultural Communication
“The ability to communicate across cultural divides is a
key strategic leadership characteristic”
3. The How: Interaction Skills
Better interactions stem from better explanations

5. Different Lenses

6. Cultural Friction Points:
Language vs Communication
Indirectness
Listening Behavior
Purpose of Communication
Nonverbal Display

7. Initial Interactions
• The power of first impressions
• Verbal
• Nonverbal

8. Culture Informs Our Expectations
of “Good” Communication

9. Overlap between Cultural &
Leadership Skills
Perspective-taking
Ability to bridge opposing viewpoints
Contextual thinking

10. Intercultural Communication
•“Lego” metaphor
•Culture, creativity and conflict management

11. Questions Answered by
Intercultural Comm Research
• How does culture impact our
expectations of communication
behavior?
• Which communication skills are
best suited for meeting the
challenges associated with
intercultural interactions?

12. Communication Skills
Communication
Skills

13. “Those who are
proficient in building
relationships with people
from other cultures
tend to be most
effective in other
cultures.”

14. Recommendations
• Attributional Complexity
• Create multiple explanations for behavior
• Increased communication resourcefulness
• “There may be more than one legitimate interpretation”
• Self-Other Overlap
• Ability to articulate points of commonality in conversation
• Mediator between perspective-taking and pro-social
outcomes

15. Key Enablers
Growth Mindset
• Curiosity
• Self-awareness
• Cultural humility
• Perspective-taking
“We had acquired the habit of looking at things two
different ways – from the Japanese angle of vision as well
as from our own national viewpoint. This proved to be the
key to my career and, extended worldwide, it is the only
hope I can see for world peace and human survival.”

16. Intercultural Communication
Hinges On:
• -Anticipating the impact of cultural values on
communication behavior
• -Creating multiple explanations for confusing
behavior
• -Practicing perspective-taking

17. Questions?
Lauren Mackenzie, Ph.D.
Professor of Military Cross-Cultural Competence
Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning
Marine Corps University
Lauren.Mackenzie@usmcu.edu