Cultural Insights
Seeing beneath the surface
Cross-cultural psychology looks at how culture influences behaviour, decision-making, and motivation—especially when people work together.
While it may sound like a newer field, the study of behaviour across cultures has been developing for decades. What’s changed is how relevant it has become in modern organisations, where teams are increasingly diverse in background, values, and working styles.
This phase invites the reader to shift perspective:
What if misunderstandings aren’t personal—but cultural?
Progress marker: You’ve gained a new lens.
What do we mean by culture?
When we talk about culture, we’re rarely talking about the obvious things.
Culture isn’t just where we come from, the language we speak, or the traditions we recognise. It quietly shapes how we make decisions, how we communicate, and how we interpret the behaviour of others—often without us realising it.
At this stage, the goal isn’t to define culture perfectly.
It’s to notice that we all carry invisible assumptions about what feels “normal.”
Progress marker: You’ve unlocked awareness.
Recognising the hidden patterns
In my work—particularly as a conference speaker with the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology—I use well-established cultural dimensions to help teams uncover what’s happening beneath the surface.
These dimensions act like a map. They help explain why:
communication breaks down
motivation differs across people
the same goal can be approached in completely different ways
Once these patterns are visible, confusion often turns into clarity.
Progress marker: You can now spot the pattern, not just the problem.
From difference to understanding
Understanding cultural differences isn’t about labelling people or putting them into boxes.
It’s about recognising that identity, motivation, and success can look very different depending on the cultural lenses we use. When teams understand this, conversations change. Assumptions soften. Collaboration becomes more intentional.
This is where insight turns into action—improving communication styles and helping teams work together more cohesively, without forcing uniformity.
Progress marker: You’ve unlocked connection.
Working with culture, not against it
At this stage, the reader understands something important:
Culture isn’t a problem to solve. It’s a dynamic to work with.
By recognising how cultural influences shape behaviour, organisations and teams can align more naturally—supporting motivation, goal attainment, and shared understanding in ways that feel human rather than imposed.
This is where progress feels less like effort, and more like flow.
Final state: You’re now navigating culture, not reacting to it.
The approach emerged from real cultures, conversations, and high pressure environments, where years of observation culminating in research revealed that performance improves when we work with our internal systems and context. Never by forcing outcomes for the sake of a performance.