Listening is vital in international manufacturing

The globalization of the automotive industry has exponentially increased the amount of international, cross-cultural interaction between industry personnel. As suppliers take steps to expand their geographic reach, such as forming joint ventures and setting up facilities outside of their home country, employees are called upon to negotiate across the table or work alongside counterparts from other countries. People may have common ground in the substance of their work, but the ability to communicate clearly about it is often a different matter.

We are fortunate that English is the common language between people of different countries for most business dealings, but accents and vocabulary can limit understanding. We had the opportunity to observe this in a series of strategy sessions with a company that regularly sends staff from the home office in Japan to work at its U.S. operations. Participants had a wide range of fluency in English. Many of the Japanese attendees did not speak at all, although we assume they were following the proceedings.

Alan Headbloom, of Headbloom Cross-Cultural Communication, is a linguist who specializes in helping foreign-born professionals communicate with comfort and accuracy.

Headbloom explains, “There is a huge difference between studying a foreign language and speaking a foreign language. This is especially noticeable in Japan, which has a culture of face-saving and not standing out. In language learning, you have to look foolish, putting strange sounds in your mouth, taking risks of being wrong. This is compounded because the teachers often focus on grammar and writing, instead of speaking and listening.”

Fluency is a practical problem, but it is also an issue for the career development of the individual employee. We all make judgments about individuals based on their speech, their fluency, and their vocabularies. That might not be fair, according to Headbloom.

“If a foreign engineer gives really short explanations to the problem the team is working on, the Americans may think he’s not very knowledgeable. In fact, it may be that he is working hard at not making a mistake – a preoccupation of many language learners – and so is only putting out short, confidently correct utterances,” Headbloom explains. “It may be he has only one way to describe the issue, where a native might judge his team is not following and then look to paraphrase.”

The same issue would face American managers stationed in their company’s offshore operations, but it is less common because they tend to rely on English and use interpreters rather than mastering the local language.

Given the reality that non-native speakers of English must meet us more than halfway, it seems appropriate to invest in helping them do that comfortably and well. The essence of Headbloom’s work is to equip people to fit in. They need to be girded with the right language tools, rules, and the cultural understanding to be full-fledged participants in their new world. Working to improve understandability is valuable because productivity is better if communication is relatively effortless and everyone is comfortable offering input. It’s also just tiring for everyone – the natives and internationals alike, to constantly ask or hear, “I’m sorry. Could you repeat that?”

Operational excellence is essential to success in the highly competitive global auto industry, and sometimes seemingly small things can make a big difference.

Melissa Anderson Consulting LLC
mandersonconsultingllc@gmail.com

About the author: Melissa Anderson, owner of Melissa Anderson Consulting LLC, has consulted with automotive suppliers extensively since 1986.