Japan has a giant-sized problem to solve right now. They have three years to break through a perceived language barrier in their tourist industry to attract 40 million visitors to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. One solution they are currently implementing is to replace the country’s unique tourist site pictograms with international signage that is easily understood by anyone from any culture or geographical region. It is one part of a significant push to extend the spirit of omotenashi (hospitality) to visitors and foreign-based businesses. This is a great start, however, language is not the only consideration to break through cultural barriers.
Language is only one of ten primary message systems found in every culture, according to anthropologist Edward Hall, who wrote the book The Silent Language (1973, 38-59). Other cultural considerations are temporality, territoriality, exploitation, association, subsistence, bisexuality, learning, play and defense.
And, tourism isn’t the only sector that needs to get onboard with the concept of omotenashi or take into consideration customer and employee cultural differences.
Pretty much all businesses, from mom-and-pop niche services to massive multi-country conglomerates, are discovering how necessary it is to train employees to avoid crossing cultural barriers that could potentially negatively impact your bottom line profits.
A big question businesses need to ask right now is: does my company have a defined corporate culture, practices and procedures in place to hire, train and retain quality employees from various cultures?
Additionally, you need to ask: are we maximizing our ability to diversify our products and platforms to satisfy customers across all cultures?
If that answer is “no” or “we can do better,” we got you covered at Interactive Services. We offer 80 plus training services, to include Cultural Barriers and Compliance Training that help you stay on top of worldwide business practices and regulations.
We do the work to understand current laws and marketplace trends so you don’t have to spend time away from doing what you love and making your customers happy.
You can choose from preset training packages or tailor programs to fit your specific needs. Here are a few of our standard classes to keep your employees and your business on track: HIPPA, conflict of interest, high-risk activities, sexual harassment, social media, business ethics and competition law.
Our training platforms are available in multiple languages, and we pride ourselves on creating user-friendly, engaging compliance training your employees want to take.
We would love to talk to you and show you a demo today.