UX Lessons in Navigating Challenges in Cross-Cultural Teams
In today’s globalised world, businesses are increasingly expanding their operations to different regions, including the diverse Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
However, global expansion often poses challenges, from language barriers that stifle communication to cultural norms that inhibit feedback.
As UX designers, we believe in the power of empathy — not just toward users, but also our clients — and have found that an empathetic approach goes a long way in helping to navigate global projects and bridge cultural gaps. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Collaborative workshops help build shared understanding.
Hosting collaborative workshops with clients is incredibly insightful for learning the ins and outs of a specific market and helping you both understand local challenges and cultural nuances. Collaborating with clients helps UX designers foster an open and inclusive partnership in which both parties work together, ensuring that interface designs avoid cultural faux pas and resonate with the intended audience.
Clients deeply understand the local challenges and often possess insight into their audiences already, and by leveraging this knowledge, potential oversights are easily mitigated. Let’s look at language for example. Ensuring seamless communication with users in their native language is essential for the success of any project. Therefore, we strive to assist our clients in simplifying and optimising the process of translating interfaces.
In setting up collaborative workshops, you’re likely to run into one of three types of clients:
- The collaborative client: These are keen to participate in workshops and look forward to the research outcomes. They are highly participatory, appreciate collaboration, and are open to ideas. I advise designers working with these clients to create an inclusive environment that values their input, involve them in decision-making to strengthen their sense of ownership and encourage them to share their industry knowledge and insights.
- The non-participatory (but curious) client: Sometimes, multiple client stakeholders are present in different countries for a single project. Finding a standard time for each of them to participate in workshops thus becomes a struggle. Clients with these complexities may not be enthusiastic participants in workshop activities, but they may be curious about the results of the discovery report. When giving these clients a little push to become involved in the process, I recommend providing clear outcomes, explaining why their participation is important, and being open to flexibility.
- The domain expert or the visionary client: These clients have a clear vision and marketing objectives. They provide a comprehensive brief and consistently participate in workshop activities with active attention. While they may not readily embrace new ideas or deviate from established objectives, they are receptive to well-reasoned UX rationale and are open to calculated risks. To work effectively with this group, lean into their expertise and passion and connect their vision to UX rationale. Balance objectives and innovation to further link their goals with fresh, innovative ideas.
Challenges still remain — here’s how to overcome them.
No matter how learned in the client is collaboration and participation, you may still find yourself with challenges. Below are some challenges that we’ve faced and how we’ve moved past them.
Decision-making paralysis:
This often results from complicated stakeholder dynamics and the need for an assertive decision-maker. Local factors such as language and cultural barriers heavily influence this issue. I advise providing a framework and criteria for making decisions to address this. In addition, clearly define the objectives and desired outcomes right at the start of any project. This helps ensure everyone works toward a common goal.
Resistance to feedback:
Cultural factors—such as hierarchical structures, collectivist values and a reluctance to openly challenge authority or admit to shortcomings—can deter timely feedback. When faced with this, communicate the impact of delays by highlighting how they can impact the project timeline, budget and overall success.
Also, consider upskilling clients by providing them with an overview of UX design principles and methodologies. This will empower them to contribute more effectively during the co-creating session.
Language barriers:
Language and cultural barriers, particularly in diverse international settings, further impact communication. Diverse accents and communication styles can lead to misinterpretations and misunderstandings. It can also impact the level of participation and influence of stakeholders in the activities.
Language barriers can extend to projects where your user group speaks a different local language. How do you research these users, then? Auditing a foreign language website can take longer than expected as you must use translation tools or translators.
To overcome language barriers in workshop settings, incorporate tools with robust language transcription capabilities. Consider incorporating multilingual facilitators or interpreters to bridge language gaps seamlessly. Utilise visual aids and interactive exercises to enhance clarity and mitigate potential misinterpretations arising from different accents or linguistic nuances, thereby bridging communication gaps.
Take an approach rooted in empathy.
Our clients are domain experts yet may struggle to articulate their ideas with the creativity our partners provide. To address this, we enhance their potential and ensure business success by actively listening, empathising and refining our communication to align with their vision.
Teamwork is the cornerstone of our approach. We promote effective collaboration by assigning a facilitator to manage group dynamics, promote equal participation, and mediate conflicts. This role steers discussions towards productivity while fostering a positive team atmosphere. We also designate helpers or notetakers to manage time and document proceedings. They meticulously plan the agenda, segmenting it into manageable parts with set timeframes for each activity. Flexibility is key, including scheduled breaks to ensure a conducive working environment.
Dealing with the complexities of local, cultural and language differences, our collaborative UX workshops serve as a springboard that unlocks our clients' full potential. Offering these workshops to your clients thus helps foster deeper relationships with them, allowing you to address initial project obstacles and offer design solutions for diverse user communities.
