Getting and keeping a diverse workforce to serve a global customer base is as critical as ever, and the skill of coaching could not be more timely and vital in this environment.

The 30-something white female US manager and the 50-something Indian male worker she is coaching (or vice versa) have much to learn — not simply about each others' worlds, but about the way each makes meaning. Consider this scenario, and what it says about coaching in a cross-cultural situation:

The female manager notices the employee is not meeting her eye, and the look on his face seems unfocused to her. She thinks, "Hmmmm. Because of where he is from, he isn't used to dealing with women who are senior to him. Perhaps he doesn't take me seriously. He appears nonchalant, even cavalier. I don't think he respects me."

The dynamic between this coach and her assigned coachee illuminates three interesting points. First, she uses tentative, non-behavior-specific language about him. This suggests her impressions are speculative or, at the least, subjective. Second, she isn't clear which behaviors she can ascribe to culture and which are due to individual traits and temperament, and has not made an attempt to test her assumptions about either. Third, she has so internalized some of her own beliefs about his motivation and perception of her that these become real for her.

What is the result? In any interaction with him, her beliefs will limit her ability to "ask" as a coach. She will find it hard to mentally set aside her narrative about him (a skill we call "bracketing"). He may pick up on some of these "bracket leaks" in their sessions, which may serve to reinforce the dynamic.

It is clear from this example that the coach who fails to ask, and actively listen, before offering her point of view as a coach may experience a cross-cultural coaching disaster. That's why I believe the effective coach's job is, first and foremost, to ask.

Getting and keeping a diverse workforce to serve a global customer base is as critical as ever, and the skill of coaching could not be more timely and vital in this environment. Effective coaching helps the coachee identify his behaviors and the underlying beliefs which drive them. It also helps him connect these beliefs and behaviors to their intended — and unintended — consequences. The challenge in cross-cultural contexts, of course, is that the coachee may be unaware both of how his certain culturally-driven beliefs and behaviors "translate" in this new setting, and what impact they have.

The coach must respectfully and objectively understand how her coachee's beliefs are construed and maintained. The coach must also recognize how her own worldview is being perceived, critiqued and translated by the coachee. In addition, the coach must be self-aware enough to determine how her own assumptions may help or harm the outcome of the coaching session.

So the effective global coach is a double-translator and curious questioner. Looking at her (and her organization's) assumptions and unconscious biases, as well as the coachee's, the coach becomes a valuable asset to her organization. She can help knock down the sometimes unworkable and self-defeating US-centric coaching "beliefs" that prevent good, adaptive coaching.

Participants in a recent Interaction Associates workshop for a strategic coaching client identified important factors to consider when coaching in any global context. These factors map to what has been termed in organizational development literature as "cultural competencies."

These competencies include an understanding and working knowledge of:

1. The coachee's view of time and space.
This means honoring culturally-accepted personal space, and realizing that cultural norms may affect the length of time needed to build agreement and come to understanding.

2. The coachee's ideas of fate and personal responsibility.
This may vary depending on whether he is from a collective or a more individualist culture.

3. In Asian cultures in particular, the concept of "face" and face-saving.
This will inform the coach's choice of words and communication style. Inquiry is especially important if this cultural paradigm is operating.

4. Views of gender.
This comes up frequently when women are coaching men from non-US cultures.

5. Concepts of power and authority in the workplace.

6. Perception, and understanding, of the role of the coach and how this aligns with the coachee's view of work, responsibility and authority.

7. The coachee's culture-informed definitions of "participation" and "agreement."

8. The coachee as a worker and as a person.