Tips & tricks vs. frameworks
I’m currently reading the book ‘The Culture Map’ by Erin Meyer. Her stories about cultural differences throw me back twenty years, to one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
In 2002 I visited Japan for a month, as part of a study trip. I was in the organizing committee and both the organization and the trip itself were an incredibly inspiring and educational experience. It was also a culture shock. Dutch and Japanese cultures couldn’t be farther apart.
That’s why, before the trip, we decided to organize a training session with all 30 participating students, to learn about the differences between Holland and Japan, facilitated by experts on cultural differences.
I expected to learn about etiquette: how to greet Japanese people, how to behave (and how not to behave) when visiting companies. Basically, I thought I would learn a lot of tips and tricks, to be better prepared for our trip to the other side of the world.
But the training was nothing like that. We didn’t learn about Japanese etiquette at all. Instead, we learned something better: The Hofstede Model. This framework, by Dutch researcher Geert Hofstede, is used to describe different cultures along six dimensions, including ‘power distance’ and ‘uncertainty avoidance’.
It’s an incredibly useful model to understand not just how the Dutch differ from the Japanese, but also how Americans are different from Thai and how Arabs are different from South Africans. In The Culture Map, Erin Meyer presents a similar but different framework, to help us be more effective when communicating and working with people from different cultures.
When we want to solve a problem, or be better prepared for possible problems, we often have the tendency to look for tips and tricks first. Are there hacks to save time in my busy calendar? How can I make my PowerPoint slides more clear and attractive?
While tips can definitely be helpful (use “ELMO!” to keep meetings short, don’t put a lot of text on your slides), what is often more valuable is a framework, like Hofstede’s. Because with a framework you understand the bigger picture. You have a tool to solve the problem yourself.
The Eisenhower Matrix can help you to create more room in your busy filled calendar. To make your slidedeck a more effective story, you can use the Three-Act Structure. Whatever area your problem lies in, there’s probably a useful framework that could help you.
So what’s better: tips and tricks, or frameworks? Well, there’s a third option to learn how something works: experience. That’s what made our trip to Japan so memorable: we immersed ourselves in the culture. Of course we knew some dos and don’ts up front, but we also just went with the flow. Yes, as Dutchies we were blunt, direct and got a lot of laughs.
Frameworks can help us prepare and understand problems, but nothing can replace making mistakes in practice. Here’s a tip: when in Japan, don’t stand your chopsticks vertically in your food, it’s very, very rude. I can tell from experience.