How to Manage a Crisis with Multicultural Stakeholders

Understand There Are Differences

The first step is simple. Don’t be an “Ugly American.” (For younger readers, that was a best-selling novel in 1958 about Americans going all over the world expecting everyone to cater to us.) If you have stakeholders in other countries, living in different cultures, don’t assume they think like Americans do. Don’t assume they have the same values, needs, expectations, or even modes of understanding. They may in some ways, but they may not in others.

Tap Your Local Talent

The best way and primary strategy in managing your crisis multiculturally is to include members of your team in those locations and cultures in your crisis response. No, they may not be members of your primary response team (who are probably huddled around a conference table at your home office). But you should discuss your strategies and messages with them to ensure they’ll fly with your other cultural audiences, or can be adapted to do so.