Security and trust in cross-cultural reporting

The 39% Problem No One Talks About I just completed research across multinational oil and gas operations that revealed something disturbing: hazard reporting drops by 39% in high power distance cultures. That's not a small gap. That's a massive blind spot. Workers from cultures where challenging authority feels disrespectful aren't reporting safety concerns. They see the hazard. They know the risk. But they stay silent because their cultural conditioning tells them not to question the supervisor. Meanwhile, we keep wondering why our safety systems aren't working in diverse workplaces. The solution isn't to change people's cultural values - it's to adapt our safety systems to work with them. Anonymous reporting, cultural mentoring, and supervisors trained in cross-cultural communication can bridge this gap. I think we've been treating cultural diversity as a nice-to-have instead of a safety-critical factor. But when cultural misunderstanding directly impacts hazard reporting, it becomes a matter of life and death. Your diverse workforce isn't just about inclusion - it's about survival. How does your organization account for cultural differences in safety reporting? #CulturalDiversity #HazardReporting #SafetyClimate #MulticulturalSafety #HSELeadership

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟓𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭: 𝐀 𝐂𝐲𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐦𝐛 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞 Over half of employees fear reporting cybersecurity mistakes. This is a cultural crisis with potentially devastating consequences. Imagine a fire alarm constantly going off, but employees fear pulling the lever for fear of punishment. That's the reality of our current cybersecurity approach. We train employees to identify threats, but fear silences their voices, leaving organisations vulnerable. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? A recent ThinkCyber study points towards a culture of blame, not learning. Punitive responses to mistakes discourage reporting, creating a breeding ground for unreported vulnerabilities. Here's the harsh reality: → 53% of employees are clicking on potentially malicious links → Over half share data or credentials outside the company These are significant numbers, and without employee reports, they fly under the radar. The solution lies in cultivating a culture of security, not just awareness.  This means: • 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Focus on learning from mistakes, not assigning blame. • 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Encourage dialogue about security concerns through regular meetings and anonymous reporting channels. • 𝐎𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: Regularly refresh employee knowledge with bite-sized content to keep them engaged and aware of evolving threats. • 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: Management and IT teams must champion security best practices and recognise employees who report incidents. Technology can help too: • 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬: Streamline reporting and free up employee time. • 𝐀𝐈 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: Leverage data from reported incidents to identify trends and prevent future attacks. We MUST empower employees to participate actively in cybersecurity. That’s how we will address the "fear factor." A secure organisation is built on open communication, trust, and a shared responsibility for protecting information. What do you think?

🧠 Safety Is a Social Brain Function – Not Just a Technical One Insights from a brilliant Safety Curiously conversation with Tracey Camilleri, co-author of The Social Brain and a Director of Thompson Harrison. In safety, we often focus on systems and processes. But Tracey reminded us: the real drivers of performance lie in the spaces in between: The rituals. The relationships. The stories and silences. The way we enter a room. Here are the insights that stuck with me: 🔹 Small is Safer Best number for real conversation? Four. Creative teamwork? Five. Facilitated discussion? Ten to fifteen. Beyond that, connection fades — and so does psychological safety. 🔹 Belonging Is Core to Safety Tracey shared six conditions for team performance: ✔️ Belonging ✔️ Shared purpose ✔️ Fairness ✔️ Connection ✔️ Shared identity ✔️ A learning environment When even one slips, safety and performance drop. 🔹 Start With People, Not the Task We rush into PowerPoints. But it’s those first five minutes - the “who are we?” moments - that build empathy and trust. 🔹 Praise That Sharpens Vigilance High-performing teams give 5:1 praise to criticism. Not generic praise but specific, meaningful feedback. 📣 “I noticed how you stopped and clarified. That likely prevented an issue.” 🔹 Culture Lives in the Break Room One company cut coffee breaks to save money. Connection and awareness vanished. They reinstated them fast. Turns out, “gossip” (the good kind) spreads safety-critical info. 🔹 Listen for the Quiet Voices Not everyone speaks up - especially in hierarchical or cross-cultural teams. But if you’re only hearing from the loudest voices, you’re missing half the data you need to lead safely. Great leaders design for inclusion. 🔹 Touch, Singing & Karaoke? Yes, Really Tracey shared fascinating research: 🎵 Singing together for one hour builds social bonds as strong as going to school together. 🥘 Sharing meals releases bonding hormones. 💇♀️ Even small acts of human touch create trust. These aren’t soft add-ons - they’re hardwired into how humans connect. 🔹 Value the Social as a Strategy Post-COVID, many workplaces are disconnected. Remote work is efficient - but lonely. We need social strategies as rigorous as our digital or safety strategies. Because when people feel connected, they speak up. They ask better questions. They spot weak signals. They act before the incident. So here’s the challenge: Are we designing safety cultures aligned with the way the human brain really works or are we swimming upstream? Safety doesn’t just come from controls. It comes from connection. Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost to help others in your network, and follow Urbain Bruyere for more.

Culture shapes everything. Not just how we speak, but how we decide, how we negotiate, and how we build trust. Geert Hofstede, the Dutch behavioural psychologist, captured this decades ago. His framework, covering power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and much more, still explains why people approach the same situation so differently depending on where they’re from. I’ve seen it firsthand: a negotiation table in the Middle East with people from India, the Netherlands, the UAE, and the UK. Same project. Same objective. But four very different cultural perspectives. 📊 The graph below shows what a cultural lens can reveal. Where expectations might diverge, where friction might arise, and where to tread carefully. But culture is just one layer. It helps you prepare, but it doesn’t replace presence. We’re all more than our passports, so read the room. Listen first, observe, then speak. Frameworks like this are useful, but trust is built in the human moments in between. This isn’t about adjusting your personality, it’s about showing respect for someone else’s. Technical knowledge opens the door. Cultural intelligence gets you invited in. If you want to be more than a vendor, if you want to become a trusted advisor, you need to understand the systems people live and work in. That’s where real influence begins. 🧭 Want to explore this for yourself? Here’s the tool I use. https://lnkd.in/ehPk3-mp Think back to one recent cross-cultural conversation. What assumptions were you carrying in? And how might Hofstede’s lens help you see it differently?

👉 Over >15 years of cross-cultural consulting & training at TLFRD Ukraine and TLFRD Baltics, we've collected some statistics. ~8-9/10 clients who enter foreign markets and turn to us for expertise do so after having made a “full list” of mistakes in interacting with other cultures. It's better than not enhancing cross-cultural interaction at all, but then we are bound to work on restoring relationships instead of co-creating them. So, when MODUS X L&D team came to us for cross-cultural training, we analyzed existing experience and profiled countries of current and future interest. 📌 Our case session focused on cultures of Ukraine 🇺🇦 and about a dozen countries of Europe. Here are some insights from our work: ☑️ In customer relations, consider trust radius — how large/small the out-group considered “trustworthy” in a particular culture. This determines trust building process depth and duration before starting cooperation. Trust radius is widest in Western and Northern Europe and narrowest in Eastern and Southern Europe. Hence, number of phone calls, meetings, pitches, and introductions in Netherlands and Switzerland will be smaller than in Romania or Cyprus. ☑️ Consider cross-cultural characteristics when forming and presenting proposals. In Ukraine, we use evaluative judgments (“we have 20 years of expertise”), make dogmatic statements (“this decision is optimal for you”), and resort to emotional storytelling. In cultures with narrow circle of trust (Romania, Croatia) and egalitarian approach to discussions (Netherlands, Switzerland), data, case studies, credentials, and critical analysis of several options will be required, rather than one working proposal. ☑️ Don't proactively joke around and try to show off your sense of humor with another culture if unaware of humor styles peculiar to it. Instead, use this step-by-step algorithm: 1️⃣ Study humor styles of the target culture in advance to avoid awkward situations: what's considered witty in Ukraine is likely to be a serious offense in Cyprus and completely inappropriate in business relations in Switzerland. 2️⃣ Observe what and how colleagues, partners, or clients from other cultures laugh at, and join in the jokes instead of initiating them at first. Don't translate Ukrainian memes and jokes in other languages, no matter how well you know those. Jokes often change meaning completely in other cultures, while remaining almost identical in form. 3️⃣ Create humor playbooks for cultures of interest for peer-to-peer, superior-subordinate, and subordinate-superior levels. Remember that absolute minimum of cultures joke at “superior-subordinate” level freely, so it is not worth doing this anywhere in Asia, Africa, or Latin America. 💙💛 I'm grateful to Modus X L&D team for invitation and organizational support, and participants for intellectually rich discussions, deep interest in different cultures, and actionable ways to find productive “bridges” between them in professional settings!

Do you lead direct reports across multiple countries? Do you have to participate in cross-functional interactions across continents? Understanding, honouring, and being mindful of cultural nuances and differences is crucial to building a collaborative and harmonious workplace. Amongst the numerous cross-cultural leadership challenges that come up  frequently in coaching conversations, three stand out: ➤ Communication barriers - Language, tone, and manner of expression. ➤ Respecting cultural norms - Navigating without offending or alienating. ➤ Building trust across cultures - Establishing trust uniformly. Here are five questions to reflect upon for greater awareness and insights - ⭐︎ What can help me understand the cultural backgrounds of my teams? ⭐︎ How do I inspire them in a meaningful and relevant way? ⭐︎ What’s important to them, and how can I honour that? ⭐︎ What must I be mindful of in my communication and interactions? ⭐︎ How can I sensitively resolve conflicts with and amongst them? Building trust and resonance can be quicker when you drop your assumptions and embrace open communication, empathy, and active listening. Recognise that different cultures may have varying preferences for recognition, e.g., Public acknowledgement vs. Private praise. Understanding the nuances and tailoring your appreciation can get teams to receive it well and open up, making it easier to know and lead them. Demonstrate emotional intelligence, honour their unique cultural values and treat them with respect and dignity so they feel safe and cared for. Lastly, consider decision-making norms in different cultures, e.g., Hierarchical vs. Collaborative, while articulating your vision and seeking team inputs to co-create regional and global goals. ➡️ What else can leaders do to manage cross-cultural teams effectively?     Do share your thoughts. #Culture #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching

Why do you need to take into account national culture within your organisational safety programmes? Values, perceptions, assumptions, and communication needs all differ, and these are important if you want your message to land in the way you intend, which is the basic premise of effective communication. Three weeks ago, Dennis Ejiofoh's MSc thesis "Narratives of Safety: Storytelling and Learning from Safety Incidents across Cultural Boundaries." was published at Lund University. He provides a great account of the challenges of getting the organisation's safety messaging recognised and understood across multiple locations, nationalities, and cultures. This challenge is further complicated when you recognise that there is limited trust in the system, and the top-down messages provided don't necessarily match the reality of 'work as done'. I know from personal experience that when deploying 'If Only...' (https://lnkd.in/dvHuzAE) as a 'safety week' video across the whole workforce of a power utilities company (5000+ people), the main body (documentary) was well received, but the 'top and tail' by the senior management, not so much. Dennis has done a great job of bringing these topics to life in a manner that will be recognisable to anyone operating in a multinational and multicultural organisation. This linked video - https://lnkd.in/eCBfy9Jh is a NotebookLM summary of the thesis. The full thesis can be downloaded from here. https://lnkd.in/eQJ-u9Qw I saw this morning that Erin Meyer is presenting at the HSE Global Series conference in Prague in November, and I am sure that she will bring many of these topics to the fore at the Learning Conference. Her book 'The Culture Map' is well worth a read. Other examples include trying to introduce Western-centric Crew Resource Management (CRM) to Southeast and Far East Asian airlines. You can find more about this in 'The Dragon in the Cockpit' by Jing and Batteau. So when you try and do a company-wide 'safety culture assessment', consider what that actually means and the validity of the outputs. There are 'cultures' at each of these levels. National Organisational Location Professional role within the hierarchy Departments Teams Individuals And they all have an impact on perceptions & perspectives of what is important & why. My perspective is that this is like a multi-layered Venn diagram. At each level, there will be communities of practice/professionals that have their own 'artefacts, values, and assumptions', some will overlap, and some will be in tension. These overlaps and tensions go up and down the system. Go find the stories that matter. The real narratives. Not the ones the organisation keeps telling itself are real. #humanfactors #systemsafety #safetycutlure The Human Diver - be better than yesterday - www.thehumandiver.com Human in the System - transforming teams. unlocking human potential - www.humaninthesystem.co.uk

As a cybersecurity professional with 17 years of experience across #India, #Singapore, and #Australia, I’ve seen firsthand how deeply culture shapes our approach to #CyberRisk, resilience, and innovation. Working across continents has taught me that technical solutions alone aren’t enough. True success comes from understanding diverse regulatory environments, respecting local work cultures, and adapting security best practices to different markets. In India, resilience and resourcefulness form the backbone of cyber defense. Singapore emphasizes rapid technology adoption balanced with global standards. Australia excels through collaboration and regulatory alignment. What have these diverse experiences taught me? No matter how advanced our tools become, culture fundamentally shapes security outcomes. A cyber strategy that thrives in one region could falter in another unless tailored to local mindsets and regulations. Diverse teams challenge assumptions, spot emerging threats faster, and generate solutions a single perspective might miss. This journey has reinforced my belief that multicultural diversity isn’t just a “nice-to-have” but a critical driver of effective cyber strategies and trusted digital transformation. Key lessons I’ve learned: ✳️ A breach in one region can reveal vital lessons for others - if we take the time to listen. ✳️ Organizations embracing cultural diversity spot risks and innovate more effectively. ✳️ Cybersecurity is never “one size fits all”; local context is essential for building resilient defenses. One quote I hold close: “We can’t secure what we don’t understand and understanding begins by listening to every voice at the table.” Today, as AI transforms the #cybersecurity world, our shared global experiences will power the next wave of innovation and defense. I look forward to sharing more insights on how cross-border expertise and culturally informed strategies can unlock resilience for organizations worldwide. How has your multicultural experience shaped your view of cybersecurity or digital risk? I’d love to hear your stories - let’s keep the conversation going.