Cultivating Trust Across Cultures

Posted On: June 24, 2025

Have you ever had a moment where something that felt totally normal to you—like a casual gesture or a direct question—landed completely wrong with someone from a different background?

That’s at the heart of what’s explored in Cultivating Trust Across Cultures—how small misalignments can quickly derail connection, especially when it comes to building trust and psychological safety in our professional relationships.

In today’s multicultural workplaces, understanding these differences isn’t just a bonus—it’s essential. In this Deep Dive episode, the hosts reflect on my experiences as an ICF-certified coach who lived and worked in Kerala, India for seven years, highlighting how culture shapes our definitions of respect, communication, and trust.

🎧 Watch or listen to the episode on “Cultivating Trust Across Cultures from an ICF Perspective” here:

This video is part deep dive, part personal reflection. Since the International Coaching Federation (ICF) updated its competencies in 2021 to formally include cultural understanding, this conversation has become even more relevant for coaches, leaders, and anyone working across borders—literal or metaphorical.

Here are a few highlights we explore:

💡 Trust Isn’t a Universal Setting
In some cultures like the U.S., trust is often given up front—it’s the default. In others, like India, trust must be slowly earned. The hosts describe this as an “apprenticeship for credibility.”

They share one of my coaching experiences: a new client brought a family member to their first one-on-one session. At first, it felt unusual through my Western lens. But I later realized—it was a sign of trust, not a lack of it. It reflected a collective approach to important decisions, where trust is built through relationships, not transactions.

🔄 Adaptation Requires Constant Calibration
Coaching (and connection) requires cultural agility. It’s not just about translating words—it’s about translating meaning.

In the episode, the hosts discuss how simple small talk type questions like “Did you have tea?” became powerful tools to build rapport during my time coaching in India. In high-context cultures, this kind of personal check-in often comes before diving into goals or problem-solving. It may seem small—but it opens the door to genuine trust.

🧭 Stop Assuming. Start Discovering.
One of the most powerful mindset shifts? Stop projecting your own meaning onto others.

Culture is like a fingerprint—deeply personal, even within the same region or family. The hosts share a story I recounted about a father teaching his son to make a U-turn in chaotic traffic. The lesson the son took from that moment was unexpected from my own cultural and personal lens. Only by asking coaching questions like, “What meaning did that situation hold for you?” could I avoid assigning meaning and instead hold space for the client’s truth.

In another experience, I casually perched on a desk during a corporate training—something I’d do in the U.S. to set a relaxed tone. But in that specific Indian setting, the gesture created discomfort. I stood up, acknowledged the misstep, and turned it into a live teaching moment about cultural assumptions. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s awareness and humility.

To adapt effectively:

Replace assumptions with curiosity
Use language like “I noticed…” or “Can I check something with you?”
Ask “What does this mean to you?” to honor their reality, not yours

These three pillars—earning trust, adapting communication, and avoiding assumptions—are not separate tools. They work together in a cycle of continuous alignment. And in that cycle, relationships deepen, respect grows, and trust thrives.

Note: The content used to generate the NotebookLM podcast comes from our podcasts (part 1 and part 2). Thank you to NotebookLM for aiding in creating the podcast content. Thank you to ChatGPT for helping me organize and edit this article.

🌍 Ready to build stronger cross-cultural relationships?
🎥 Watch the full video or listen to the episode here

Let’s continue learning, listening, and leading with intention.
📲 Feel free to connect with me here on LinkedIn if this resonates with you.