This post was written by Jazzenhea Barro, a valued team member at TryBPO.com.  She’s known as a “jack of all trades” and has a good understanding of the multiple projects and campaigns run at the company and provides unique insight into working through cultural differences at a BPO.

Cultural differences have never been an issue for me and for some other Filipinos. Dealing with a diversity of races is not outrageously challenging, but admittedly sometimes we all have a hard time coping with other people’s attitude and culture, and that is why we should view it as a challenge. In BPO companies in the Philippines, it’s common to be exposed to this type of challenge and looking at creative ways to meet that challenge.

I grew up with a Japanese father but having a foreign parent is totally different from having American bosses. For one, language can be a major barrier for communication and not all can communicate well using the international language. Often, there may be a need to find a different way to communicate. There are some instances that we may misunderstand our boss and they misunderstand us, but as I’ve said this is part of the exciting challenge of having a foreign boss. Not only do you get to develop your English skills, but this also allows you to better understand them and their culture, hitting two birds with one stone. One way to help with the English “nosebleed” is to slow down the conversation through Skype or email so that you’re clear about the directions, questions, etc.

Another thing with working for American bosses is that it’s like relocating to a different world. Why? Well, because you’d have to adjust with their culture, behavior and attitude, and as they say “when in Rome, do as the Romans do,” so it’s a must to adapt. It’s a good thing though that the bosses we have in the company I am in right now are very easy to figure out – plus they even find ways to understand the needs of their employees, and that is very rare nowadays. What we have is like a cycle, we understand them, and they understand us and in the end we all find common ground.

Last thing I’ve noticed is that even if we have different nationalities we are all intertwined in one way or another – movies, music, social media – and we would all find a way to be able to communicate and make things work out for all of us.

And so life is a continuous learning process and we should grab every opportunity that comes up for us to learn and to understand new things. As our business horizon expands we should also be prepared for whatever is handed to us and the only way we can do that is too reach out, and be open minded about everything in the world.