Nowadays, most American business people dealing with their equivalent abroad are aware that there are differences in customs, and that some American customs can be seen as rude in other areas of the world: In Japan for instance, giving your card the way we do in the US, in passing and with a flip of the hand, is rude; the appropriate way to give it is with both hands, as if you were presenting a precious gift.

However, most of the articles talking about those differences in customs often don’t talk about the differences in how time is considered and used. In business America, we live by the “dictatorship of the watch”: Not being on time for an appointment is considered rude – even though many people do it, out of lack of time management skills; diving right into business within minutes of meeting someone is customary; cramming as much as possible in as little time as possible is the norm. We tend to think that, since we do it this way, everyone does it too, and sometimes commit blunders and lose patience or business because of it.

The truth is that other cultures see time very differently, both socially and professionally. While Anglo-Saxon and most North-European cultures apprehend time the way we do, other areas of the world don’t. Here are some examples, both social and professionals:

* In some cultures, arriving to work within a half hour of your official beginning of the day is perfectly normal. No one expects everyone to be at the office at 9 am sharp.
* The appropriate time to arrive at a meeting also varies from culture to culture. For us, and most of Northern Europe, arriving at the appointed time is the norm. In other cultures, your arrival time depends on your place in the hierarchy – the higher the later.
* When to arrive at a social dinner is also dependent on the culture: In some areas of Switzerland, you are expected to be on time; in others, 15-20 minutes late is the appropriate thing to do. I have heard that, in some areas of Spain (but don’t have first experience of it), arriving an hour late is customary. If you arrive on time, you run the risk of catching your host in the middle of dinner preparations, or in the shower!
* How time is spent in a meeting also depends on where it is held. In the US, no one will be surprised or offended if, within a couple minutes of the start, everyone dives into business. In France, it is customary to talk for a few minutes about family or general news before diving in. In some areas of the Middle East and North Africa, don’t even think about talking business before spending at least an hour talking about family, weather and recent events.

The meaning of the words around time might also be different from culture to culture. As Americans, we find it normal to give or receive a deadline, and for the work to be accomplished by that deadline, and the words about time have specific meanings. This, again, is not the norm in all countries of the world. In some countries, especially African and South American ones, “tomorrow” often means “not today”, not necessarily “tomorrow.” You might get what you requested the next day, or a week later. Also, deadlines may be indicative, rather than set in stone. “I need this done by such date” may be heard as “I need this done around this date.”

Those differences have tended to diminish in the past 20 years or so, as business practices have homogenized. However, they have not entirely disappeared. If you go to another country, learning about local customs - but also the local relationship with time – before you go can make the difference between getting the deal or losing it (Case in point: In the 70’s, Americans lost many deals to the Europeans in the Middle East because they didn’t worry about making sure that their shoe soles were not visible to their interlocutor when sitting on cushions, and insisted on talking about the reason for their meeting within minutes of its start.) Similarly, not all people coming to work from abroad know how we tend to use and refer to time. Taking the time to understand the person’s use of time, and teaching them the local way, can make the difference between keeping or losing a gifted collaborator.