Leading multicultural high-performance teams: try seeing, feeling, and tasting the water you swim in!

There’s an old story about two young fish encountering an older fish swimming the opposite way. He nods at them and says, “Morning, boys, how’s the water?” – which prompts one of the young fish to ask the other, “What the hell is water?”

The importance of national cultural differences has become more critical, especially for companies operating in international markets or having employees from different cultures. Whether we work in Dusseldorf or Dubai, Brasilia or Beijing, New York or New Delhi, we are all part of a global network (physical or virtual) where success requires navigating wildly different cultural realities.

When you are in and of a culture, as fish are in and of water, it’s often difficult or even impossible to perceive that culture. Often, people who have spent their lives in one culture see only regional and individual differences and conclude, “My national culture doesn’t have a clear character.”

Leading multicultural and geographically dispersed teams, I learned it’s not about being right or wrong, good or bad. It’s about understanding how culture and language shape how people from different cultures think, act, react, and do business.

Developing and nurturing a high-performance team is always a challenge. It’s not power and authority that makes a leader, and high-performing teams do not form on their own. They are led by leaders who bring out the best in their people, utilizing their skills and abilities to the fullest. Now, let’s consider we have a multicultural and multi-language team.

Invisible boundaries

The sad truth is that most managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding of how culture is impacting their work. It can be disastrous.

Projects can fail, negotiations can break down, and teams can fall apart. International M&As such as DaimlerChrysler fail [1] because of cross-cultural clashes. On a personal level, stress and frustration arise, and overseas assignees retreat to the safety of the expat bubble [2] and disconnect from their host country.

“Iridium’s international structure has proved almost impossible to manage: The 28 board members speak many languages, turning meetings into mini-U.N. conferences complete with headsets translating the proceedings into five languages [3]." Problems in cross-cultural communications may have played an essential role in the demise of Iridium: The Chief Executive Officer of Iridium LLC “set up a chart with red, green, and yellow cars to illustrate which consortium partners were on schedule, which were lagging, and which were far behind." According to one person there, "several partners who had been tagged with red cars refused to talk to him after the meeting.”

The essence is in the details

It is critical to approach intercultural communication with sensitivity and respect, recognizing the intricate tapestry of unique differences that shape it.

Take, for example, a distinct behavior observed in India—a head movement that combines both a shake and a nod. In many cultures, this gesture might convey disagreement, uncertainty, or a lack of support. However, in India, it often signifies interest, enthusiasm, or a sign of respectful listening.

Culture undeniably influences our communication style. Yet, in the absence of physical presence and contextual cues, recognizing these cultural nuances can be challenging.

Numerous cultural disparities, such as varying preferences for speaking or remaining silent, differing perceptions of leadership roles, and the approach to delivering constructive criticism, may appear trivial on the surface. However, failing to acknowledge these differences and lacking effective strategies to manage them can have detrimental effects on team meetings, employee motivation, relationships with foreign suppliers, and the overall achievement of your goals.

In the United States and other Anglo-Saxon cultures, individuals are trained mostly subconsciously to communicate as explicitly as possible. Clarity and directness are central to effective communication, with the responsibility for ensuring accurate message transmission resting primarily on the communicator.

Conversely, in many Asian cultures, including India, China, Japan, and Indonesia, messages are often conveyed implicitly, necessitating the listener to discern hidden meanings. Effective communication in such contexts relies on subtlety, layered expressions, and a nuanced understanding of subtext. Here, the responsibility for message transmission is shared between the sender and the receiver.

When people use inflexible, chaotic, late, rigid, disorganized, or inadaptable descriptors to describe individuals from other cultures, it often stems from differences in their approach to time.

In Germany, for instance, orderliness prevails, with trains running on schedule, manageable traffic, dependable systems, and clear, consistently enforced government regulations.

Differently, in many developing societies, constant change is a fundamental reality. Political shifts, financial system fluctuations, unpredictable traffic patterns, and unforeseeable weather challenges, such as monsoons or water shortages, characterize life. In these contexts, successful leaders possess the ability to adapt with ease and flexibility, navigating these ongoing changes effectively.

It takes art and science

Developing cultural awareness and learning languages is not enough. Successful leaders must learn the art of being adaptive, switching their communication styles as necessary, and letting the team define their own charter and how they want to approach time, decision-making, and manage their own conflicts.

Help your team develop their cultural flexibility by coaching them to suspend their judgments and see the situation from a different perspective.

Another valuable action is hiring people who are bicultural or have extensive experience living in more than one culture represented in your team. That person can be critical in helping one group decode the other’s behavior.

Scientific methods like the culture map [4] provide an easy visual comparison of the various cultures represented in your team. Noting the points of similarity and difference will help you recognize the fault lines that may be dividing your team members – invisible psychological boundaries that separate groups, creating an “us versus them” mentality.

Use your team’s culture map to consider the strengths that differences may provide. Managed with care, cultural and individual diversity can become your team’s greatest asset. Cultural diversity is essential in bringing about new skills and approaches to problem-solving.

When you hear people complain, criticize, or gasp at your culture from their perspective, try not to take it as a personal affront. Instead, regard it as a chance for personal growth and enlightenment. Similar to the parable of the two young fish, consider exploring the very environment you inhabit—immersing yourself in it, understanding it, and embracing it. Try seeing, feeling, and tasting the water you swim in! You may discover this experience to be not only captivating but also intellectually enriching.

References

[1] The culture clash heard 'round the world’

[2] Why do expats live in bubbles?

[3] Cauley, L. Losses in Space, Iridium’s Downfall: The Marketing Took A Back Seat to Science, The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 1999.

[4] “The Culture Map”, Meyer, Erin, New York, 2016.