Maximising Multi Cultural Teams

“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”

Stephen Covey

Society is becoming increasingly enriched through multicultural experiences. This is also true professionally as we are constantly being connected to, and working with, colleagues in the same location with different cultural heritages. Plus we are increasingly working with new colleagues / stakeholders from different locations globally (both physical and increasingly virtually too).

This is fantastic but it can sometimes can create unexpected friction and barriers to effective team work. We may know something isn’t ‘right’ but we may struggle to understand why……this is where we can help!

For absolute clarity understanding cultural differences should not be mistaken for ‘stereo typing’, but a means for us to gain a better understanding of some of the inner programming by which each of us have and by doing so we can then better understand the experiences shared.

Erin Meyer’s Cultural Mapping

These differences we refer to are very natural and Erin Meyer has undertaken extensive and brilliant research in this area identifying eight scales that help us decode over 75 different national cultures across the globe. These 8 scales are:

• Communication
• Evaluation
• Persuading
• Leading
• Deciding
• Trusting
• Disagreeing
• Scheduling

As Erin Meyer explains that it is not only understanding what these differences are but also understanding the relativity of the difference in relation to our own cultural norms is incredibly powerful. Here at the Resourceful People Group we like to build on Erin’s work and use Rosinski’s 5 Stage Cultural Model to enable and support our clients so that we can leverage these differences, creating a common strength within the team.

Philippe Rosinski’s 5 Stage Cultural Model

Adaptability

Each stage of the Rosinski model is important but at RPG we particularly love to focus on how we can better ‘adapt’ and as certified practitioners of the AQai™ model we believe this can help underpin the process of adapting.

So do you think that your team could be benefit from the stronger appreciation of multicultural differences? Do you think you could benefit from leveraging these so that the team can become more efficient? If so then please contact us and we would love to explore how we can partner and tailor a program that can strengthen your team.

“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together”

African Proverb