Multicultural leadership; embrace the differences
Many of my expat clients talk about multicultural leadership. I learned that it involves deep immersion within different cultures to understand their values and specific context. Only through knowing other cultures deeply can we effectively connect the dots between them and highlight meaningful differences between cultures that impact business strategy and collaboration. Address the following 4 issues to understand each other better.
1. Direct versus indirect communication,
2. Trouble with accents and fluency,
3. Differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority, and
4. Conflicting norms for decision making.
If a manager—or a team member—can pinpoint the root cause of the problem, he or she is likelier to select an appropriate strategy for solving it.