Inclusive leadership in cross-cultural teams
During my inclusive leadership workshops, we emphasize the importance of inclusive #leaders regularly engaging in behaviors such as providing and soliciting feedback, maintaining clear #communication, making decisions inclusively, and allowing room for differing opinions.
But when we look at them from the cross-cultural perspective, it becomes clear why alone they may not be inclusive enough in global teams.
🔹 to give 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 feedback
🔹 to 𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙮 share concern
🔹 to 𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 someone’s lead
…are some of the aspects of leading and managing teams that can be understood differently from culture to culture.
It’s not only about giving constructive feedback. It’s about knowing how constructive feedback sounds like for people from different cultures and being able to adjust, in order to build #inclusion.
Cultural intelligence is one of the 6 top skills of inclusive leaders*.
Inclusive leadership in cross-cultural contexts is about developing flexibility to manage teams with members who vary in their communication styles, in the way they give negative feedback, in their preference for either egalitarian or hierarchical management approaches, etc.
Being mindful of the cultural nuances of team members and adjusting behavior to diverse cultural standards is one of the most important skills of inclusive leaders.
Erin Meyer, in her book “Culture Map”, gives a great overview on cultural specificities that should be taken into account but also on what leaders can do to lead better in a global business environment.
To me those skills are ultimately resulting in more inclusive leadership when it comes to cross-cultural teams. Take a look at today’s carousel for details.
Have you observed or experienced situations where behaviors like open communication were interpreted differently due to cultural variations?
#diversity #różnorodność
Sources:
*Juliet Bourke and Andrea Titus: 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘖𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘖𝘯𝘦
**Erin Meyer „Culture Map”
