Why is it that some team members like to work on specific tasks by themselves and others need a lot of direction? Why do some see loyalty as the highest form of compliment, while others see brilliance or creativity? Why do some managers act like a player/coach and others act like fathers/mothers?
I was recently at a Fortune 30 company working with a leadership core team to examine these questions and see how to cascade learnings and adjust lens viewings to be able to truly get the best of a global team dynamics. The collective wisdom in the room was energizing and as
facilitators we learnt as much as we gave. Maybe more so.
Task-oriented and equal cultures work like a Special Operations team. They are all brilliant experts at their jobs, and take great pride in being the best in their field. They are valued and highly paid in an organization and the boss realizes that he has to be a player and a coach along with them to get the best of their talent for the organization. But the point is, India is a relationship-oriented and hierarchy culture, the exact opposite of the one described here, which means that behaviour change to suit different mindsets is called for on both sides while we work on global teams.
Different cultures, different responses
“When I was introduced to a really senior leader in our company in the US, I was shocked to hear him say “I don’t know” to a question I had on a subject which should have been his area of expertise. I was surprised he had gotten to this level of leadership but didn’t know the answer to the question. And I was even more shocked by his readiness to admit to it so candidly”. The participant who shared this learning that in a Western culture that is egalitarian, it is okay to admit that one doesn’t know something, was contrasting it with his own experience of an Eastern, certainly an Indian context, where he would rather not have admitted ignorance, in order to save face.
Another of our participants told us the story of how she felt shocked when she went to work in Minneapolis and no one called her for a coffee break. She felt lost. Then, when her U.S counterparts came to India, they were even more shocked that the team went away en mass for long coffee breaks. “Why don’t you get the job done and leave early to go home instead?” they asked.
Collective or Individual behaviour can manifest like this in global teams and can affect productivity and team spirit hugely if we don’t understand what makes them tick!
Here is a selection of the insights we got into the working of a team, and how to get the most out of it.
Speak up with solutions
In many organizations worldwide, the modus operandi is to have loud arguments on what will and won’t work. Solutions are reached after much debating and that’s considered okay. But in some others, not speaking up at all, as a sign of respect, seems to be the norm. When cultures which are all one kind or the other interact, bosses leading those teams know to ask the right questions to get the job done. But now, with Starbucks opening in India, a coffee drinking nation long before Starbucks was born, and Tata Motors buying up Jaguar, long after forgetting all about colonization, the rules of the game have changed. Getting into unfamiliar and mixed waters in teams seems to be the order of the day, so the leader, as a cultural chameleon, needs to apply the relevant local rules to have his team members speak up with apt solutions.
The way to do this seems to be to explore what values drive communication behaviour. Is it being seen as outspoken and individual performers? Or is it better to be seen as a loyal team player? The answer to this will very much influence the reaction of team members. Adjusting the questions to elicit a reply and encouraging responses in other ways has to be a learned skill in this 21st century. “Feel free to tell me, is this a no-go?” instead of a blunt “Will it work or won’t it?” may be the diplomacy required in managing teams in India.
Be prepared to change
The other day an NRI and an American who usually work really well on a team together had a run-in which I witnessed. The NRI, who is usually “cool” like the American himself, suddenly became all bristly and felt “not respected for years in the company“. The American in question had to explain that he had meant no disrespect and had to apologize for being wrongly perceived as challenging authority. .
Differing signals stem from cultural upbringing and life experience, and what comes to the surface is the luck of the draw. Being prepared to change one’s attitude and communication style is the only way forward.
Find the right man for the right job
“As leaders of global teams, our role is to inspire self-organizing teams. We can no longer control individuals but need to provide an atmosphere where creativity can happen.”said an article by a leading APAC HR professional. Identifying what each wants for himself and for the organization and placing them in the right spot on the non-hierarchical ladder is the challenge before us all.
Having different roles for different sorts of people from varying cultural backgrounds makes business sense in today’s international agenda. The well-disciplined team member who is precise and task focused, with a clear project plan, is crucial to have in the timelines part of a project meeting to provide clarity, while a person who may be more relationship-preserving by nature is better left to lead the HR initiative of the meeting. This technique of using each expert in his own field of strength may be a thoughtful way forward in global teams.
Team dynamics have always been critical; now they are bottom line business imperatives and need to be handled by taking into account global similarities and leveraging differences.
(Ranjini Manian is Founder CEO of Global Adjustments, a relocation and cross-cultural services company. She can be contacted at >globalindian@globaladjustments.com )