Leading A Multicultural Team

Delivering results globally amid geographic and cultural hurdles

Within the safety of the western world, several things are guaranteed. And depending on the country in question, the homogeneity in the language and culture is apparent to visitors. If you were in the USA or Britain for instance, English is the language of choice – much as it is a lingua franca world over.

The Americans and the English may differ on matters accent, some spellings, and the sides of the roads that they drive on, but by and large, they would quickly blend in with each other’s working environments. Relative to where we want to take a deep dive into, they are as “close as the upper lip is from the nose”. (an African saying). Others are as far apart as the head is from the toes.

We know that in any society, cognitive processes are culturally determined and hence the uniformity in reactions to an outsider's views on trending topics in the news or a particular work environment.

But how do you keep all hands on deck within a team characterized by their diversity in beliefs practices and value systems? The world is globalized now and it is possible, as a project manager to coordinate projects happening in America, parts of Europe, Africa, and Down Under all at once.

Suppose you have weekly Tuesday meetings as the project manager, reporting to an executive committee comprised of participants in each of the places mentioned. How would you navigate your way through the following scenarios that define your span of duty?

Your company, XYZ is in the food and timber space, and Down Under, your wood products from sustainable forests are facing stiffer competition from cheaper sources in Asia. The numbers show a steady decline in revenue whilst pressure to harvest from a large and fast-maturing forest mounts. Negotiations for a new market are nearing the end. It has to go the way of the senior-most guy on the ground or you are left to do it on your own.

In England, XYZ is coming to terms with the effects of Brexit. An ad hoc committee is now in place to help you reorganize the agreements in place with new treaties, most of which, other potential European partners insist must be written out in their national languages and are subject to their laws. This must happen fast if your export markets in the breakfast cereals space must go unchallenged.

In Africa, XYZ is expanding the palm fields in Nigeria, where it intends to produce palm oil in a plant under construction. The locals have demanded more in CSR activities to address the symbiotic balance. You have invested huge resources and cannot pull out despite the standoff.

Further down in East Africa, the firm is reorganizing the management structures and philosophy in Kenya, just having recently acquired a huge tea plantation complete with several factories. On the surface, everything looks rosy but the numbers show a downward trend in production and prices fetched in the global market. The technical team on the ground, can turn things around but need assurances that their jobs are safe. A leaked email note with the suggested changes has circulated widely.

It is Thursday morning in England where you are based as an American expatriate project manager. You must communicate with different nationals to accurately report the status of these projects to a diversified audience.

It may seem exciting and simple to the newcomer but deeper inside, several skills come into play. If your interaction is with the nationals of the respective countries in Africa, then vis a vis your own American work culture attributes, you will have to understand certain background facts. The African colleagues will be up to the task and will deliver to spec on all tasks. It helps that they speak English perfectly. But you must also understand that they speak another two languages perfectly too. It will always be one national language and one other ethnic language that defines where within the national fabric they originate. Kenya has 44 distinct communities held together by the widely spoken Kiswahili and English. Nigeria has similar dynamics with Pidgin having its leanings on the place one comes from being widely spoken.

Within these additional spoken languages, are unique culture-driven cognitive processes that serve to enrich or interfere with the American project manager’s perspectives and ultimately his attainment of deliverables. And why so much about Africa anyway? As globalization gets more entrenched, it is increasingly becoming apparent that readily scalable opportunities at the world stage are available from this once overlooked continent.

What is interesting, is that in Africa, one can think in English but act in some ethnically influenced manner. Or, vice versa. Something may get lost or is added in the translation and the meaning is altered. The challenges of concepts of time and the actual time zone differences come fully into play. Conventionally, the western concept of time views it as what is planned, hence diarised for action. In Africa, in many instances, time is immaterial until it is experienced. The clock ticks once the event is experienced.

The intensity in exposure to western world dynamics may help or worsen the accomplishment of tasks for people found in any of the continents in much the same way as it would play out for our American project manager. The frustrations can turn to anger and one can easily lose focus.

This calls for one of two things or both.

First, is an "on the ground experience" gained away from a microwave timings approach and a tedious slow-simmering method. This begs for a leadership style and system that allows for multicultural appreciation of ground realities whilst maintaining uniform metrics across the board.

And second, is a highly simulated experience gained from exposure to relevant knowledge and situations prevalent in the geographies in focus. The simulator could be a mix of scenarios built through forms of literature such as stories and case studies to be completed, and what if? question drills. The simulator may also have historical facts about the cultures prevalent in the places of focus.

And talking of Australia, the project manager will certainly have his fair share of challenges because of all the uniquely Aussie cultural perspectives. Humour across these geographies within our scenarios scope of focus vary and may even have someone coming out more as disrespectful in place of the intended sense of humor.

Success across the board for the project manager shall come from both real and perceived maturity. Real maturity will manifest through actual conduct displayed when interacting with concerned parties. They will judge how you relate with them one-on-one. If your persona rubs off on them the right way, then you will accomplish your tasks faster.

Perceived maturity shall emanate from the cultural paradigms in play. If the project manager is younger than the person from whom information and updates are expected, the reaction might differ from what he may experience, if he is older than this contact person.

In both instances, John Maxwell’s, Five Levels of Leadership, comes in handy. It is possible to be at different levels of leadership with the people in all these different cultural setups. Maxwell advances the concept of the five levels interestingly.

Level 1 leadership style is termed the Position level. People interact with you only because of your position over them. They respect the position and not necessarily the holder. So, in such a case, the relationship is an 8 to 5 one. A meeting outside these precincts would not thrive like it would between friends. Most leaders never go beyond this level and many people under them get hurt.

Maxwell takes us to level 2. Here is the Permission level. People allow you to lead them because you have their permission. You are loved because you demonstrate empathy and fairness in your style. People here want to do things for you willingly. Organizations experience sustained productivity when staffers work under these conditions. The employee-boss relationship thrives even outside the official work settings. At this level, the project manager will certainly have managed all the cultural issues well.

Level 3 leadership is the Production level where people like you because what you have achieved for the organization is self-evident. People trust you with things. You carried with you to this level the good things in level two and added even more. Your juniors benefit a great deal from your interactions. They would be punctual for meetings and more is achieved because the relationship commands great respect.

Maxwell adds that Level 4 leadership style is the People level. People love you because of what you have done for people. They take pride in working for you and are happy to go over and above their mandate to keep things going well. Very few leaders get here but those who do, arrive here by the brow of their sweat.

Finally, Level 5 is the Pinnacle level. Even fewer people get here. This is when one has done all there was or is to do. You have graduated from Level 4 with all its trappings and now added even greater things.

What is key for our purposes, is how quickly every relationship graduates to Level 2. It is a good cruising altitude to attain then maintain.

So, at the Tuesday meeting with the bosses, Success will mostly derive from your cultural competency level as you are sandwiched in between culturally diversified bosses and teams. A recognition that lunch in New York may mean a king-sized burger while in Nigeria, it will mean a wholesome meal with Pepe soup to boot is critical. Juggling these cultures whilst attaining the desired progress is the kind of new global cultural dexterity that the future leader must embrace today.

The world as we know it today is fast-paced. The possibilities that people will find themselves working outside their home environments are growing. Stephen Covey's advice, that we must first seek to understand before we are understood, is a rule of thumb for anyone that seeks to lead a multicultural team effectively.

Additional reading may be found in: The Five Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell, How To Undo Life’s Airlocks by David Mugun, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.