Written by: Yamila Solari
Working in a global company with people from different national cultures is a powerful experience. Not only does diversity enrich our lives, but it’s also an engine for innovation in organizations—provided the organization is open to acknowledging and respecting this diversity. In this article, I will share what I have learned, as a team coach and general manager of Scio, about embracing interculturality in our teams.
Interculturality involves understanding, respecting, and valuing the differences and similarities among cultures. In an organizational setting, acknowledging and reflecting on these differences is crucial if we want to enhance effective communication, creativity, innovation, and conflict resolution.
At Scio, we used the Scrum Framework, which has transparency as one of its key pillars. Transparency refers to the open and honest flow of information among team members and stakeholders. I’ve found that recognizing intercultural differences is essential for developing transparent communication. To achieve this, we focus on educating team members and fostering cultural self-awareness.
Tools for Building Cultural Awareness
A great resource for intercultural education is The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. In her book, Professor Meyer introduces eight scales that describe cultural tendencies based on common workplace behaviors. While some scales are similar to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, many offer fresh insights into other organizational behaviors that may be related to national cultures.
Meyer emphasizes that while every culture falls at a certain point on these scales, individuals may find themselves within a range around that point. This means we should use cultural scales as tools for personal reflection and refrain from defining someone solely by their country’s profile. Each person should identify where they are on the cultural scale through self-analysis or by using online cultural profile tools. You can learn more at Erin Meyer’s website. One free tool for individual cultural profiles is found at Harvard Business Review. A free tool for country profile comparison is found at The Culture Factor website.
One way to further our understanding of the effects of interculturality in a given team is to design a team building session around it. Besides covering topics like individual strengths and weaknesses, team members reflect on their culture profile and share with the rest of the team where they fall in their country scales. To consolidate this learning, the team reflects on the diversity of scales and ponders how these differences benefit teamwork but also how they may become a hindrance to it. In my experience, it’s also important for teams to consider interculturality when drafting their working agreements.
Lessons from Our Journey
Over the years at Scio, we’ve had the pleasure of working with professionals and clients from various countries. However, two decades ago, when the company was young, we didn’t have a
formal structure to coach teams in interculturality. Looking back, I see instances where this kind of coaching would have been invaluable.
For example, I recall a brilliant French team leader working with four Mexican developers. He was dedicated to their professional growth, providing very specific feedback on areas for improvement. However, the team members felt demoralized. We later realized that his feedback style was too direct for them. Relating this to Meyer’s Evaluating Scale, France tends toward direct negative feedback, while Mexico leans toward indirect negative feedback.
In another case, I worked with a team comprising one Spanish developer and three Mexican developers. On the surface, they got along well, but during a coaching session, it emerged that they were unhappy with how conflicts were handled. The Mexican team members felt their colleague was too confrontational. By examining their cultural maps, we noticed that Spain tends to be more comfortable with direct disagreement, while Mexico prefers to avoid confrontation. This understanding allowed us to adjust our team working agreements to address conflict resolution more effectively.
Today, we offer interculturality training to our new employees. Since most of our clients are in the US, this is the culture we cover more extensively. Also, we include this topic in the team building sessions, right before the project kick-off. If conflicts arise later, we make sure to remember the interculturality component for team interventions, whenever the team has different national cultures in it.
Moving Forward Together
Since implementing interculturality training and incorporating it into our team-building sessions, we’ve seen significant improvements in team cohesion and communication. Our teams are better equipped to navigate cultural differences, leading to more innovative solutions and a harmonious work environment.
These experiences have taught me the importance of embracing interculturality within teams. By understanding and appreciating our differences, we can create a more harmonious and productive work environment.
I encourage you all to explore the role of interculturality in your teams. You might be surprised at how much it can improve communication, collaboration, and overall performance.
