How to lead
A Global Team
How to Lead a Successful Global Team
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companies can boost the effectiveness of
global teams by helping their team
leaders to understand the concept of
cultural relativity to give an example I
worked with a team that was made up with
French and British people and when I
asked the British what's it like to work
with the French they complained they're
always late they're really disorganized
they're always a chaotic a little bit
later a group from India joined the same
team and the Indians complain that the
French were overly structured they were
in adaptable they were so focused on the
punctuality that it left them inflexible
when you're leading a global team you
have to understand all of these complex
perceptions that may be impacting the
team's effectiveness so that you can
manage it when companies are building
global teams they need to prepare those
team members to understand how their own
cultural biases are impacting the team
interaction I worked with a global team
a while ago where I had all of these
Americans and a couple of Malaysians on
the team and the Americans were doing
all of the talking and the Malaysians
never spoke up when I spoke with the
Americans they said well you know these
Malaysians they are shy and they have
nothing to contribute and then when I
spoke to the Malaysians they said you
know it's so difficult to be a part of
this team because the Americans are
constantly interrupting each other and
there's never a space for us to get our
voice in edgewise so this is something
that is deeply cultural when should we
speak and when should we be quiet and if
the team understands this simple
difference they can reorganize the way
the meetings are led so that they all
have an opportunity to speak up if
you're looking for a candidate to move
to another country don't judge them
solely on experience instead try asking
them a question like what was it that
they learned about the last culture that
they were living in if they tell you
something like oh well you know in that
culture they're always late and they're
really inefficient and they're very
hierarchical that's a sign they're
probably not ready for another
expatriation but if they tell you
something like well you know when I
first
moved to that country I found it
frustrating that they were always
deferring to my opinions but after a
while I came to see the beauty in that
type of system and that it was so much
more efficient than what I was used to
at home if you have someone who can give
you that kind of answer you know they're
ready to move to another country one of
the biggest mistakes that companies make
is not preparing their leaders to lead
effectively in this very complex
multicultural world I worked with a
Dutch brewing company who purchased a
large operations in Mexico Oh in the
Netherlands one of the most egalitarian
societies in the world people are very
well they see the boss as being one of
equals a facilitator among the team and
in Mexico people are taught from a young
age to defer more to Authority to show
more respect to that authority figure
now I we had these Mexicans who are
managing Dutch people and they said you
know managing Dutch people is absolutely
incredible because they do not care at
all that I'm the boss I go into these
meetings I have my strategy I'm trying
to roll out my plan but they're
contradicting me they're challenging me
they're taking my ideas in other
directions sometimes I just want to get
down on my knees and say no please don't
forget that I'm the boss so this was
really complicated in today's global
economy it's not enough to know how to
lead the Mexican way or the Dutch way
our leaders need to be flexible enough
to adapt their style to motivate whoever
they're leading in no matter which
cultural context that might be
