"Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less."
- John C. Maxwell
If leadership is influence, then global leadership is influence at a global scale crossing national and cultural boundaries.
Being a global leader brings an array of unique challenges. Just when we think we’ve got a handle on the market or the flow of business operations, something changes, and we as leaders, need to be ready for these changes and lead our teams steadily through them. Alongside the operational challenges of being at the helm of a multinational company or team are the intercultural challenges presented by being the leader of such a diverse group.
Too many global leaders bear the cost of low staff morale and high staff turnover to no avail. It’s time to try something new and reap the rewards of a team that is not just surviving, but thriving as it faces the challenges of this fast-paced, global economy head-on. So, how can global leaders build relational capital and set their teams up to succeed?
The answer is to infuse Intercultural Agility into the DNA of their personal and corporate culture so
What is an 'Interculturally Agile' global leader?
Being an “Interculturally Agile" global leader is distinctly different from merely managing operations in various countries with a diverse group of people. As you engage with clients, suppliers, and employees, being “interculturally agile” means you are able to understand the cultural worldviews and dimensions at play in situations and use that knowledge to co-create a more intentional cultural space. While you enjoy the success of global expansion, be aware that your understanding of your own culture and the unique cultures of others needs to grow and develop as the footprint of your organization expands.
A Globe Project study conducted over 20 years identified acceptable practices deemed “acceptable leadership behaviors” worldwide, namely, being charismatic and value-based, team-oriented, participative, and humane. A good global leader will display these traits, but an interculturally agile leader, the leader you know your organization needs during these trying times, will do more. They will be able to apply those "acceptable behaviors" intentionally to create intentional culture on their teams.
As a leader of a global organization, you have come to realize that an understanding of the variety of cultures within your organization has become as important to the bottom line as opening new branches in countries around the world to gain more market share. Growth in your global footprint and growth in intercultural agility are inseparable, but it is often overlooked by other global leaders in our position at the cost of synergy within operational teams. Now is the time to put measures in place to safeguard the relational equity that leads to success.
So, how can you become an interculturally agile global leader?
Do you know your own culture?
The first step in learning intercultural agility is to understand your unique "self-culture." Once you know how you are wired as a unique cultural being, you will be better able to understand your biases and prevent them from guiding your decisions and actions. In addition, an understanding of your worldview and the worldviews of others will allow you to navigate the differences that you experience when relating to people. The Three Colors of Worldview is a powerful discovery tool that could help you understand your own cultural worldview and how it interacts with the worldviews around you.
As you see the worldviews at play in situations you can take the next step to see the cultural norms and values which are at play, measured by the Cultural Mapping Inventory. This tool identifies 12 dimensions in which we express our cultural preferences. These range from direct and indirect communication to ascribed or achieved status. This tool gives neutral language to discussions about culture because it removes the differences between people and positions differences along the continuum of the 12 dimensions. As an interculturally agile leader, you can leverage this tool to get to know your team and build true connections that lead to synergy within your organization.
Are you inquisitive or definitive?
You are in the position of global leadership because you are an excellent leader within your organization. You have proved yourself over time as being effective in managing and leading departments or regions, and now you’ve been given more to manage. Be careful of leading in a global space in exactly the same way you lead in a regional or departmental space.
You may feel, at times, that as a leader you are required to be definitive, make decisions for the good of the organization, and have everyone fall in line. Being decisive is good, taking a different stance in certain settings may help you build the rapport you need with your subordinates. Being inquisitive means that you ask questions about your staff, where they’re from, what they believe about certain aspects of the business. Asking questions may be perceived as a sign of insecurity, and you might feel it could expose you to being undermined but being inquisitive about your staff and showing a genuine interest in their lives, thoughts, and beliefs, will help to build the trust and relationships in which intercultural teams thrive. Your staff will sense your desire to learn and perceive you as humble and approachable.
Do you think in silos or whole systems?
Whole systems thinking refers to a framework where someone looks for the whole picture. While they may be linear in their thinking about policies or systems, they look back to see if they can apply new insights to things they have done in the past, looking for interconnections and synthesis. Whole systems thinking connects systems, policies, and people, which leads to innovation and creates synergy. Leaders of this caliber never move from one task to another assuming that they know it all. It may be valuable to take time out of your schedule in the near future to look back at past processes or systems and see what new insights could improve them.
Are you a culture creator?
Creating culture is more than deciding the organizational culture that everyone needs to abide by. You as a leader could create culture in one-to-one conversations with stakeholders as well as in a boardroom with the employees on your team. This could be referred to as creating a third cultural space where neither your culture nor the culture of others takes priority, a neutral space is created when a new culture is created. This takes time. There are no shortcuts to getting to know people’s stories and then forming an organizational culture that makes space for all those people.
Additionally, taking part in the High Performing Intercultural Team program will help you as a leader to craft the cultural space in which your team can thrive sustainably. Teams where the manager is an interculturally agile, crafter of culture see decreased staff turnover, and the teams have a good reputation within the organization. The result of creating a truly inclusive organizational culture will be worth the time it takes to do it.
What's holding you back from becoming an interculturally agile global leader?
As you endeavor to be an interculturally agile global leader, be on the lookout for attitudes that hold you back from achieving what you set out to do. Take note of these bad leadership habits and be aware of them when they start to creep into your routines:
Not asking questions
Being rigid in the way you’ve always done things before
Resorting to “tips and tricks” instead of really getting to know stakeholders
Relying on biases to talk about your culture or the culture of others
Tending to your cultural preferences and ignoring others
Expecting compliance or assimilation when defining organizational culture
One step you can take today to become an effective global leader
When you consider the number of people in your organization, or the depth of change that is needed, embarking on the journey to interculturally agile global leadership may be daunting or overwhelming. In the world of sports, athletes improve their time through a series of micro improvements. Several small changes can be made as you move towards a change in the culture of the whole organization. The process of becoming an intercultural leader is slow.
Become a better observer to gather more information about how you and others relate in a variety of situations
Hold ways of doing things loosely
They are good at navigating complexity
By creating culture that way there is improved collaboration and better communication and a better creation of the third cultural space
Seek opportunities for transformational leadership that seeks to enhance each interaction with employees:
Apply the Three Colors of Worldview Litmus Test:
do right by your employees,
honor your employees, and
empower your employees.
Your journey towards interculturally agile leadership is too important for you to neglect or embark on in isolation. Having a certified intercultural agility practitioner or coach comes alongside you will equip you with what you and your company need to succeed.
The world is ever-changing and leaders like you are constantly finding themselves in new positions. It is incredibly difficult to predict if a person placed in a position as a global leader will be interculturally agile in that role. While many measures of successful leadership exist, remaining humble, asking questions, creating safe cultural spaces, and taking the much-needed time to learn about the individuals who form part of your team will distinguish you as an interculturally agile leader poised for success as your company grows all over the globe.
If you’d like to bring this Intercultural Agility into your leadership, start a conversation here.
This article was adapted from our the Unlocking Cultural Agility podcast episode on Global Leadership.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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