Facilitate Proceedings » Cross-cultural teamwork

Bridging Cultural Boundaries in Global Teams

Nancy Settle-Murphy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:11:45 +0000

In a recent post, I talked about the importance of helping your cross cultural teams develop cultural literacy, by which I mean an understanding of and sensitivity to values and beliefs that lie beneath the surface differences of language, cuisine and style.

Whether members of a cross-cultural team work in the same location or a couple of time zones away, everyone needs to learn how to navigate cultural differences successfully. In the absence of visual cues, these differences become much more challenging to interpret and address.

Here are some things to think about when you plan for team communication.

Develop Your Team’s Cultural Literacy

Nancy Settle-Murphy — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:37:35 +0000

A client of mine, a manager of organizational effectiveness for a global services firm, recently posed this question: “Although our corporate HQ is here in the U.S., our company is run by teams of people located all over the world. Perhaps because many have limited experience working regularly with people of other cultures, most of the Americans—who are top performers here in the U.S.—seem to be struggling. I’ve been asked to coach a group of American managers to become more effective global collaborators. Any advice?”

In this post, I’ll share some advice for helping your team develop cultural literacy. Later, I’ll talk about how this translates into good behavior in team communications.

Uncovering Covert Barriers To Change

Nancy Settle-Murphy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:31:58 +0000

I recently attended an excellent session at the Cape Cod Institute by Bob Marshak, who explored tips and techniques for overcoming the many covert barriers to organizational change. The examples used throughout the session were geared primarily to groups who worked side by side, when it’s tough enough to identify those hidden landmines and unspoken issues.