Can Your Team Benefit from Its Cultural Diversity?
We sat across from each other—all ten of us—expats living and working in North Africa. We were all speaking the same language. We all looked alike. We all dressed alike. We all seemed to enjoy, or at least tolerate, the same foods.
If someone walked into the room during one of our team meetings, they might think we were all alike, all the same.
But, there was a problem. A big problem.
We were all speaking the same language, so language couldn’t possibly be the problem. We were all dressed relatively the same, so that couldn’t possibly be the problem. We all liked to eat the same kind of foods, so that couldn’t possibly be the problem.
Six of us were English speakers from America. Three people on the team, two Dutch and one French citizen, had been learning and speaking English since they were in elementary school. We all spoke the language fluently, so it seemed that we should be able to understand each other. But, that was not the case.
Maybe the barrier between us was deeper.
What’s Underneath?
Language, dress, and skin color are all on the surface. Those are things that you can hear and see. However, just like an iceberg, there is a lot more inside, underneath, and hidden in a person than what meets the eye . . . or the ear.
There is this giant thing lingering beneath the surface called culture. It’s the elephant in the room that no one can see.
American anthropologist Edward T. Hall first developed the Iceberg Theory of Culture in the 1970s, explaining that “the viewed, observed, and experienced parts of culture constitute 10% of the entire cultural context of a society. Therefore, 90% of the culture is invisible and made up of beliefs and perspectives in the minds of individual members of society.”
So, perhaps our cross-cultural team’s problem wasn’t language, dress, or food. It was the hidden cultural identities, the cultural differences, that we all brought into the group. The cultural mix was sometimes . . . explosive!
Even though everyone on our team had a lot in common, there were drastic differences, too. Some of us may have shared a native culture and passport country, but our cultural identities were not the same.
According to Penn State University, “Culture is taught from an early age, but cultural identity is something that is developed throughout life. It is important to recognize diversity in cultural identity.”
Among the six Americans on our team, one was born and raised in the Midwest but had lived overseas since the age of 19. Two had never lived abroad before this year of cross-cultural work. Two had been raised abroad in the bush of Africa since they were knee-high. They looked American, but they felt “African.” They were what we call Third Culture Kids, children raised outside of their passport country. The other two Americans were born and raised in the United States, but had lived in West Africa for over two decades.
So even those of us who carried the same American passport also carried different cultural colors that we had picked up along the way during all of our global travels.
We were already a diverse group, and then we added to that mix three native-born Europeans from France and the Netherlands.
With all of these cultural differences, how were we supposed to work together effectively? How could we possibly get along when there were so many stark contrasts?
Diversity has both benefits and challenges, but just as our brains gravitate toward the negative, “the negativity bias,” we tend to focus on the hard parts, the wrong side of the coin.
According to The Harvard Business Journal, a review was conducted of 1,100 studies on diversity in global teams, published during a span of 24 years in the Journal of International Business Studies. This review revealed that 95% of the studies emphasized the negative effects, rather than the positive, of team member differences.
What are the Challenges of Cross-Cultural Teams?
Katie Reynold, from Hult International Business School, identifies challenges associated with a culturally diverse work environment:
Negative stereotypes can interfere in the integration of members.
Professional communication can be misunderstood or misinterpreted.
Professional etiquette and work styles may vary and conflict.
The Harvard Business Review identifies other challenges:
Team climate, team cohesion, and team trust can be negatively affected.
Team members may find it less enjoyable to spend time together.
What are the Benefits of Cross-Cultural Teams?
Yes, there are definitely challenges of having a culturally diverse team. But there are some great benefits as well.
What if the benefits of cross-cultural teams could outweigh the negatives?
According to The Harvard Business Review, less homogeneous teams:
Consider more options and are less likely to fall into the “groupthink trap.”
Process facts more carefully, make better decisions, and have better general task performance.
Penn State University adds some other positive cross-cultural team dynamics:
Overcome cultural barriers due to opportunities for interaction and shared experiences (Al-Jenaibi, 2011).
Improve recruitment and retention of culturally diverse staff.
Increase creativity, drive, and innovation, expanding the organizational scope and improving the ability to captivate new customers and resources to solve problems.
Create new work and management styles.
Photo by Trust "Tru" Katsande on Unsplash
Cultural Diversity Management
In order to experience the numerous benefits of a cross-cultural team, the “cultural diversity must be well managed at all organizational levels to help to reduce barriers, remove stereotypes, and address other factors that hinder the formation of intercultural working relationships.”
According to The Harvard Business Review, here are some practical things that organizations, companies, and teams can do to build and manage healthy cross-cultural team dynamics.
Employ cross-cultural communication and diversity awareness training to improve cultural intelligence and interest in working with people from other countries.
One such program is offered by KnowledgeWorkx. They provide Cultural Agility Training, using multiple tools to help increase your inter-cultural intelligence, such as the “Three Colors of Worldview” and the “Cultural Mapping Inventory.” They believe that it’s crucial to know and understand your own culture before you can begin to understand and accept the other’s culture.
Establish programs and policies that reduce prejudice and stereotypes and promote friendly interaction among diverse team members.
Authors Kühlmann & Heinz (2017) highlight six additional key drivers of successful cultural diversity management:
It is a change in the whole organization and its processes; therefore, it needs a long-term approach.
It is an ongoing process that needs constant monitoring, evaluation, and periodic adjustment.
It must be led, promoted, and supported by top management leaders.
To create a positive climate of diversity within the organization, the whole workforce must be incorporated.
Cultural diversity should not be seen and communicated as an obstacle but rather as an advantage.
Cultural diversity management must be focused on social integration and the creation of equal opportunities for all employees.
A Decision
We sat across from each other—all ten of us—expats living and working in North Africa. We were all speaking the same language—English. We all looked alike—Caucasians. We all dressed alike. We all seemed to enjoy, or at least tolerated, the same foods.
If someone walked into the room during one of our team meetings, they would think we were all alike, all the same.
But, there was a problem. A big problem, and we had a big decision to make.
As a cross-cultural team, would we succumb to the challenges of our diversity, be overwhelmed by our differences, and fail in our work and in our relationships? Or would we take advantage of the benefits of our cultural diversity and channel it for good?
I choose the latter!