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[post_date] => 2014-09-04 14:33:32
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[post_content] => Due to a number of factors such as technology and globalisation our day to day lives - whether business or personal increasingly involve broader international networks. And while in the IMI blog we often consider our "effectiveness" in how we interact with and manage others but all too often we do not discuss the critical factors of nationality and culture.
How do cultural differences impact on your ability to do business? And how can we make sure we are maximising our relationships with those in our network who may be operating with cultural differences to our own.
Erin Meyer is a professor at INSEAD, one of the world's leading international business schools. Her work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Singapore Business Times and Forbes.com. In 2013 the Thinkers 50 named her as one of 30 up-and-coming thinkers and in October 2013 British Airways Business Life magazine on their list of 'Ten Dons to Watch'. Her work focuses on how the world's most successful global leaders navigate the complexities of cultural differences in an international environment.
IMI: Based on your current work - if you only had 6 words of advice to give a business - what would they be?
EM: Succeed Globally with a Culture Map
IMI: What does this mean?
EM: Today, whether we work with colleagues in Dusseldorf or Dubai, Brasilia or Beijing, New York or New Delhi, we are all part of a global network (real or virtual, physical or electronic) where success requires navigating through wildly different cultural realities. Unless we know how to decode other cultures and avoid easy-to-fall-into cultural traps, we are easy prey to misunderstanding, needless conflict, and ultimate failure.
Yet most managers have little understanding of how local culture impacts global interaction. Even those who are culturally informed, travel extensively, and have lived abroad often have few strategies for dealing with the cross-cultural complexity that affects their team's day-to-day effectiveness.
To help people improve their ability to decode the cultural differences impacting their work and to enhance their effectiveness in dealing with these differences, I have built on the work of many in my field to develop a tool called the Culture Map. It is made up of eight scales representing the management behaviours where cultural gaps are most common.
The eight scales are based on decades of academic research into culture from multiple perspectives. To this foundation I have added my own work, which has been validated by extensive interviews with thousands of executives who have confirmed or corrected my findings. The scales are:
- Communicating: explicit vs. implicit
- Evaluating: direct criticism vs. indirect criticism
- Leading: egalitarian vs. hierarchical
- Deciding: consensual vs. top down
- Trusting: task vs. relationship
- Disagreeing: confrontational vs. avoidance
- Scheduling: linear-time vs. flexible-time
- Persuading: applications-first vs. principles-first
By analyzing the relative positioning of one nationality to another on each scale, managers learn to decode how culture influences day-to-day international collaboration and therefor avoid the common pitfalls.
Managers have always needed to understand human nature and personality differences – that’s nothing new. What
is new is that twenty-first century managers must understand a wider, richer array of work styles than ever before. They have to be able to determine which aspects of their interactions are simply a result of personality and which are a result of differences in cultural perspective.
IMI: Where should we look for further information?
EM: Read The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business. Or my HBR article:
Navigating the Cultural Minefield www.erinmeyer.com.
Erin Meyer will be holding a Masterclass at IMI on September 30th. If you are interested in attending
click here to register.
[post_title] => "Decode cultural differences to suceed globally" Six Word Wisdom from Erin Meyer
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[post_title] => Bridging The Generational Gap In Modern Organisations
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[post_date] => 2013-10-23 15:47:02
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[post_content] =>

In every organisation the top team is that critical component that is tasked with setting the wheels in motion. The way in which the top team operates sets an example for the rest of the organisation and can and should be a motivating example for the rest of the business. But just how effective are top teams in setting an organisation on the right course? And how good are they in engaging and motivating employees to do what is needed?.
Working with many top teams, observing their behaviours and listening to their conversations when they meet, I have noticed some interesting patterns.
Common Top Team Dysfunctions...
Turf wars
Many top team conversations focus on reviewing large tables of numbers and explaining how they are different from forecasted expectations. At this point the conversations shift to who is to held "responsible" and which department or function should take praise or blame.
Cynicism
Top teams often talk about how employees fail to "understand the gravity of the situation", the importance of the "drastic change"s ahead or even "remember that they are paid to do a job".
Incongruence
While many
top teams are aware they need to be a team, they often believe that any time spent working on the team is time taken away from talking about important business issues. A dysfunctional top team cannot make good decisions let alone execute them.
While each top team has certainly different group dynamics and many function well in particular areas, the above behavioural patterns seem to be quite pervasive. Where the above dysfunctions are present they are almost undoubtedly at the root of larger business challenges.
...And how to overcome them
Behavioural change begins with understanding of current behaviours and a clear picture of the desired behaviours. Overcoming the above potentially destructive patterns of behaviour requires the top team to be united, caring, and authentic.
Be United
Firstly, while each team member has a functional role and is responsible for a specific business unit, all organisations need a unanimous commitment to a course of action. This has little to do with consensus and much more to do with well defined success criteria, a clear sense of the priorities, and a well defined decision-making process.
Everyone is responsible for the success or failure of a business through clarity of purpose, consistent performance feedback and mutual accountability.
Be Caring
Secondly, simply paying someone to do a job is not always enough to motivate them to do the job right. People are engaged in doing a great job when they are inspired to do so by leaders that walk the talk, are honest in their interactions and more importantly care about what's going on in the life of their employees.
Being caring is not a nice-to-have - it can make the difference between a deadlocked organisation and one that is engaged to deliver.
Be Authentic
Finally, for top teams to be effective they need to become aware of their influence on the mood of the entire organisation. A top team must operate as a true team, working through organisational issues with candour, vulnerability and most importantly with mutual accountability.
The visible daily behaviour of the organisation's leaders is a much more powerful message than any vision or mission statement. When the words are incongruent with the behaviours, it is the behaviours that set the truth.
Before an organisation's leaders can expect the rest of the business to operate effectively, it is important that they understand how they themselves work as a team to contribute to the common goal of delivering business results.
If you are interested in having your senior team work with IMI contact us on +353 1 207 8400 or
solutions@imi.ie or
read more about our approach.
Fabio Grassi is Executive Learning Director at IMI. He is a specialist in the development of team performance, collaboration and motivation. His approach involves the facilitation of tailored workshops aimed at the achievement of specific business outcomes. He is passionate about the development of ethical leadership through executive coaching. e-mail Fabio Grassi or call on +353 87 9183282.
[post_title] => Are Mummy & Daddy Fighting? 3 Ways of Overcoming Top Team Dysfunctions
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