Translating Leadership across Cultures

As the business world becomes increasingly globalized, understanding the differences in how people in other cultures communicate is becoming critically important. Failing to navigate these complexities not only can lead to misperceptions but also missed opportunities. It’s not just about overcoming language and logistical barriers; it’s about learning to decipher cultural differences that impact work relations and to work effectively across them.

“The difficult part is trying to figure out how to adapt your leadership or negotiation style to the population that you are working with in order to get the best results,” says Erin Meyer, a professor at INSEAD and author of “The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business.” “It’s no longer enough to know how to lead the Mexican or Dutch or American way. We have to focus on understanding what gets results in each of the countries we’re working in.”

Research shows that people from different cultures not only communicate differently but give and receive feedback, make decisions and build trust in drastically different ways. Cultural differences are not easy to understand or even notice at times, and everyday actions can lead to misinterpretations on both sides. For example, Meyer describes a situation where an American business person followed up a verbal agreement made with an Indian business associate with a written confirmation. While Americans tend to put everything in writing, Indians take each other at their word, and the American’s seemingly routine action signaled an offensive lack of trust.

“Just being aware of simple things like when to recap points, put this in writing or allow the relationship to solidify the communication can help you be more effective,” says Meyer.

One way to gauge how others will respond is by trying to understand the varying cultural contexts and their relativity. To help managers negotiate the complex cultural landscape, Meyer has created the Culture Map, comprised of eight scales representing the management behaviors where cultural gaps are most common — communication, performance evaluation, persuasion, leadership, decision-making, disagreements, scheduling and trust. Organizations can map their own cultures across the eight scales and then compare them to the countries where they do business to be more aware of how their actions will be perceived and any potential risk areas.

Learning to build trust across cultures is the foundation for becoming a better cross-cultural leader. In task-based cultures, team members come to feel mutual trust through effective collaboration, demonstrated reliability and respect for one another’s professional contributions.

In relationship-based societies, however, trust comes from a more personal connection. Investing time and energy into creating the right relationships are crucial to earning respect, loyalty and business in other cultures. In one anecdote, Meyer describes how a U.S. company that focused on giving the most persuasive, professional bid presentation to a Chinese company lost the business to a more expensive competitor who focused instead on building relationships with the Chinese organization outside the office.

“If you get the trust right, the other dimensions are not as dangerous,” Meyer says. “If we have really good trust between us, and you speak too directly to me, I’ll forgive you. But if we don’t, it’s going to be the last time that I want to work with you.”

Management styles and perceptions stem from habits developed over a lifetime, which can make them difficult to change. At a young age, students are taught how much respect to show their teachers, something that will carry over into how employees treat their bosses and whether decisions are typically made unilaterally or by consensus. In many African and Asian countries, Meyer says, children learn to defer to authority figures whereas in more egalitarian cultures like the Netherlands, Australia and Israel children consider authority figures as equals.

“When you’re leading a global team, you need to decode the differences between cultures that you’re managing so you can better understand their reactions and perceptions,” Meyer says.

Managers often don’t take the necessary time to learn about the cultural differences that are impacting their work for fear of stereotyping or losing their unique leadership style. However, those who do take the time to understand where the cultures fall on the map and to recognize practical adjustments they can make to bridge those gaps are better able to facilitate complex multicultural interactions.

“The leader who is the most effective globally has a strong sense of authentic flexibility — someone who knows what his authentic, natural style is but, when necessary and desirable, can adapt that style to get the needed results,” Meyer says.

(The article is authored by Melissa Fleming, a writer at YPO)

(YPO is a global community of chief executives dedicated to becoming Better Leaders through Lifelong Learning and Idea ExchangeTM. The YPO platform provides more than 24,000 members in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit www.ypo.org)

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