As learning and development (L&D) professionals, we facilitate breakthroughs, foster connections and enable potential.
Yet, in today’s globalized workplace, traditional training often fails to address the complexity of intercultural diversity within teams.
Many commonly used team building and training approaches are rooted in Western cultural values which may not be broadly applicable for diverse teams with non-Western employees.
This article explores these dynamics and highlights the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) in fostering greater team effectiveness within multicultural teams.
The Need for a Cultural Lens in Team-Building and Training Activities
Team-building and training workshops often focus on improving communication, resolving conflict and building trust. These programs teach skills like direct communication and feedback approaches that align with Western cultural norms.
However, these approaches can inadvertently alienate non-Western participants, leaving them confused or feeling misunderstood and out of place.
To illustrate this possibility, let’s review a few common American approaches to team building and contrast with non-Western perspectives.
Communication and Feedback
- Western Perspective:
American professional norms frequently emphasize open, direct communication and immediate feedback.
Phrases such as, “clear is kind”; “tell it like it is”; or “say what you mean and mean what you say” embody the value placed on clarity, assertiveness and individual expression.
Effective direct communication depends on the speakers’ words to assure understanding, with less reliance on audience listening skills or a shared context.
- Non-Western Perspective:
Many Asian, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American cultures may value indirect communication flowing from the cultural value of “saving face.” Feedback is often delivered privately or indirectly to preserve harmony.
Phrases like, “read between the lines,” or “read the room” reflect a value that encourages listening for underlying meaning and context.
Effective indirect communication relies on shared context, ensuring nonverbal cues are interpreted correctly with greater emphasis on listener skills rather than the speakers’ words.
Example: A participant from an Asian culture in an American team-building workshop shared this insight:
“Here in America, my colleagues think I’m rude or shy because I struggle to look them in the eye. But that’s not it. In my culture, looking at people in the eye is disrespectful, yet I know that’s what I have to do if I want to advance my career here. So, please know I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just trying to override the deep values I’ve been taught so I can look at you like an American would.”
If cultural nuances like this are overlooked, team members may be misjudged as disengaged or unfit for leadership, even when their contributions are significant.
Facilitators limit their effectiveness if they neglect the cultural values driving team behaviors and communication.
This is where CQ offers essential perspectives and actionable strategies for helping facilitators and teams effectively navigate their cultural differences.
Leadership and Achievement
- Western Perspective: Leadership training in Western cultures often emphasizes personal achievement and individual contribution. Leadership advancement and recognition are tied to performance and initiative.
- Non-Western Perspective: Many Non-Western cultures, particularly in Asia, parts of Africa and the Middle East, prioritize group harmony and respect for authority. Leaders learn to emphasize team achievements over individual performance.
Example: Erin Meyer’s book “The Culture Map” highlights how, in Japanese culture, silence can signify attentiveness and respect which is often misinterpreted by Western colleagues as disengagement and lack of leadership.
Her book recounts multiple stories illustrating the importance of CQ when working with teams. A culturally intelligent facilitator can help groups appreciate different cultural norms driving communication and leadership styles.
The Role of CQ
Rooted in decades of research, CQ equips teams and facilitators to navigate these differences effectively.
CQ is the capability to function and relate effectively across cultures and is comprised of a measurable set of four key capabilities anyone can learn and develop.
The Cultural Intelligence Center describes the four capabilities as follows:
- CQ Drive: Level of interest, persistence and confidence during multicultural interactions.
- CQ Knowledge: Understanding how cultures are similar and different.
- CQ Strategy: Awareness and ability to plan for multicultural interactions.
- CQ Action: Ability to adjust behaviors in response to cultural norms.
These four capabilities form a synergistic framework that learning professionals can use for assessing, training and consulting with teams.
Integrating CQ for Empowering Teams: Practical Applications
- CQ Drive: Cultivating Motivation
CQ Drive stems from curiosity, motivating us to embrace the challenges inherent in multicultural contexts as opportunities for growth.
Facilitator CQ Application:
L&D professionals can cultivate CQ Drive by learning about the cultural backgrounds of their colleagues and clients through facilitating “cultural listening sessions” where participants are invited to share aspects of their culture that are meaningful to them.
Topics like traditional foods, holiday customs, and favorite family traditions can spark light-hearted conversations, foster connections, and demonstrate genuine interest at the beginning of a workshop.
These sessions not only build CQ Knowledge, but also boost confidence in navigating cultural differences.
- CQ Knowledge: Understanding Cultural Norms and Values
At a time when access to information is readily available, developing CQ Knowledge has never been easier to develop and Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions is a great place to start.
In 1980, Dutch social psychologist, Geert Hofstede, developed a framework for understanding cultural value dimensions and how they influence behavior across societies.
Later, Dr. David Livermore expanded the framework to create a list of 10 cultural value dimensions used in the Cultural Values Profile offered by the Cultural Intelligence Center. Cultural Value Dimensions such as Individualism vs. Collectivism and Direct vs. Indirect Communication, highlight how values shape behaviors across societies.
Facilitator CQ Application:
In collectivist cultures, teamwork and group harmony are valued over the individualistic value of individual recognition. A facilitator can design workshop activities to include opportunities for collective contributions as well as individual competition.
CQ Knowledge supports CQ Strategy which plans to enable effective collaboration, communication and team performance.
- CQ Strategy: Planning for Perspective-Taking
CQ Strategy involves applying CQ Knowledge to thoughtfully adapt and plan for multicultural interactions.
Facilitators using CQ Strategy can plan to mitigate the natural human tendency to make assumptions which often lead to misunderstandings in diverse team settings.
To prepare participants for perspective-taking it can be helpful to remind them: “Perceptions can be both strong…and wrong.”
A compelling example comes from our non-Western colleague who shared his challenges with maintaining eye contact in an American workplace. His peers initially misinterpreted this as disengagement. However, when he explained the cultural significance of avoiding direct eye contact, their perceptions shifted, leading to improved understanding and communication.
Culturally intelligent facilitators can integrate sensitive explanations of cultural value dimensions and help prevent misperceptions. This fosters an environment where diverse perspectives are understood and valued.
By practicing perspective-taking — the ability to view situations through another’s cultural lens — facilitators and learners alike can challenge biases and assumptions. Recognizing cultural norms and our own tendencies for misperception equips everyone to engage more effectively.
CQ Strategy paves the way for the final CQ Capability: CQ Action where planning and knowledge are brought to life through practical application.
Facilitator CQ Application:
- Teach perspective-taking by creating opportunities to identify cultural norms and ways these might influence perceptions of others.
- Sharing real-life examples, like the eye-contact story, can prompt “Aha!” moments that transform team dynamics.
- CQ Action: Adapting and Applying Cultural Insights
CQ Action combines the other three capabilities, enabling us to apply cultural awareness to adjust and adapt when engaging across cultures.
Agile facilitators demonstrate “CQ Agility”— the skill to adapt in real-time to meet the cultural needs of their participants.
Facilitator CQ Application:
- Adapt your facilitation style and activities to align with the cultural values in the room.
- For example, refrain from putting individuals with an indirect communication style on the spot by calling on them directly.
- Avoid measuring engagement solely by how often participants speak up. Instead, observe the indirect cues such as attentive body language such as leaning-in, nodding, or subtle facial expressions which may indicate active participant and engagement.
Conclusion
CQ is not just a framework for developing soft skills. It plays a crucial role in team performance and collaboration.
A quote by David Livermore sums it up well: “…it’s harder to get things done on a diverse team. What makes sense to you, might not make sense to me, whether it’s the purpose of a team meeting, a logical way to tackle a project, or decision-making…. Cultural intelligence is what makes the difference. It provides team members the motivation, understanding, and strategies for not only tolerating but actually using their differences to get the work done.”
As L&D professionals, our mission is to empower human potential. In multicultural workplaces, this means guiding teams through the complexities of cultural diversity. CQ equips us with the framework and tools to create inclusive environments where teams can thrive.
By cultivating CQ Drive, Knowledge, Strategy and Action, we empower teams to leverage their differences for enhanced innovation, collaboration and success.
