Posts Tagged ‘Global Leadership’
July 30, 2011
Both the ancient Romans and Greeks called all foreigners “Barbarians”. The North Africans call their mountain people “Berbers”, Arabic for Barbar. The Europeans, until the late 19th century, called everything in North Africa “Barbaria”. The word “barbarian” refers to the uncultured, or those with unrefined communication skills – both explicit and implicit. The way we express ourselves is predetermined by our differing cultures (even if we often do speak the same language). How we communicate ultimately determines how we are viewed as global leaders. Damaging miscommunications can (and do) happen frequently when working across cultures, but they can be avoided if we apply some cultural intelligence to our diverse interactions – in particular understanding the differences between high and low context communications and leveraging both for personal and organizational gain.
High Context cultures communicate meaning not only with words, but with voice tone, body language, facial expressions, eye contact, speech patterns, and the use of silence. Words play a relatively small part in the overall meaning of the communication, and the context conveys the bulk of the information. People in high-context cultures, such as Asia and South America, tend to take time getting to know one another, providing for an understanding of the broader context of a conversation. This results in a knowledge of what to expect, what signals to look for, and how to interpret subtle signs or expressions – fewer words need to be said.
Low Context cultures are expecting explicit communications. People want detailed background information before making a decision, however they are generally unaware of subtle nonverbal signals going on around them. Documents and contracts are not taken seriously unless written or signed – details must be provided. For example, in the United States and Germany (both low-context cultures), contracts with numerous explicit clauses are a normal way to conduct business and the written word is taken quite literally. In low-context cultures, expect detailed documentation – thorough job descriptions, detailed accounting, and lengthy business planning documents. The devil is in the detail.
When communications become challenging, it can be tempting to access your “barbarian-reflex”, especially when messaging becomes unclear. But, as you can imagine, it is completely ineffective to view your colleagues, staff, or even clients as “foreign” or “unrefined” simply because they do not communicate as you do. If you are motivated to communicate effectively on a global, multi-cultural level, you will need to invest in building trust – the more you come to know someone, the less you tend to look upon him or her as a “barbarian”.
If your purpose is to ensure your colleagues and staff reliably implement to your specifications across the globe, the strategy you choose will vary depending on the cultural orientations you are working across. In those high-context cultures, your strategy will need to be relationship and trust based and may not be explicit – more soft-skills based and time intensive. In low-context cultures the purpose of communication is to transfer information and your strategy will need to be explicit, efficient, and detailed in order to ensure the correct implementation. A sound strategic approach that is rooted in cultural orientation will be imperative to your overall success in the global organization.
As a global leader, everything you do conveys a message. Leveraging high-context and low-context cultures means relying on both implicit and explicit communication – carefully ensuring that what you say (low-context) is always mirrored by what you do (high-context). When there is alignment, you automatically build trust across all cultures and your strategic approach becomes less diverse by nature – your message becomes stronger, and you can more readily achieve your global organizational goals, exceeding everyone’s expectations.
For the next several weeks, I will continue to discuss specific cultural orientations that will facilitate successful communications and business results. You can contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website atwww.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next Thursday for the next installation in a multi-tiered discussion on understanding cultural orientations for successful communication Across Boundaries & Borders.
Posted in Cross-cultural, Culture, Global, Global Culture Series, Global Leadership, International, Leadership, Multicultural Teams, Team Building, Value Creation, Who's The Barbarian? | Tagged communication, complexity, Cultural Orientation, global business, Global Leadership, global organizations, intercultural teams, organizational insight, Potential, transformational management | Leave a Comment »
July 8, 2011
As we begin to explore and to understand how cultural orientations affect our assumptions and perspectives, it is important to understand what a cultural orientation is and how it affects worldviews. Everyone has specific orientations, or ways of perceiving the world around them, primarily derived from our cultural background and the way we were raised. These orientations, or world-views, combine to determine who we are and how we see the world around us. From that basis, we will begin to look at several layers of cultural orientation that specifically affect the way people view the world and the assumptions that are placed on interpretations in communication.
If we can leverage orientations to better understand our own perceptions, as well as help us to understand the complex network of cultures surrounding us in our work and in our lives, we can then begin to leverage cultural orientations as a communication tool for discovering creative solutions to problems – increasing the human potential of everyone involved, from every culture, and achieving success on a journey toward high performance and fulfillment that will far exceed everyone’s expectations. Let’s get started with the first set of cultural orientations…Power/Responsibility.
There are three critical elements to establishing how an individual or group may view where they, themselves, as well as others, belong on the Power/Responsibility continuum:
1) Humility; People should accept inevitable natural limitations and are not in control,
2) Harmony: People should strive for balance with nature, having a clear understanding of what one can control and what one can not control or
3) Control: People have determinant power and responsibility to forge the life they want, and are in complete control of every aspect of life.
Humility recognizes that most things are out of our control. Success is viewed as a combination of effort and good fortune, but is never of one’s own doing. Humility teaches us to gracefully accept our limitations, however humility becomes ineffective when it leads to passive acceptance of fate and prevents individuals from taking proactive steps toward positive change. It can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies perpetuating the status quo and causing missed opportunities. On the other hand, humility can teach wisdom: we can learn to accept what life has for us (gratefully or with a grain of salt), relieving us of the burdens of feeling responsible for what happens – everything is beyond our control.
Harmony is the center-point of the continuum between Humility and Control, and is all about balance – knowing when to act and when to let go; maintaining balance between opposite forces. Those who strive for harmony tend to create an atmosphere of consideration and mutual respect. There is a clear sense of when to take control and when to fall back and accepts that there are limitations. This approach fosters an atmosphere of unity and collaborative processes that lead to global success. The leader who knows when to listen, when to act, and when to withdraw can achieve anything.
Control-oriented individuals feel they are in charge of their own destiny – a belief in man’s will over nature, relationships, and happiness, as well as academic or business success. The positive side of control is that it often leads to productivity and strong self-fulfilling prophecies – one can achieve anything one puts his/her mind to. It exudes a sense of optimism and an ability to attain extraordinary goals. The ugly side of control is arrogance and the potential for guilt and frustration when things do not happen as planned. After all, if you believe you are in complete control, it is also your fault when success is eluded. In addition, it is a high-risk proposition to try and control your environment and relationships – you may find in others an unwillingness to comply that ultimately impedes your goals, and thus your success.
Now, imagine the difference if you could begin to leverage the richness in each orientation, while being aware of, and watching for their downsides amongst your diverse global counterparts. If you understand that your own sense of Power/Responsibility may lie toward the control orientation on the continuum (for example), but you need to successfully establish annual goals with your staff in Asia, which are likely to lean more toward a humility orientation, how might you shift your approach to communicate in a way that may result in better cultural understanding and buy-in? If you need to change a process, how might you leverage your knowledge of Power/Responsibility and the associated orientations to alter your communications between regions to facilitate excitement and buy-in to change across various regions? Your understanding and use of cultural orientations communicates a sensitivity that will facilitate faster, more effective results in a fraction of the time that a “one size fits all” communication approach can ever hope to achieve.
If leveraged correctly, this concept will allow you to discover new options, shift perspectives, and quite possibly, to leverage differing orientations as you move between and amongst different geographical locations and cultural orientations. My theory…Acting Local is Acting Global.
For the next several weeks, I will be discussing specific cultural orientations that will facilitate successful communications and business results across cultures. You can contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website atwww.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next Thursday for the second in a multi-tiered discussion on understanding cultural orientations for successful communication Across Boundaries & Borders, Time Management Orientations.
Posted in Acting Local IS Acting Global, alignment, Cross-cultural, Culture, Global, Global Culture Series, Global Leadership, Leadership, Potential, Value Creation | Tagged alignment, communication, Cultural Orientation, global business, Global Leadership, global organizations, innovation, intercultural teams, Leadership, results, transformational management | 2 Comments »
June 17, 2011
For those of you who have been following my blog from the very beginning, I will apologize in advance. Over the next several weeks I will be traveling extensively overseas for business and developing a new service offering for Luminosity Global, while also coordinating the cross-country relocation of my family. As a result, I have decided to repost a series I wrote very early on that many of you may not have seen – if you have seen these articles, I hope you will appreciate them just as much as you did a year and a half ago. I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and enjoys the following series, Global Culture:
A great leader must be a great communicator. However, communication in a global context means communicating successfully across boundaries and borders. Cross-cultural communications are complex – often difficult and easily misinterpreted or misunderstood if not skillfully navigated. The ability to successfully connect across cultures can be facilitated, not by trying to understand the many nuances of every culture, but by understanding that there are basic orientations (or perspectives) that, if understood on a continuum basis, can foster the potential for leaders everywhere to leverage cross-cultural communications for a new energy boost to high performance in an increasingly complex global environment.
The truth is that there are very few leaders or companies on this planet that truly embrace cultural differences and leverage them for global success on a personal and organizational level – yet cross-cultural communications are an invaluable lever to global success. Those of you who are managing across countries and regions and who are willing to get the best out of the rich melting pot of cultures that you navigate, have the ability to build virtual bridges between cultures and geographic locations, creating thriving teams and organizations, that will enable you to become a Game Changer vs. a Game Player through effective global and interpersonal communications.
Integrating cultural orientations into your communications will allow you to unleash exponentially more human potential to achieve meaningful objectives – you will be better equipped to extend personal and organizational worldviews, bridge cultural gaps, and make communications relevant to a geographically dispersed workforce that will enable impossible futures across boundaries and borders.
There is no viable way around it – your cultural orientations impact the way you communicate. As you begin to have the ability to understand your own cultural orientations and communicate effectively across alternative orientations, you will begin to have the ability to leverage cultural differences constructively and for the benefit of all, communicating efficiently and effectively across your global organization. This capacity is of the highest importance for success in an interconnected and increasingly global marketplace.
In the highly competitive global markets in which we all reside, the aim is to achieve concrete impact and tangible results that are enabled through maximum performance across all regions. Challenging cultural assumptions and looking at yourself and your entire extended network (including customers) through a different cultural lens, and communicating back through that lens, will propel you beyond your previous limitations to discover creative solutions that are outside of your proverbial box – leveraging cross-cultural differences to achieve business results well beyond anyone’s expectations.
For the next few weeks, I will be discussing specific cultural orientations that will facilitate successful communications and business results.
Will you shift your paradigm for global success?
You can contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.com or by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back next week for the beginning of a multi-tiered discussion on understanding cultural orientations for successful communication Across Boundaries & Borders.
Posted in Communication, Cross-cultural, Culture, Global, Global Culture Series, Global Leadership, Leadership, Shifting Paradigms For Global Success, Value Creation, Will You Shift Your Paradigm For Global Success? | Tagged communication, competitive advantage, complexity, global business, Global Leadership, Global teams, influence, Leadership, results, success, transformational management, winning results | 1 Comment »
June 2, 2011
Is there someone at work who seems intent on drawing others into a state of constant confrontation? Does he belittle, embarrass or even disrespect people on a regular basis in order to goad them into engaging him? Maybe he is overly critical or micromanaging, attempting to intimidate or control everyone in his path? If this behavior is blatant and habitual, this person is likely afflicted with a dangerous and difficult to cure disease – Chronic Confrontationitis.
An individual with Chronic Confrontationitis is persistent in his attempts to force others to comply with his will. His methods are subtle – disguised with all the right behaviors. People respect and trust him, and he quietly betrays their trust whenever necessary to fuel his addiction. He must always be right, using confrontation to prove his point because, to him, the end always justifies the means. And if he is particularly good at this, no one except his targets notice the betrayals. In some lethal workplaces, he may survive for years, or even become a high-level executive.
To make matters worse, our chronic confrontationitis victim usually has the dedication, focus and business acumen to create success, or at least the appearance of success. He is held up as an example of a company-centric leader, despite his underhanded tactics and inability to lead. He is rewarded, while the frustration builds among the targets of his bullying, intimidating, backstabbing and manipulating behavior.
A skilled, clever victim of the disease displays an elaborate, complex set of behaviors to exploit people around him and draw them into open confrontation. Habitual patterns of intentional, socially inappropriate behavior are indicative of the disease, including the subtle tactics of deceit, distortion, misrepresentation and misdirection.
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Posted in alignment, Chronic Confrontationitis part 1, Communication, Development, Education, Global Leadership, Leadership, Planning, Strategy, Team Building, Value Creation | Tagged challenge, Change Management, communication, Game Changing Future, Global Leadership, influence, Leadership, Potential, results, winning results | 1 Comment »
May 27, 2011
As outlined in Control Cataracts (Part 1) , Control Cataracts is a disorder that occurs in a leader’s vision. It happens when someone becomes desperate to maintain control at the expense of the group or the organization. He or she becomes reluctant to share any measure of authority for fear of losing control. This results in a blindness to the value that could be added by those around them, as well as a short-sightedness as to what success really looks like. Competent employees do not appreciate Control Cataracts; this leadership style erodes confidence and motivation, and will eventually drive them away.
Improve leadership skills, and reduce the tendency to micromanage in your organization, with the following strategies:
1) Expect more of your employees; encourage them to have powerful expectations of themselves. Knowing that you believe in them and hold them to a higher standard is vital to improving organizational performance.
2) Improved communication will reduce the acute nature of Control Cataracts. Encourage those with the disorder to hold feedback sessions with employees in which they, first, compliment them for something they have achieved or done well. Only then can they provide feedback and ask questions about an issue that may concern them. Finally, encourage your micromanagers to finish the session with another commendation. By finishing the feedback sessions on a positive note, they will preserve employee’s dignity and commitment to the job.
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Posted in Communication, Control Cataracts, Cross-cultural, Danger Series, Development, Education, Global, Global Leadership, Leadership, Potential, Resources, Team Building, Value Creation | Tagged challenge, communication, competitive advantage, global business, Global Leadership, influence, Leadership, results, success, winning results | Leave a Comment »
May 12, 2011
Leadership Laceration is a common disorder found when people complain about the leadership that has been placed over them. This is not only harmful to the leader, but it can be fatal for the group. The symptoms can be difficult to detect and are often mistaken for benign interactions. Those without a strong immune system can easily become victims, often unable to differentiate antagonism from healthy criticism. This condition is highly contagious and anyone found to have the symptoms should be quarantined right away…
All kidding aside, those individuals who choose to verbally lacerate leadership can be a serious threat to organizational alignment and morale. Because neither employees nor organizations are immune to employees with the propensity to lacerate leadership, you will need to be aware of the signs, symptoms and impact of leadership laceration.
It is your job, as an organizational leader, to create an environment where brilliant people of all backgrounds, personality types, and work styles thrive. Companies where smart people with diverse backgrounds and work-styles can succeed have significant advantages over those that don’t. However, sometimes really smart employees develop agendas other than doing what is in the best interest of the company. Rather than identifying weaknesses, so they can be overcome, these employees look for faults in leadership to build their case. The smarter the employee, the more destructive this type of behavior can be. Don’t underestimate the fact that it takes a really smart person to seriously lacerate leadership – otherwise, nobody listens.
It can be very difficult to amend the behavior of these smart, but destructive, employees. Once an individual takes a public stance, the social pressure to be consistent is enormous. If he tells his closest colleagues that the CEO is an incompetent, reversing that position will cost him a great amount of credibility the next time he slashes away at the leadership team. Most people are not willing to take the credibility hit.
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Posted in Communication, Cross-cultural, Danger Series, Global Leadership, Leadership, Leadership Laceration, Resources, Strategy, Team Building | Tagged challenge, Change Management, communication, complexity, Global Leadership, Global teams, Leadership, organizational insight, Potential, transformational management | Leave a Comment »
April 11, 2011
Last week I was at a conference that happened to be on a Caribbean cruise - what a great experience! The main purpose of the cruise was to re:create – to realize the creativity each of us has within. There was time built in to actually enjoy the cruise, but more importantly to ponder our own creativity and discover how to continuously re:create ourselves. There were several very wise speakers – Mike Hyatt, Randy Elrod, Ken Davis, and Pete Wilson - each with their individual area of expertise and focus. They each caused me to stop and think in very different ways, and I really appreciated the opportunity to be reminded that, as a leader, I am creative and need to continuously broaden my thinking in different ways.
Often people think, as leaders, that we are not creative. Fortunately, that is a myth. Creativity is problem solving: just as a painter sees a beautiful scene and recognizes it needs to be painted so others can enjoy it, a leader sees unmet needs and brings resolution to those challenges in creative ways. If we were not creative we would not have the capacity to lead effectively – constantly providing guidance and direction to others that may have little in common with us, deriving new policies and processes that will evolve our domain, or creating new business models that will evolutionize our organizations or industries in unforseen ways. You may not paint, take incredible photographs, write songs or beautiful prose – however, if you are out there making a difference in peoples lives and trying to change your world, chances are… (yes, I will say it!) you are creative. If you are not doing these things, perhaps you should consider the opportunity you have missed – and re:create!
How do you constantly Re:create to impact your world?
Please engage the discussion and let us know how you are creative in your leadership role. Feel free to contact me at Sheri.Mackey@LuminosityGlobal.comor by visiting our website at www.LuminosityGlobal.com. Check back soon for the next post on Leadership Across Boundaries and Borders.
Posted in Communication, Culture, Development, Education, Innovation, Leadership, Mentoring, Re:create Series, Re:create...Yourself, Uncategorized, Value Creation | Tagged communication, competitive advantage, Game Changing Future, Global Leadership, inspiration, Lead Creatively, Leadership, Potential, winning results | 7 Comments »
March 30, 2011
Last week we looked at some common myths surrounding change management that have the potential to derail the change effort. Organizational change often reminds me of the movie Jumanji that involves a supernatural boardgame that brings its jungle world to life and puts the actual players in jeopardy of being maimed, or perhaps worse yet, caught in the drama forever. Sound familiar? It’s a jungle out there, and if you want to avoid drama that could maim your change effort, not only do you need to dispel myths (last weeks post), but you also need to put solid game rules in place that will keep everyone on the same game board. Here are some suggestions to foster effective change:
1. Acknowledge The 300 Pound Gorilla In The Room
Don’t try and institute change covertly
- silence, denial and mislabeling always make the situation worse. Call the gorilla, well… a gorilla – let your people know that there are uncomfortable changes taking place. Demonstrate your commitment by asking your opinion leaders for their ideas as to how to go about the change… and actually implement the best contributions. If you want your people to embrace change, they must have a chance to voice concerns and offer input. Effective change management includes listening carefully to concerns and fears – perceived, imagined, or legitimate – that could become barriers. Open communication provides valuable insight, letting you lay the foundations for effective change.
2. Provide Clear, Concise Communications
Even the most dedicated employees want to know how change will affect them personally. It is critical to provide clear and accurate information to the furthest extent possible. Whether they say it or not, people will naturally question:
- How the change will affect them
- What they will need to do differently
- If they will need additional skills to be successful… if so, how will they learn them?
- How they will know if the change is good for them
- If the change will affect their position. Will they be moved or eliminated?
Communicate openly. People can more easily accept change if they know what to expect. Managing expectations is tricky, but it’s vital to success. Make the case for change - provide a clear and convincing rationale for the change and support it with sound evidence. Let those affected know about the proposed change in advance. Advise everyone of the honest implications for individuals, teams, functions, and organizations.
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Posted in Communication, Cross-cultural, Development, Global Leadership, Leadership, Planning, Resources, Strategic Planning, Team Building, The Challenge of Change, Value Creation | Tagged challenge, Change Management, communication, Execution, Global Leadership, Leadership, organizational insight, results, Strategic Planning, success, transformational management, winning results | 2 Comments »
March 22, 2011
It is inevitable – change creates drama in most organizations. However, you have a choice as to whether you deal with change effectively or let it spiral out of control - controlling you and creating unnecessary drama! Leaders need to be able to present a unified vision and convey support if they expect their people to embrace change. Indifference can lead to a rapid demise of the change effort. As a leader invoking change, make sure you provide:
- A vision for how the change will impact the individual, team, division and organization
- A firm commitment to change goals, while accepting input on the details
- Specific, achievable objectives along with plans for achieving them
- A roadmap for success with realistic timelines, budgets, and owners
- A communication framework to support change adoption
- Opportunities for people to give feedback during and after the change
Admittedly, organizational change is complex, but we often make it harder on ourselves than it has to be. Just as in the board game Clue, it is easy to engage in false assumptions that can lead our people down the path of suspicion and drama – away from the truth and the ultimate win. The result? A whole lot of ambiguous thinking regarding the application of structured, human-focused, change within the organization.
Here are just a few examples of how we can easily fall victim to false assumptions over our own realities:
People Resist Change: Actually, not always. People frequently seek out drastic changes in their lives and voluntarily embrace them. People do, however, resist being forced to change.
How change is presented and managed will impact its success or failure far more than the change itself. Most of us respond far better to change when we comprehend a valid reason for it – without solid justification, most people are likely to resist anyone who tries to force change upon them… and cause drama along the way.
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Posted in alignment, Change, Communication, Global Leadership, Leadership, Part 1, Potential, Save The Drama Series, Strategic Planning, Strategy, Team Building, Uncategorized, Value Creation | Tagged Change, Change Management, complexity, Execution, global alignment, Global Leadership, influence, Leadership, Potential, results, Strategic Planning, success, synergy, transformational management, Unity of Purpose, winning results | Leave a Comment »
March 5, 2011
You can bet that if you do not set and manage expectations, drama will invite itself in for an extended visit. When people do not know what is expected, they will create their own expectations – and they most likely will not align across the organization. Disagreements and controversy ensue, causing chaos and distraction from driving positive results. While setting and managing expectations may seem time consuming, the cost – in time, effort, and drama – of not doing so far exceeds that of being responsible and clearly letting people know what you expect of them.
Before you, as a leader, can hold people accountable for outcomes, you have to let them know what success looks like and what you expect to see as a result of their efforts. If everyone knows what is expected, the focus is on driving for results and monitoring against set standards. The benefit of setting and managing expectations is twofold:
- Clear, concise expectations drive actions and decisions.
- Explicit expectations are a primary driver of success.
If you fail to create an environment where expectations are well understood and respected by your people, you are highly unlikely to develop a high-performing organization… or deliver strong business results.
Expectations are like the rules in the board game Sorry! When everyone knows the “rules” or “expectations”, some may try and cheat (like my husband, who can’t stand to lose), but the other players will hold the cheater accountable. When no one knows the rules, it is impossible to be accountable, much less hold anyone else accountable to anything. Organizations are no different – if you want your players to know how to play to win and hold others accountable, you are responsible for setting and managing expectations.
When setting expectations, consider these four principles:
1. Clarity
Expectations should focus on outcomes, not activities. Leaders often make the mistake of attempting to direct the process that will be used, rather than focusing on the desired outcome. As a leader, you should be responsible for identifying the goal, while the employee (or the team) is then responsible for developing how to meet or exceed expectations.
2. Relevance
Relevance helps define the “why” of what is expected. If employees have complete understanding of the importance of what they are asked to deliver, they will be more committed to the result because they see how it fits into the big picture, as well as how their efforts impact the company.
3. Simplicity.
Simplicity creates a sense of grounding for both individuals and teams. If you identify what is expected in simple, straightforward terms, there is a clear understanding of exactly what is expected.
4. Consistency
After setting expectations, you must maintain a consistent approach to managing expectations that can be applied in most situations. This facilitates a sense of unity and equality, and will bolster morale across the organization.
Now, let’s consider three important components to managing expectations:
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Posted in alignment, Communication, Education, Global Leadership, Leadership, Managing Expectations, Multicultural Teams, Planning, Resources, Save The Drama Series, Strategic Planning, Strategy, Team Building, Value Creation | Tagged alignment, communication, complexity, global alignment, global business, Global Leadership, Global teams, influence, Leadership, organizational insight, Potential, Rapid Result Initiatives, results, Strategic Planning, success, synergy, Unity of Purpose, winning results | 1 Comment »
