Introduction Intercultural leadership

Before starting with this subject its important to differentiate between an international business and a global business.
An international business has autonomous units in each country and although the interactions between the countries may lead to misunderstanding different management styles can exist alongside each other successfully. 

However in the case of a global business a managers typical day may start in the morning by dealing with transport issues in Antwerp and then continue in the afternoon with a telephone conference to the Marketing department in San Paulo and be followed with a discussion with the R&D department over product development in Japan and end that evening with a video conference on anti dumping in Beijing.

Making and communicating strategic decisions within such a global environment demands much more from the intercultural manager than the obvious language skills.

For example:

• having a working knowledge of different management styles
• understanding the various concepts of time and how they effect deadlines.
• knowing when  is it important to address the individual responsible and when its more appropriate to communicate to the group
• being aware when a simple reminder on contractual agreement is sufficient and when is it necessary to meet face to face.
• how to avoid loss of face

The more global experience the manager has the more s/he will understand these differences but the manager is also a mentor for his or her workforce and therefore needs to establish such a global mindset within the whole company. A ground stone for such a development is the believe that differences create value. It is vital for the workforce to understand that their individual value systems are being respected and their skill base is  being appreciated.

When differences come up it is the managers understanding of the necessary soft skills i.e. active listening, empathy, intercultural sensitivity and diplomacy that allow the conflicting parties to enter a process of mindful reframing. Each side moving a step closer to the other perspective in order that a third and more productive solution can be found.

In order for the intercultural manager to function effectively it is therefore essential that s/he allows enough time and resources for these differences to be appreciated and encourages the development of the skills needed to deal with them.

• Kick off meetings are an extremely valuable opportunity to allow an international team to learn about different communication and decision making styles and to create an agreed communication style for the duration of the project.
• Global mindset training ( better known as intercultural training) is a fundamental part of developing a global mindset within the company
• Assessment of intercultural skills of key players greatly increases the efficiency and success quota of international projects.

More an more companies are seeing the advantages  and savings of operating a global system within their company.  It is now our challenge to face the developmental challenges that this intercultural leadership style brings with it.

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Written by Nick Parry International Development Partner of Business Performance Academy