Cross-Cultural Team-building: How to Build Stronger Intercultural Teams?
In today’s multicultural work environment, leaders get to manage teams made up of very diverse people whose mindsets and skill sets create a unique synergy. Of course, managing a cross-cultural team is not without its challenges, but with the right approach, this diversity often turns out to be an asset rather than a hindrance.
By focusing on communication and acknowledging each individual and their culture, building a strong cross-cultural team is not only possible without any conflict, but it can do wonders for a business.
Cross-cultural Team-building: Overcoming Interaction Challenges
The primary aim of cross-cultural team-building efforts is to counter the barriers that naturally form when people in different parts of the world come together to work on a project.
Expression and communication, for instance, constitute one of the main difficulties, which can arise even if all the members of the team speak English (or whichever language you are all using) fluently. Understanding one another can be complicated at the best of times, so it isn’t rare for colloquialisms to lead to misinterpretation.
Instead of allowing even a well-meaning icebreaker or joke to create discomfort, you could organize cross-cultural team-building exercises around the subtleties of everyday expressions.
Invite everyone to think about how certain phrases used commonly in their own language could be misconstrued if they were understood literally and ask them to share with the group.