Turning cross-cultural gaps into synergy
Today’s global enterprises rely on virtual and cross-cultural communication to get things done. But distance and diversity can lead to misunderstandings, lack of attentiveness and severe cultural gaps that hamper productivity. The mission: Turning what is perceived as a disadvantage into a major advantage.
The tool: Effective Relationship Coaching.
Every experienced executive or project manager within global organizations has a bagful of similar stories about cultural gaps. An American team in the United States working with an Israeli team in Tel Aviv, for example: they can accomplish great things together, but they can also create non-stop communication crisis. The reason? Distance and diversity, mis-interpretation of messages, communication styles, etc.
Almost everyone agrees that virtual teams and cross-cultural teams can accomplish things ordinary teams cannot, but they also agree that the conflicts create gaps between team members.
Relationship coaching for skillful interaction
So, can skillful interaction be taught? The answer is yes – but it’s a process. The first step is to reveal good intentions that exist between team members, in order to build (or rebuild) the foundations of effective communication across virtual channels. Long distance work relationships can be hard – but positive intentions and thoughtful communication can go a long way to make things easier.
The next step is to equip team members with tools that raise their awareness to the impact they are having on each other and how to recreate and often correct an unintended impact. When using productive relationship skills, they succeed to sustain the feeling of “teamness” within non-trivial circumstances.
Team members tend to struggle with the temptation to disconnect, to not express frustrations and live in silence – a temptation that is much stronger than accepting the challenge of sustaining a team atmosphere and open communication. However, this can be shifted. They can become more attentive and empathetic to others and their different ways and begin to nourish and grow each other in ways that they cannot within their culture. Teams must learn to bridge cultural gaps and continuously build communication bridges – this is achieved by experiencing relationship and team coaching.
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