On Managing Across Cultures by Harvard Business Review

Cultural intelligence is related to emotional intelligence, but it picks up where emotional intelligence leaves off. A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another. A person with high cultural intelligence can somehow tease out of a person's or group's behavior those features that would be true of all people and all groups, those peculiar to this person or this group, and those that are neither universal mor idiosyncratic. The vast realm that lies between those two poles is culture. (By Earley and Mosakowski, Harvard Business Review.)

I read this book to gain some insight into how to teach people from different cultures - considering each person's unique learning style in addition to that - so that everyone is receiving the same message. The majority of my company's employees come from diverse cultures, which can cause communication issues on the job. Some of this book was outside the scope of the small company I work for, but it was interesting in and of itself. I like the way the book is set up because each chapter is written by different authors, concerning a different topic, and there is an "Idea in Brief" embedded within each chapter for easy reference.

One thing I learned is that challenges are not simply due to verbal communication styles. There are four challenges: direct vs. indirect communication; trouble with accents & fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy & authority; and conflicting norms for decision making. There is also a gap between what is said and what is heard. The words are the same for two people, but the meaning may be different. We need to be able to "de-code" another person's expressions and expectations.

Thomas and Ely talk about the emerging paradigm: connecting diversity of work perspectives. They talk about eight preconditions for making the paradigm shift. 1) Leadership must truly value different perspectives and approaches to work; 2) Leadership must recognize both the challenges & learning opportunities that different perspectives presents; 3) The organizational culture must create an expectation of high stands of performance from everyone; 4) It must stimulate personal development; 5) It must encourage openness; 6) It must make workers feel valued; 7) It must have a well-articulated and widely understood mission; 8) It must have a egalitarian, nonbureaucratic structure which promotes the exchange of ideas.

Managers who have helped their organizations make the change successfully have consistently demonstrated their commitment to the process and to all employees by setting a tone of honest discourse, by acknowledging tensions, and be resolving them sensitively and swiftly. (By Thomas and Ely, Harvard Business Review.)

I believe all people in leadership roles would find sections of this book relevant to their individual circumstances. It certainly highlighted for me what I need to focus on in my leadership role.

Wendy's Rating: ****