Cultural Agility: A Power Skill for Building Diverse Teams

Priya Patra is a Program Manager in Mumbai, India.

 

The demographics of our teams have changed in the last year. Our teams have become more remote and diverse, transcending continents and cultures. The skills required to succeed in this era have also changed in the last year. For me, it’s about being more culturally agile—a true power skill for building diverse teams.

What is cultural agility? According to Wikipedia: “Cultural agility is a term employed in talent management to design a complex competency based on skills whose command allows an individual or an organization to perform successfully in cross-cultural situations.” It is about ensuring we embrace the cultural differences and build upon each other’s strengths. And as stated by PMI COO Michael DePrisco in Balancing Diversity and Inclusion in a Successful DE&I Strategy: “The business case in favor of a diverse workforce is incontestable and becomes stronger with each passing year.”

I always vouch for culturally diverse teams, but a culturally diverse team does not automatically deliver results. According to research by Dr. Carol Kovach at the Graduate School of Management (UCLA), the effectiveness of multi-cultural teams depends on how diversity is managed by team leaders or managers. It is about understanding the values, ethics and perceptions in a multi-cultural scenario.

I’ve often wondered: …

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