Did the cultural differences make the creation of a high performance team more or less difficult? How and Why? Saving Changes...
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Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Working from trust people trust their famiuly most and it will ripple from there as in a pond. Different cultures means different core values for the individual person. To develop trust a common ground needs to be determined. this takes time . It is not a question of more or less difficult. When someone from Utah needs to work with someone from Texas there are some similarities but also differences. Question is do they share their core values.
I think you are asking the wrong question. It should not be "more or less" difficult but "more or less likely".
The scarcity of true high performance teams shows that it is always difficult!
All the litrature on high performance teams suggest that diversity is a key ingedient, so one aspect of diversity that can help is cultural differences, and this is especially important if you are working on a product with global sales potential.
I have been lucky to have worked on a couple of high performing teams and the ride is exhilerating so I can say from the inside that the effort is well worth it. Saving Changes...
Jimmy GodardCTO | Professional Keynote Speaker | Trainer | President | Entre| State of OregonSherwood, Or, United States
Cultural differences exist everywhere even within a family nucleus. Ever wonder why a brother and sister constantly fight? What about a husband and wife who are great spouses, but cannot work together in a team setting? This is hilarious, isn’t it? This is because they are humans. They have feelings. They have thoughts, and they may value different things.
I have led virtual teams with members around the world. I have to remind myself to be conscious that I work with human beings. Once you remove the barriers, or your pre-conceived notions of ages, races, creeds, and gender and you focus on the individuals as a whole, then you are more likely to have a high performance team.
This does not mean to disregard these attributes, but to embrace and value them. The leader has to set the tone and foster the culture for the team. Other times, the team is all set up and the leader has to influence the culture for the positive; we hope.
It is interesting how you will be part of a team that allows free thinking, openness, and support each other. You may think that people should behave this way if you value that. Then, you go to your next project and the team focuses more on “my” job, fear to share what they really believe, always try to point fingers at other’s mistakes.
I have had the chance to work with similar teams, and yet both teams deliver their projects on time. They were high performance teams; yet different culture.
I am saying all this to highlight that cultural differences are unavoidable as long as you are working with human beings. The elements of ages, races, creeds, and gender are attributes of those differences and create the settings for an individual to flourish. Leaders must acknowledge this and work to foster the culture that she or he wants the team to have.
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Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
I agree with Julie - if you're doing project management right then you will hit issues. Creating an environment where you are fostering high performance teams is difficult, regardless of the cultures involved.
On the face of it though, this is a simplistic question. Different cultures make it harder to create a high performing team because they will each have different expectations and experiences to contribute. But once you've gone through any 'storming' there is no reason to believe multicultural teams would be any more difficult or less performant over time. Saving Changes...
