Did you know that cultur­ally diverse teams produce more creative and inno­v­a­tive results than cultur­ally homoge­nous groups?

This is a result of the fact that people from different cultural groups approach chal­lenges and prob­lems in different ways. Different cultures think and react differ­ently to the same situ­a­tions. They get the job done in different ways.

By combining those different approaches and mind­sets, a cultur­ally diverse team not only expands their skills and knowl­edge pool, but has the power to think in more abstract terms and find solu­tions on various levels.

Of course, this only works if the team works well together — and that tends to be the tricky part. Cultural differ­ences can lead to barriers between team members, when their different styles of approach are misun­der­stood, misin­ter­preted or not accepted.

Global leaders face not only the chal­lenge of making a multi-cultural team work well together despite their differ­ences, but often also of doing this while the team members are based in different inter­na­tional loca­tions.

In today’s glob­al­ized world, global leaders have to learn to under­stand a wider, richer array of work styles. They must be able to deter­mine what aspects of an inter­ac­tion are a result of person­ality and which are a result of differ­ences in cultural perspec­tive.

Five causes of cultural barriers

Let’s get on the same page here first: what exactly is culture?

Culture is all socially trans­mitted and shared behav­iors, manners, customs, rituals, beliefs, ideas, arts, knowl­edge, values, morals and ideals that are learned in a group of the same nation­ality, reli­gion or ethnicity. It is handed down from gener­a­tion to gener­a­tion, slowly evolving, and creating many subcul­tures in the process.

Cultural diver­sity can make commu­ni­ca­tion diffi­cult, espe­cially in the work­place, where a misun­der­standing can cause costly prob­lems. When people from different cultures work together, several factors can become barriers. We’ll be taking a look at these factors first, and then dive into how to over­come them in a global team.

1. Language

Not speaking the same language (well) can cause a myriad of misun­der­stand­ings and is consid­ered the most crucial barrier in cross-cultural commu­ni­ca­tion.

Verbal commu­ni­ca­tion is impor­tant in every context, but the meaning of words can liter­ally get lost in trans­la­tion. If one person isn’t aware of the exact meaning of a word, it may be misun­der­stood or misin­ter­preted by the other person and lead to a conflict of ideas.

2. Stereo­types and prej­u­dices

Stereo­types are mostly nega­tive images or precon­ceived notions about a specific commu­nity, group or culture. The basis of stereo­typing can be many things, though the most common are nation­ality, gender, race, reli­gion or age.

Popular stereo­types, for example, are that all Germans are punc­tual and very direct, or that all Asians are good at math.

This creates prej­u­dice among people of different cultures and causes judg­mental atti­tudes towards one another. People look at other cultures with certain stereo­types as “bad” or “diffi­cult to work with”, or “incom­pre­hen­sible” and treat them with contempt and disre­spect. If things get this far on a team or in a company, working together effec­tively can become extremely diffi­cult between people who resent and disre­spect each other.

3. Signs and symbols

Non-verbal commu­ni­ca­tion like signs and symbols differ from culture to culture and can there­fore not be relied upon in commu­ni­ca­tion. For example, the “thumbs up”, known in the Western world as a sign of approval, is seen as an insult in Bangladesh.

While not quite as easily miscon­strued in a team envi­ron­ment as the other factors, it can still lead to cultural faux-pas that may take time to smooth over and could be avoided in the first place.

4. Behav­iors and belief

Cultural differ­ences cause behav­ioral and person­ality differ­ences like body language, gestures, mind­sets, commu­ni­ca­tion, manners, and norms, which may lead to miscom­mu­ni­ca­tion. Eye contact, for example, is very impor­tant in some cultures, but rude and disre­spectful in others.

People’s varied reli­gious or spir­i­tual beliefs can also lead to conflict and cross-cultural barriers.

Different cultures also have different under­stand­ings of time. Some coun­tries like Germany, Nether­lands, Scan­di­navia, Switzer­land or the United States tend to view time as linear. Time is money, and punc­tu­ality is a great value. Things tend to be done one at a time, to be able to focus on it and finish the task within a fixed time frame.

Other coun­tries, for example many Southern Euro­pean coun­tries like Spain or Italy, see time as multi-active; this means that the more things they do at the same time, the happier and more fulfilled they feel. Present reality and espe­cially personal rela­tion­ships are more impor­tant and valued than sched­ules or punc­tu­ality.

5. “Us” versus “them” (ethno­cen­trism)

From an evolu­tionary stand­point, belonging to a group made you stronger and more likely to survive in a hostile world. Strangers or other groups were “the enemy”, competing for food, safety and terri­tory.

This us- versus them-thinking is ingrained in our subcon­scious and can lead to a sense of alien­ation if someone behaves in a way we don’t under­stand or aren’t expecting — if they don’t fit in.

A person’s stan­dard is his or her own culture; the more another person’s culture, behavior, language, and beliefs deviate from it, the more “other” they are labeled. This affects the under­standing of message and creates hostility.

How to over­come cross-cultural barriers

Successful and effec­tive cross-cultural manage­ment can be a daunting task — and even more so for teams with members scat­tered across the globe. People who are constantly inter­acting with each other face-to-face for eight hours every day will bond and find common ground faster than people who only interact with each other online at certain times.

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As a global leader you not only have to be aware of the cultural barriers within your team, but actively strive to over­come them.

Embrace diver­sity and accom­mo­date cultural differ­ences

As a global leader, you must make your team members and employees under­stand that cultur­ally diverse teams produce more inno­v­a­tive and and creative results as opposed to homoge­nous groups. There­fore, cultural differ­ences should be appre­ci­ated, openly discussed and utilized to support each other, rather than creating barriers. You want a team to work well because of their differ­ences, not in spite of them.

Create oppor­tu­ni­ties for your employees to learn about their colleagues’ perspec­tives and ways of life to build open-mind­ed­ness and appre­ci­a­tion. Focus on the strengths that each culture brings to the mix and discuss how these strengths can be inte­grated in the way your team works together, handles chal­lenges and tackles projects.

Promote open commu­ni­ca­tion

Open commu­ni­ca­tion is the only way that cultur­ally diverse teams can work through and over­come their differ­ences to make them work well together. As global leader, it’s up to you to promote that culture of open commu­ni­ca­tion within your company or team.

Don’t let resent­ment, prob­lems, or misun­der­stand­ings between team members fester; address them as soon as they arise and give all parties the oppor­tu­nity to present and discuss their griev­ances in a safe and open envi­ron­ment.

If your team members’ or employees’ prob­lems are with you, listen closely to what they have to say. Thank them for their honesty, and try to find a good solu­tion or compro­mise that everyone agrees with.

A company culture of open commu­ni­ca­tion is grown from the top down. As global leader, you must lead by example and value everyone’s opinion equally to ensure open­ness and honesty between your team members.

Lead open discus­sions about team norms and shared company culture

When your team members differ on a cultural level, you can unite them by creating a new common culture: your company or team culture.

Unlike leading by example to promote open commu­ni­ca­tion, this won’t happen in a top-down approach, though. A company or team culture must be culti­vated together and include all members. As the team leader, it’s impor­tant to allot specific times for the team to discuss differ­ences and air griev­ances, find common ground and decide together how to proceed.

This becomes more impor­tant, but also more chal­lenging, with a team that isn’t just cultur­ally diverse, but situ­ated in various loca­tions. Where people don’t interact person­ally, it becomes more diffi­cult to look beyond the cultural stereo­types and get to know the person behind them. But this is crucial to foster under­standing of each other and building a company- or team culture together.

Rally the team around a shared vision or common cause

Bringing people together around a shared vision or common cause can be a powerful thing to unite the team and have all members pulling together in the same direc­tion.

Maybe the product or tech­nology you’re devel­oping and producing together will save lives or help people in need? Or you might run regular fundraisers to support local char­i­ties in your team members’ loca­tions. Or maybe you’re all working together towards that 20% more revenue to ensure a raise for all team members this year.

Leading cultural diver­sity as a global leader

As a global leader, it is your respon­si­bility to ensure that your team members or employees work together through their cultural differ­ences. Be aware of the stereo­types and prej­u­dices you may your­self have and try to consciously over­write them. Under­stand the differ­ences your team members deal with among each other and foster a company culture of open commu­ni­ca­tion.

But the ability to lead your team or company through cultural barriers is only one of the chal­lenges a global leader faces every day. Find out more about global lead­er­ship on this Global Lead­er­ship Maga­zine, or make it even easier by signing up for our weekly news on all things Global Lead­er­ship: