When you are collaborating across 3 time zones, with 10 smiling faces in small boxes on your Zoom screen, it can be difficult to comprehend just how vast the cultural differences may be for each individual on the call.
One common communication challenge for multicultural remote teams is confusion about the multiple meanings of the word “yes,” since this doesn’t always translate to an agreement or understanding. Whether or not webcams are used may also create miscommunication, because nonverbal gestures and indirect communication can get missed. When in doubt, reach for your toolkit of cultural collaboration strategies for virtual teams.
Here are some tips for remote cross-cultural collaboration:
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Understand The Role of Culture
Managing global teams effectively requires understanding the role of culture in workplace interactions. Remote working only exacerbates the learning curve for cultural understanding when we are unable to view or interpret gestures, facial expressions, and other contextual information which are deeply tied to our cultural norms. Provide opportunities for an open discussion about the ways culture impacts our workplace behavior, which can be a powerful team building for remote multicultural teams.
How do our expectations vary when it comes to giving and receiving feedback? How can we make sure that our own cultural understanding of trust, respect, and leadership doesn’t get lost in translation? When we start asking the questions out of curiosity and self-awareness, we allow the opportunity for our multicultural team to grow and learn from one another.
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Use The Tools Available To You
Take advantage of assessments such as the Team Performance Assessment in the Inclusive Virtual Teams course to get a more accurate sense of your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Not only can taking a course or assessment in tandem be team building, but you can also use this activity as a conversation starter to discuss how to improve cross-cultural collaboration.
Use apps or AI to calculate time zone differences and find times to meet that ideally work for everyone. If this isn’t possible, ask AI to create a rotating schedule so that there isn’t only one particular regional office forced to endure late or early calls. Add live captions and translation technology to ensure there are multiple ways to access information. And lastly, create a team calendar to remember cultural holidays across all of your global offices.
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Establish Culturally-Inclusive Team Guidelines
Clear guidelines for meeting agendas, feedback, disagreements, and communication can vastly improve remote team communication across cultures. Acknowledge cultural differences and work styles when soliciting ideas from your global team.
Depending on one’s cultural background, eliciting ideas, surfacing disagreements, and giving feedback can be counterintuitive in certain virtual settings. An example guideline could be that in addition to large meeting forums, ideas and feedback can also be brought forward through various mediums, including via email, anonymous surveys, or a one-on-one call. Cultural collaboration strategies and guidelines for virtual teams must be flexible, with room for evolution and change, as the needs and dynamics of the team members shift.
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Prioritize Trust
We can’t talk about remote team tips without mentioning global leadership skills. Establish trust virtually with your global team members by demonstrating active listening, curiosity, and cultural agility. This can mean verifying understanding by restating what you heard, demonstrating an openness to sharing information, and willingness to give recognition to others.
It’s easy to see how cross-cultural teams who collaborate virtually encounter challenges building the trust necessary for effective collaboration. With some thoughtful adjustments, instead of a landmine for miscommunication and confusion, your remote interactions can be opportunities for innovation, growth, and teamwork.
Ready to see culture in action? Try our sample course: Impact of Culture on Teamwork.
