This blog will feature questions (ranging from leadership and diversity to culture-specific communication, global team-building, and the nuances of business and social protocol in different countries and cultures) raised by working, adult students in higher education. You are invited to share your insights and perspectives based on your own personal work experiences. See "Welcome . . . more about this blog" for additional information about the blog's history and purpose.
Effectively leading teams in multiple countries is a complex situation since most, if not all, communications are done remotely. Using that platform can easily lead to miscommunication between team members. That being said, if the leader has a strong personal identity while also adapting to a new cultural context, the employees in both/all locations will benefit. These and many other skills combine to form an effective global leader. A leader’s global awareness, cultural empathy and flexibility are all important qualities towards effectively leading teams in an international platform.
ReplyDeleteDena and Class,
ReplyDeleteCross-cultural challenges surface problems that are not clear-cut nor easy to identify. Using the GLED Model (Mendenhall, et al. 2013) as a guide to articulate your response, how might a U.S. American leader create a sense of safety for U.S. American followers and followers from other cultures to share the challenges they are experiencing?
Referencing the GLED model a leader should seek to improve their global knowledge to assist with the challenges they might face before leading a global team. Ways that a leader could be become educated is by seeking out experienced mentors, coaches and seminars that are globally focused.
DeleteUsing the GLED Model as a guide, starting at Global Education, the U.S. American Leader can look at getting a mentor they can learn from, and use what they learn as a growth tool to their followers. They will then enter the Transformational Process using their Experience, Encounters and Challenges to create this safety net. As Mendenhall states that the GLED model are conceptual in nature, there are studies that if a leader follows the GLED model process, the potential will result in developing higher levels of GL knowledge.
DeleteClass,
DeleteThe foccus on Global Education is an important antecedent in global leadership development; however, it is only one of the four antecedents illustrated in the GLED Model. Keep in mind that the development of antecedents factor greatly into how one navigates the transformational process--Experience, Encounters, Decisions and Challenges. Discuss how, in your opinion, our collaboratively-designed Final Project reflects the components of the GLED Model.
A U.S. American leader can employ the characteristics of the GLED model to create a safe environment for all cultures to share.
Delete• Individual Characteristics: The U.S. American leader can begin by leading by example. S/he cannot force employees to change their personal orientations, but by displaying respectable and effective characteristics when dealing with the cross-cultural teams, this will help other team members see the value of certain attributes. Some of these characteristics include emotional sensitivity, inquisitiveness, social flexibility, self-awareness, interpersonal engagement, etc.
• Cultural Exposure: The leader can strategically place individuals on teams so they can play off each other’s strengths. Meaning s/he can look at the makeup of the people in the number of years they’ve had experience working with other cultures and how much involvement they’ve had working across the globe. To bring the most value, the leader can compliment those who have little experience with those who have had more exposure.
• Global Education: Similar to the teams the U.S. American leader establishes above, s/he can create mentoring partnerships and leverage more experienced employees to coach newer employees or those who have not had much exposure to various cultures.
• Project/Job Novelty: The leader can create virtual teams to foster diversity and engage teams across cultures. In doing so, the organization is likely to benefit from thinking outside the box with the multitude of perspectives that come from these virtual sessions.
I would say that gaining followership in a safe environment is one of the most important aspects of intercultural competence and global leadership. Among the most important GLED antecedents to lead across multiple countries and cultures include:
ReplyDelete* Nonjudgementalness
* Emotional Sensitivity
* Inquisitiveness
* Language
* Coaching
The GLED Transformational Process can put these antecedents to use by leveraging Experiences and Encounters to form the intercultural community. Through due diligence, Q&A sessions and story-telling (with a healthy dose of empathy and vulnerability), the global leader can discover commonalities and differences that can be constructively channeled to form a global community of interest.
(391-16SP08) I would begin with having an open understanding of all cultures, for example I would Skype with all of the people in differernt countries. I would try to look for key attributes that would work well and build upon that. It is always important to come with an open attitude, make sure you are sensitive, ask questions, learn to adapt and help with bringing some of the actions up to speed.
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