It is highly likely that you will have staff from different cultures to manage, the diversity of your organisation and your team will probably depend on how large your company is and where it is situated. At one time being based in a major UK city as opposed to a small town was likely to increase the diversity of your workforce, however today that is not necessarily the case.
Working with and managing a diverse workforce needs understanding and knowledge of different cultures together with well-developed communication and management skills.
People from different cultural backgrounds can react very differently to the same situation, some thought needs to be given as to how issues are addressed in a way that recognises and respects the cultural differences.
Some cultural traditions are stronger and may place an emphasis on different values. For example, some may be more direct while others may be more restrained. Treating everyone in the same way could lead to misunderstandings, looking for the middle ground could help to balance or improve relationships within your team. Being specific and clear when relaying instructions and ensuring complete understanding by checking out what has been heard will help to avoid difficult situations and possibly costly mistakes.
To get the most from your employees they all need to feel comfortable and accepted within the workplace. Tension between colleagues from different cultural backgrounds can breed intolerance and discrimination which can be difficult to manage, disruptive and lead to poor morale. This will compromise the effectiveness of your organisations’ performance in the process. Working towards inclusiveness is likely to involve developing understanding and knowledge about different cultural values and traditions and this may be something you can take forward for the benefit of all your team.
Taking time out, possibly in team meetings, to allow a representative from each culture to speak about their cultural traditions could be both useful and interesting. Suggesting a Question box scheme prior to each event will enable there to be time to prepare the information share based on the questions of colleagues. Allowing each culture the opportunity to do this will help to create better understanding of each other’s ways. These meetings can be extended or not, depending on the requirements of your business; a meeting can be arranged to end just as a lunch break begins giving an opportunity to share foods from the different cultures – obviously this would need to be pre-planned. This makes such ventures more interesting, less formal and can introduce an element of ‘fun’ and ‘interest’ into the workplace and it might be possible to plan such events to coincide with a religious festival.
Some companies have the ability to develop understanding of diversity issues by arranging cultural awareness training for their staff using expertise provided by an outside agency. This is a more formal and structured way of introducing information and advice on cultural diversity within the workplace. Not everyone works side by side or across the desk from colleagues of other cultures, but many have daily contact via telephone to their counterpart who may be in another city or another country as more and more businesses ‘offshore’ support services in the process of becoming global themselves or have customers in other countries.
As a manager it is important to sustain good cross-cultural relationships to help your business achieve its potential. Success is more likely if your workforce is effective and productive and comfortable in their work environment.
