Strengths & Challenges of Leading Across Cultures
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash
Happy New Year! The start of the new year brings a certain momentum. We set new goals and establish resolutions. It’s a time to restart, re-energize your mindset and freshen up your skill set. While this is something that I help my clients do throughout the year, January always brings a boost of energy to help us define what it is we truly want to achieve.
This year, I am endeavoring to focus on a major theme: How to Successfully Lead Across Cultures. This is a topic that I touch upon in my work with private clients, along with my collaborations with organizations. Throughout the year, I will play out a different idea about leading across cultures, such as talking about the concept of the cultural prism and the differences in leadership styles across cultures, the unwritten rules of global business, and the leadership lessons of assimilating on purpose - amongst other important themes.
To kick things off, this month I am addressing the strengths and challenges of leading across cultures.
As an international professional myself, I have experienced these challenges first hand. I relocated from France to the US fourteen years ago by way of a talent mobility initiative at my company and had to navigate the challenges of assimilating into a new business culture on my own. One of the hardest parts in this transition was learning how to translate my background and skillset, which I honed outside the US, and demonstrate to my employers and clients that my experience was not only relevant, but an incredible asset to them.
Most multicultural professionals have to learn how to navigate these challenges by themselves, with little to no support. And for those of us who lead across cultures, our cultural mindset has to continuously adapt.
As the Future of Work becomes more globalized, we need leaders who are able to transcend national borders and successfully lead and execute in different cultures. But we must recognize that while these leaders offer unique strengths, they often face distinct challenges in the workplace which can also lead to personal roadblocks.
On the one hand, it's been my experience that international professionals/leaders do not understand the full extent of their strengths and the value of what they contribute, and on the other hand, organizations who employ them do not fully understand the assets which their global talent offer.
These professionals/leaders praise themselves for their work ethic, adaptability, empathy, creativity and their ability to navigate ambiguity and complexity, but they also face the challenges of not fitting in, experiencing "imposter syndrome", and being the "other" in their adopted culture and in their home country.
These strengths and challenges are intrinsically linked, since overcoming these challenges is how these leaders further develop their strengths.
Now, I’d like to hear from you. Do these strengths/challenges resonate with you? What has your experience been like? Feel free to send me a note with your thoughts.
Looking forward to continuing the conversation and wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year!
Coaching Practices
Take Action and Put it into Practice
Be intentional about how/when you use your strengths.
Describe a strength
What are the benefits? What are the potential downsides of having this strength?
Practice being more intentional when using your strength
Example: I am a great listener and have the strength to put people at ease in any conversation. I listen to their needs, but I don’t share enough about my needs and requests. I need to practice being an effective presenter and asker.
Practice: At each meeting, I’ll challenge myself to speak first and/or ask first.