Tips for Leading a Multicultural Remote Team
By: Marija Kojic
A multicultural remote team is a team whose members come from different countries and cultures, but who work and collaborate together remotely.
These team members may have different culture-based traits, including:
languages
values
beliefs
traditions
behavior patterns
All of this can pose a challenge to team managers.
In order to successfully manage a remote multicultural team and maximize its efficiency, the manager will need to help the team understand and ease their cultural differences, all while emphasizing that everyone’s culture is equally respected within the team.
1. Address challenges related to verbal communication
One of the biggest challenges for multicultural teams is the language barrier. If your team members have different mother tongues, verbal communication may be problematic.
To work around this problem, you need to identify the language you are all sufficiently fluent in. You can then carry out all your online team meetings and communication in the chosen language.
Yet, no matter the language you choose, bear in mind that not everyone in your team will be equally fluent in it.
As a result, some people may have difficulties understanding what others are trying to convey, and may sometimes have trouble expressing their own thoughts in the way they want to.
To help the people you are managing overcome this challenge, don’t be afraid to over-communicate your own thoughts. Encourage others to do the same. Moreover, encourage your team to be patient when listening to others, and discourage them from interrupting or talking over someone.
Also, make it a practice to announce meetings at least one day in advance, to give everyone enough time to prep and think about what they want to say or ask, and how best to do it. This way, you’ll establish a tension-free communication environment where everyone will feel confident enough to express their ideas and thoughts.
2. Address challenges related to non-verbal communication
Non-verbal communication patterns may also vary across your team and make communication even more challenging:
What is normal in one culture may be offensive in another.
What is unusual in one culture may be the norm in another.
Gestures, non-verbal cues, and behaviors that mean one thing in one country may mean something else entirely in other countries.
For example, a lot of countries interpret nodding one’s head to mean “Yes”, and shaking one’s head to mean “No”. But, in some countries, such as Bulgaria and Greece, the exact opposite is true.
So, take the time to learn about the common non-verbal patterns and behaviors of your teammates based on their country and culture of origin, and encourage them to do the same. This will prove helpful during online video meetings, as you’ll all decrease the chances of anyone being misunderstood.
3. Be mindful of the teams’ cultures when assigning work
Being mindful of people’s traditions, customs, and holidays is an important step in ensuring your work schedules are in tune with your team’s availability.
Let’s say your team consists of people from the US and Sweden.
People from the US celebrate their independence day on the 4th of July. And, people from Sweden celebrate their independence day on the 6th of June.
Both groups likely hold their respective holidays in high regard, and you should respect that by not burying either group with tasks and deadlines during their days of celebration. Instead, assign these tasks and deadlines to people you know will be free to fully focus on them. In order to further streamline the way you assign tasks, track who is available to work, and when, you can try a team management software.
By tweaking the team’s schedules around their cultures, you’ll show that you respect everyone’s traditions, customs, and holidays. This will, in turn, help everyone in your team understand that they are equally valued. As a result, you’ll further improve the teams’ productivity, their collaboration, and their respect for each other.
4. Address the issue with the different time zones
Your team members may operate in different time zones. This makes arranging meetings or even sending and responding to messages a challenge due to people’s divergent work schedules.
When it comes to messages, instruct your team to plan with the delay in mind. For example, if Oliver from Sydney needs some project information for tomorrow morning from Carolina from Lisbon, there’s no point in waiting for tomorrow to send a message — because of the time difference that puts Carolina 9 hours behind Oliver. Instead, he can send her the message before going to bed, say at 11 pm. This way, Carolina will receive the message at 2 pm according to her time and have plenty of time to answer it before Oliver wakes up the following morning.
When it comes to meetings, try to find a time that’s suitable for everyone. For example, if your team consists of people from London and San Francisco, you can set up daily meetings at 9 am PST. This way, the San Francisco group will attend the meeting at 9 am according to their time, and the London group will attend the meeting at 5 pm according to their time.
Unfortunately, sometimes there simply won’t be a suitable time for everyone. For example, if your team also includes people from Tokyo, setting up daily meetings at 9 am PST won’t do, as that is 1 am in Tokyo. In cases when there is no ideal solution, it’s best that you move the meeting times around, so that no group is always the one staying up late or getting up extremely early.
Managing a multicultural remote team has its share of challenges. But, you can efficiently tackle most of them by researching your team’s cultures and countries, and devising schedules and workflows accordingly.
Marija Kojic is a productivity expert specialized in time management techniques. She works at Clockify, where she enjoys helping people discover meaningful and effective ways to work smarter.
