In a locked-down world, global opportunities have been all but forgotten. That may be an exaggeration, but cross-cultural exchange has been drastically lessened. This is a shame since international experience is greatly beneficial for young professionals. To succeed in a global business environment, it is important for the next generation of young leaders to be savvy in the ways of cross-cultural communication. Gaining these skills is considerably harder during a pandemic. This challenge isn’t specific to management consultants, and not all countries have the same restrictions. However, one thing is certain. For the past two years, the cultures of the world haven’t been as intertwined as they once were.
COVID-19 has dramatically increased our reliance on virtual communication technology, which has created the opportunity for organisations to create virtual worldwide challenges. Earlier this year I took part in one such challenge, the Global Enterprise Experience 2021 (GEE 2021), which partnered with New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO to focus on social enterprise.
Here is a quick summary of what the challenge entailed:
- Participants could enrol individually or as a pair, and were randomly assigned to one of the 168 teams taking part.
- Teams consisted of 8 members, including an appointed leader who received dedicated coaching.
- My team consisted of participants from New Zealand, Indonesia, USA, Netherlands, China, and Nigeria.
- The challenge was to write a six-page business plan for a social enterprise with limited startup capital, which would aim to build a financially self-sustaining and scalable project to address one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
I was fortunate to be appointed as a team leader, and would like to share with you two of the key lessons gained from participating in GEE 2021.
1. Effective leadership is not ‘one size fits all’
In the earlier part of the challenge, I approached all team members with the same leadership style. I felt it was only fair to treat everyone the same so that nobody felt neglected. However, after much debate and deliberation, I realised that some team members thrived when given a clear end goal while others thrived when given step by step instructions. Although I was aware, in theory, that different people react differently to the same leadership style, discovering this insight first-hand and gaining experience in adapting my leadership style to the needs of different team members, has really crystallised the lesson.
Interestingly, team members from the same country tended to respond well to the same type of leadership. This highlights the importance of understanding cultural differences when working in a global business environment. To gain an initial understanding of the differences between national cultures, take a look at Hofstede Insights, which categorises each country’s culture according to six dimensions.
2. Efficient communication requires a common platform
It was surprisingly challenging to locate a communication platform that our entire team was able to use.
Many of the most obvious apps, such as Microsoft Teams and Skype, are banned in China. After testing more than 10 apps, and wasting more than a week, we finally found an app that everyone was able to use. It was called DingTalk. The app was Chinese, which made it hard to navigate, but eventually after some false starts and failed attempts, we were finally off to a flying start.
Selecting the right communication platform is crucial for the productivity of a team, especially in a global business environment. Communication problems on a real-life project that has a tight deadline could drastically reduce the quality of work produced.
Final thoughts
I would like to finish by recommending that you participate in a worldwide challenge, such as GEE 2021. Two challenges you might consider taking part in during 2022 are:
Research the challenge and its organisers before enrolling to ensure they are trustworthy. Although the pandemic has reduced access to international experiences, these challenges offer young professionals the opportunity to gain global business skills and learn practical lessons in a cross-cultural context. Many of these challenges shed light on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and help to promote a spirit of working together towards a more sustainable and equitable world.
Ettienne du Plessis is currently completing his Master of Professional Accounting at Victoria University of Wellington, where he also completed his degree in Accounting and Commercial Law. He is diligently working towards becoming a Chartered Accountant.
Image: Pixabay
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