LeadershipWatch

Category: Cross Cultural Teams


How to Spot (a lack of) Team Alignment by Observing Its Decision-Making Process

How to spot a lack of team alignment

Successful teams take decisions as one. They find sound solutions and build successful execution because team members ‘own’ decisions as if they were their own. But reaching and maintaining this state takes conscious effort. Even the best teams can find…

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How to Spot (a Lack of) Alignment during Team Meetings

Successful teams act out of a common focus, a sense of direction, and team members ‘own’ decisions as if they were their own. But reaching and maintaining this state takes conscious effort. Even in the best teams team members can…

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Building Successful Teams by Reaching Beyond Agreement

Building successful teams by reaching beyond agreement, and creating an alignment focus

Successful teams are not interested in trying to find out ‘who is right’ and ‘who is wrong’. They are not really keen on reaching ‘agreement’. They aim for more. Why? Because they understand that people are complex creatures. We all…

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Looking Back on Last Week’s Trip to Hyderabad

Hyderabad India, cross-cultural, diversity, team

I just returned from a trip to Hyderabad (visiting my Indian colleagues and teams that work on the corporate transformation program I’m leading for a European retail company) when I came across an interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. He…

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How to Lead Global Teams: One Powerful Tip for Westerners

Friends, Business, Team

How to lead cross-cultural teams, particularly teams where East meets West? What are concrete things you can do to help your global team in real-life business situations? This was the topic of my recent keynote at SIETAR Europa’s congress in…

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East and West Perceive Authority Differently. And It Affects Your Cross-Cultural Team

Compass

When working with cross-cultural teams, especially teams where East meets West, team members can have very different perceptions of authority. Are you aware that these different perceptions affect the functioning of your team, and your role as a business leader?…

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Leading Indian-Dutch Business Teams: 3 Insights that Help Create Results

Indian Flag with small pictures in it

A couple of weeks ago, I advised and facilitated newly formed Indian-Dutch business teams – this in the context of a recent acquisition of a Dutch and very innovative SME by an Indian multinational in the pharmaceutical sector. I (myself…

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Cross-Cultural Leadership: How to Stimulate Your Asian Team Members to Speak Up?

Intercultural Communication, text balloons in green and orange

In global teams, team effectiveness is not only impacted by personal (people’s characters and temperament) and organizational (level of team alignment from the start) elements. There are important cultural elements at play as well. Cultural elements that can, if not understood and properly addressed, quickly lead to frustration and ineffective teams.

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Cross-Cultural Leadership: The One Secret Success Ingredient

cross-cultural leadership

Do business leaders and HR departments pay sufficient attention to equipping people preparing for international assignments, as well as managers leading cross-cultural teams, with sound cross-cultural leadership skills? Research conducted at Dutch Neyenrode Business University suggests they don’t. And that’s…

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Cross-Cultural Leadership: Why Learning Chinese Business Etiquette is Not Enough

Chinese New Year cake with symbol of The Year of The Horse

Do you want to be successful in doing business with the Chinese? Do you want to build lasting relationships? Then understand why learning Chinese business etiquette will be important, but not enough. Your company is looking for a Chinese business…

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