Speak Up! Getting the Most from Multicultural Teams

Cultural diversity provides one of the greatest opportunities for global innovation. An organization that is able to utilize the diverse perspectives, knowledge and skills offered by multicultural teams increases their chances of reaching a more global audience. As a result, many global leaders develop “speak up” campaigns, highlighting the importance of everyone offering their input—new ideas, concerns, criticisms, etc.

However, if the diversity isn’t handled with cultural intelligence, cultural differences can be one of the biggest roadblocks to gathering participation and innovative ideas. In many organizations, the Europeans and North Americans dominate meetings while the Asians and Latin Americans remain quiet or get talked over. And the whole idea of “speaking up” is interpreted differently depending on your cultural background. For many Western leaders, asking people to “speak up” is a very positive thing. It’s management’s way of saying, “your input is important and we want to hear from you.” But language, cultural values, personality, function, and more can make a big difference in whether someone views “speaking up” positively or not.

Brainstorming is one of the primary ways most leaders try to generate ideas from a group. Even homogenous teams experience some barriers to using brainstorming successfully. If you have a breakthrough idea, you might have to wait to express it because someone else is talking. And despite all the ground rules about not criticizing others’ ideas, there’s the fear of what others will think about your idea. No one wants to look dumb. And most brainstorming sessions include “social loafers,” the participants who don’t engage because they know other people will speak up and do all the talking.

These potential barriers exist in any brainstorming session but they’re magnified on a diverse team. For example, if you’re from a hierarchical culture and your boss asks you what you think about one of her ideas, your default response will be, “That’s an excellent idea boss!”, even if you think it’s ridiculous. However, if you’re from a more egalitarian culture, you’ll more likely tell your boss what you really think. Granted, you’ll probably do so diplomatically and avoid being too harsh; but individuals from egalitarian cultures have been taught that respect is earned by offering constructive feedback, not by simply being a “yes man.” If your boss is from a hierarchical culture and you offer a dissident perspective on her idea, her default assumption will be that you’re being disrespectful, rude, and possibly even insubordinate.

Brainstorming might seem better suited for collectivist-oriented cultures like Asia and Latin American since it’s built around the power of shared ideas. However, brainstorming is largely predicated upon an individualist perspective where everyone is encouraged to contribute and the more divergent the ideas the better. In individualist cultures like the U.S. and Germany, the unique idea is the sought-after prize. Individualists have been socialized to see the value of autonomous thoughts and ideas and often enjoy the chance to brainstorm. Global teams with individualists and collectivists need to create standards for how teams can promote unique ideas in a way that accommodates the best contributions of everyone.

Culturally diverse teams do have the potential to provide much more innovative ideas, but it’s not automatic. It requires cultural intelligence (CQ), a research-based way of assessing and improving effectiveness working with people from different cultural backgrounds. When CQ levels are low, homogenous groups generate more ideas than diverse groups do. But when CQ levels are high, diverse groups come up with far more innovative ideas and solutions than homogenous groups do. A diverse team comprised by individuals with high CQ and facilitated by a leader with high CQ can utilize the benefit of everyone’s input and perspective. Leaders and associates with higher levels of CQ will be less likely to assume someone is cocky or incompetent based upon whether they speak up in a meeting.

What’s a culturally intelligent way to get diverse teams to speak up?

1. Re-define “speak up”
   Clarify what you mean by “speaking up.” In most cases, it’s to gather ideas and innovations from every team member, not to insist that everyone is more vocal all the time. The very words “speak up” sound like an assertive advancement of your ideas verbally. Underscore that participation and offering ideas is what is needed most—but how that’s done can vary according to the distinct preferences across your team.

2. Give advance warning
   Let groups know ahead of time that you want their input and have participants independently write down as many ideas as possible before a meeting. Not only will advance warning reduce the anxiety of participants who don’t like to be put on the spot, but everyone is likely to have more thoughtful input if they spend some time thinking about it ahead of time. In addition, non-native English speakers will have a chance to construct a thoughtful contribution when not having to engage in the whole process on-the-spot.

3. Be explicit about expectations
   If every participant needs to offer something, be sure that’s understood. You can say something like “I need to hear back from everyone by the close of business on Friday.” And offer multiple ways to provide input—at a team meeting, one-on-one, via email, as a group, etc. “You can either offer your input at our meeting this afternoon, by talking with me one-on-one, or by sending me an email.”

Diversity by itself does not lead to better ideas. But when combined with these kinds of culturally intelligent strategies, diverse teams come up with far more innovative solutions than homogenous teams do. Everyone wants to be heard. Develop cultural intelligence to gain the most from the diverse ideas on your teams.

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David Livermore, PhD, has written ten books on global leadership and cultural intelligence including Leading with Cultural Intelligence and his newest release, Driven by Difference, which further addresses the practical ways to leverage diversity to fuel innovation. Livermore is president of the Cultural Intelligence Center in East Lansing, Michigan, a visiting scholar at Nanyang Business School in Singapore, and has worked with leaders in more than 100 countries.