Culture is defined as the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group. How does this pertain to the workplace? How does a manager lead a diverse team with a variety of cultural differences? Millennials may have difficulty leading, training, and mentoring a diversely cultural employee base due to lack of experience and limited travel to continents outside of their birthplace or, for that matter, outside of their respective community. This article will touch on this aspect, as well as discuss creating a culture leading to excellence.
A Balance of Accountability
As leaders, we are challenged with diversity in a broad spectrum based upon age, personality, race, previous career experience, rank/hierarchy, religion, and cultural beliefs, to name a few. Accomplished leaders focus on the business projections and financial goals, as well as team cohesiveness and development. They utilize a balance of accountability that is displayed in identical fashion to each team member regardless of cultural differences. If this is not practiced consistently, an undercurrent of favoritism will evolve and management’s integrity will suffer. This will lead to a loss of productivity and potential friction in the workplace.
On several occasions along my career path, I have observed favoritism and leniency by management, and it often is not addressed by directors or the Human Resources department. This infraction not only sets a bad example to the existing team but increase the chances of future errors in judgment. This will continue to erode the work environment and affect productivity.
The manager may come from a country with cultural beliefs that are gender based and he or she has not had the proper training to adjust to the equality of gender and race in the U.S. There are several opportunities for training in cultural diversity in the U.S., but this type of coaching may not be available in countries where the manager may have transferred from in the last several months. This diversity should be recognized and addressed from the onset to minimize the potential for judgmental errors in leadership. The Human Resources department will provide a variety of training, some of which may be mandatory for all employees.
An Influx of Cultures
As profession leaders, we are continually trained to understand diversity in the workplace and new techniques and strategies to cohesively address each situation. We also learn from our own observations of management styles and create our own methods to accomplish the desired goals. With increased access to international travel, the Millennials and other generations are coming to several communities that, until recently had not experienced this influx of cultures. As you may recall, New York, Boston, Miami, Detroit, Seattle, Chicago, and San Francisco were the primary hubs for established international community expansion in the past. Now second- and third-tier cities are drawing travelers from third-world countries that recently have experienced unrest in their respective communities abroad, for example. It is for this reason I feel we as managers need to stay focused on cultural differences, work ethics, and team stability if we are going to achieve our projected financial goals and minimize the attrition factor. As we know, turnover is a major cost affecting the bottom line.
Creating a culture of customer service is also critical to the success of any operation. Whether the focus is on total team involvement without departmental walls or cross training to exceed customer expectations, the goal is the same. The first step is to have managers lead by example and display the actions you want to reinforce. I have always utilized the format of leading by example to demonstrate the techniques, style, and delivery of customer service expectations. Interdepartmental cross training is key to staffing and consistent delivery of customer service.
Foster Networking Opportunities
Challenge your managers to interact with a plethora of individuals with cultural backgrounds to gain insight into their beliefs, perspectives, and how they have been managed in the past. You will discover more knowledge in a networking scenario such as a reception, an organizational meeting, or a dinner party. Another venue is your employee break room. Many managers do not realize the potential to interact with line employees on a daily basis by sitting down with them periodically and discussing their goals and potential problems. The exchange of ideas could lead to a mentoring opportunity, as well. You may decide to set up a focus group that consists of employees from several different cultural backgrounds. From my own experience, I have learned the basic cultural differences between a native born Midwesterner, Muslim, and a Hispanic, to name a few, which has enabled me to make better judgments in leadership. Understanding the culture, even from a brief interaction, will be an advantage in managing a team.
In conclusion, stay focused on continual diversity training from several different resources. Interact as often as possible with managers and hourly employees to gain a deeper perspective of their cultural backgrounds. Be proactive in learning new methods to train and educate employees. Incorporate and reinforce the corporation’s values and standards to enable each team member to be educated with an increased in-depth understanding of the company’s views and projected goals. Upper management should embrace diversity and lead by example in recognizing cultural differences in the workplace.
Richard B. Secord is a sales consultant and trainer and a U.S. Army veteran.
