Developing Cultural Intelligence

The business ecosystem around WordPress is multicultural and distributed. The strive for diversity, autonomy, and location independence that governs the open source world is what businesses have been successfully adopting so they can win clients all over the world and hire amazing talent. But why is it that even though global business speaks English, we’re so often struggling to understand what the other is trying to communicate? Remote companies operating in different regions, like the one I work for, often fall short when it comes to effectively implementing practices that seem to work equally well in the West and in the East. What drives success in the US and Canada seems likely not to deliver the same results in Central or South East Asia, or not even Europe. How do you navigate the minefield of culture-based misunderstanding?

In this talk, we’ll dig into some of the big invisible boundaries of global business and look at ways to help bridge them based on the experience of a former rookie who joined the Polyglots WordPress team consisting of 20 000 contributors speaking 200 languages on a whim, and at the same time found herself resource managing a team of 50 engineers and project managers across APAC, Americas, and EMEA.

Transcript

1. Developing Cultural Intelligence Petya Raykovska Director of Agency Operations Human Made @petyeah speakerdeck.com/petya humanmade.com/blog
2. @petyeah How late is late?
3. We all speak English. So how come we don’t understand each other? @petyeah The global business language
4. In the new reality of global remote businesses you need these three things: Intelligence (IQ) ✔ Emotional Intelligence (EQ) ✔ Cultural Intelligence (CQ) ✔ @petyeah
5. Geert Hofstede Culture is the software of the mind - it’s the operating system that invisibly runs your life. The way you’ve been programmed to see the world. @petyeah
6. Now wait just a second… Is this gonna be another a talk on generalising and putting people in boxes? We are all unique! @petyeah
7. Stereotypes, ugh “Speaking of cultural differences leads us to stereotype and therefore puts individuals in boxes with “general traits”. We should be looking and judging people as individuals, not just products of their environment!” @petyeah
8. Look at the individual but don’t ignore cultural context because… Ignoring cultural context means judging everything with your own culture as a benchmark. @petyeah
9. Erin Meyer: CQ: An outsider’s seemingly natural ability to interpret someone’s unfamiliar and ambiguous gestures the way that person’s compatriots would. @petyeah
10. My two jobs in the last 8 years: Human Made Director of Agency Ops: Assemble delivery teams across 3 regions WordPress Polyglots mentor: Support 200+ volunteer translation communities across all 10 global cultural clusters.
11. Mission Impossible 2014 How can you know all things about all people? @petyeah
12. How can you know all things about all people? You can’t. But you also don’t have to. @petyeah
13. Daniel Goleman CQ: A propensity to suspend judgement - to think before acting. @petyeah
14. It helps to want to learn Cultural Intelligence is emotional intelligence with a pinch of genuine curiosity about the things you don’t understand. @petyeah
15. Anglo Cultures Nordic European German Cultures Eastern European/Central Asian Latin European Latin American Confusion Asian South Asian Sub-Saharan African Arab Cultures David Livermore defines 10 global clusters in his CQ Insight Series
16. The Culture Map - mapping out the world cultures in eight scales @petyeah Erin Meyer
17. The eight scales of the Culture Map • Communicating - low vs high context cultures • Evaluating - direct vs indirect negative feedback • Persuading - principles first vs applications first • Leading - egalitarian vs hierarchical structures • Deciding - consensual vs top down • Trusting - task based vs relationship-based trust • Disagreeing - confrontational vs avoids confrontations • Scheduling - linear time vs flexible time
19. Communicating - low context vs high context cultures Can you read between the lines? Low context High context US The Netherlands Australia Canada Germany Denmark UK Poland Spain France Mexico Russia India Indonesia Saudi Arabia Japan China
20. Multicultural teams need low context processes. Non native English speakers should be invited to speak. Communicating - low context vs high context cultures @petyeah
21. Leading - egalitarian vs hierarchical Low vs High Power distance Denmark The Netherlands Sweden Australia Canada US UK Germany France Brasil Mexico Poland India China Russia Korea Japan Nigeria Israel Egalitarian Hierarchical
22. Trusting - task based vs relationship-based The Head or the Heart Task based Relationship based Germany Denmark US Australia UK Austria France Brasil Italy China Russia Japan India Nigeria Thailand Brazil Mexico
23. Multicultural remote teams need face time. Multicultural remote teams need social activities - even remotely Trusting - task based vs relationship-based @petyeah
24. Deciding - consensual vs top-down Decisions are made by… Consensual Top down The Netherlands Sweden Japan Germany UK US France Brasil Italy India China Russia India Nigeria
25. Deciding - consensual vs top-down In Multicultural teams the first thing you need to decide is how you will be making decisions @petyeah
26. Disagreeing - confrontational vs avoids confrontation Embracing conflict? Confrontational Avoids confrontation Germany France Israel Russia UK US Spain Brasil Italy Singapore Thailand India China Sweden Japan
27. Evaluating - direct feedback vs indirect feedback Speaking frankly: a gift or a slap in the face? @petyeah
28. Evaluating - direct feedback vs indirect feedback Frankness or diplomacy? Direct negative feedback Indirect Negative Feedback France Germany Israel Russia UK US Australia Spain Brasil Italy Korea India China Canada Japan Thailand Indonesia Mexico
29. Persuading -principles first vs applications first WHY vs How - the art of persuasion across cultures @petyeah
30. Scheduling Linear time Flexible time Japan Switzerland Germany Sweden Brazil China France Netherlands US Denmark Russia UK Turkey Poland India Nigeria Kenya Mexico The perception of time across cultures - linear vs flexible time
31. The perception of time across cultures - linear vs flexible time Punctuality vs Relationships or how late is late? @petyeah
32. The Culture Map is a Scale Everything is relative @petyeah Erin Meyer
33. Developing your Cultural Intelligence As individuals, as leaders, as a business @petyeah
34. Julia Middleton Personal values - your core and your flex Flex Core
35. Your Core and Your Flex Flex Core Flex Core Core
36. THE KNOTS! Flex Core
37. @petyeah CQ: The Paradox • You can only develop cultural intelligence if people decide to share their cultural differences with you. • They will only trust you and share if they think you have enough cultural intelligence to receive their message.
38. CQ: The Paradox CQ is developed by having the courage to have those conversations that make you deeply uncomfortable. @petyeah
39. @petyeah CQ: The Paradox Have the willingness to admit to your knots and either move past them or accept and acknowledge them.
40. @petyeah Some things you could do: • Be willing to listen. • Be genuinely interested in other human beings and their experiences. • Do not perceive the “Otherness” as a threat. But as an opportunity.
41. Some things you can do • Be aware of your knots • Learn to make a fool of yourself - because you will • Recognise and stand up to cultural intolerance - it doesn’t have to always be a battle. But staying silent is also not going to help. @petyeah
42. CQ Tune your head, body, and heart towards listening. You might not understand. But you will learn. @petyeah
43. @petyeah Developing cultural intelligence starts with reverse engineering your own culture
44. Petya Raykovska Director of Agency Operations Human Made @petyeah speakerdeck.com/petya humanmade.com/blog Thank you!