Corporate Case Studies

Riding the Multi-Cultural Rapids

An international company requested help on improving relationships between managers. Managers were located in different countries, came from different ethnic, language and national cultures. The business language of the company was English, but the culture was a mix of U.S. and European and within those broad categories a mix of regional differences. Some of the symptoms of lack of cultural understanding and appreciation showed up as poor communication, unsolved problems, disagreement on problem definitions, missed deadlines, frustrated customers, angry employees, nasty emails and efforts at inappropriate use of power to force a singular perception. Senior management was spending in inordinate amount of time fighting fires only to have them erupt soon after they presumed them extinguished. The Kilgore Group consultants began by meeting with the Executive Committee to gain a firm understanding of the issues, as they understood them. It was with the Committee that project goals were identified and a timeline established. Interviews followed to gain further anecdotal evidence of the problems and their etiology. A plan was developed to involve the managers in a six day, highly experiential, management development process focused around culture understanding and management team building. The first three days were held in the U.S. and the second in Europe. The curriculum focused on identifying cultural stereotypes and realities while gaining better interpersonal understanding of each management team member. Social time added to informal insights into each other’s way of life, goals and hopes. Specific issues that had arisen through cultural conflicts were identified and the team created approaches to resolution. More commonalties were discovered than differences. Six days “does not a new culture make”. But it created a process for continued improvement in work relationships, problem solving and collaborative planning. Each year will build on the first as the team works to deepen the insights and learn from each other’s best practices. At this time “flaming” emails are down, problem solving has increased, communication is more productive, and the commitment to team effectiveness across cultures is evident. In any team the skills and abilities are not evenly distributed and so performance coaching has also been used to help some managers smooth out their abilities and reach executive expectations. «Back