Ensuring team unity across cultures is crucial. How can you guarantee every member feels respected and heard?

Start with self-reflection on the value of your own story. Understand the importance of your own perspective, unique experience, and the contribution you feel you could make to the whole. Then project that understanding outwards. All the members of your team and other teams are similarly grounded in their own unique perspectives, needs, experiences, and ideas. While this is simply a variation of the Golden Rule, it's a powerful starting place to motivate you to help foster an environment where everyone has a place and the opportunity to share themselves.

Initially, by example, senior management must be open to understanding that those who make things happen are the operational and sales teams, so they must, by example, treat them as they want to be treated. One of the tools that can help senior management is to know what motivates their collaborators and their motivators. This is achieved through the @Management Drives tool, with which it is possible to better understand the team and have real integration strategies.

People can forget words - but not how they 'felt'. When the Leadership creates an environment were people feel respected, appreciated and acknowledged it shows. What's equally crucial is body language along with the tone and approach how they feel included. People always walk away with the aura of what you have created in how you project that communication and message.

I’ll never guarantee that every member feels respected and heard until each person can practice and master the ability to look within and own their projections onto others. Often, the things people judge in others are the very things they despise in themselves, the parts of themselves they have repressed and disowned. The universe provides opportunities to heal the wounds that created these projections and disownment. Only a master can fully own their projections onto others. It requires exceptional dedication to self-mastery, but it is a journey well worth embarking on.

Diverse teams bring diverse strengths, but fostering unity takes effort. Active listening, cultural sensitivity, and clear communication are key. Small gestures matter too - like correctly pronouncing names in their native language. It shows respect & builds trust!

It is crucial to motivate your team on a timely basis as if your team is highly motivated then only the organisation can grow at a higher level. This can only happen with the involvement of Senior Management, respective departmental head, immediate supervisor and team HR. When a team motivation program is planned then it should have quantum of work in mind rather than focusing only on a particular tag the employee is holding and the kind of growth your respective business industry is having. Also, this should be aligned with the overall organisational growth.

To lead a culture change and boost your team unity, you must have a clear vision of the desired outcomes - and be able to communicate it with candor. Furthermore, this clarity allows you to communicate the end goal with conviction, making it easier for your team to understand the purpose behind the change. When your vision is vivid, it is guiding your team through the fog of uncertainty that often accompanies change. Your own engagement and commitment to this vision will also serve as a source of inspiration. It will become a landmark and the roadmap of the journey, to tackle obstacles that will eventually arise. Your team will feel empowered to make bold moves, yet safe assured that challenges will be embraced not criticized.

Pour renforcer l'unité de l'équipe et garantir que chaque membre se sente respecté, des feedbacks réguliers et constructifs sont essentiels. Ces retours, qu'ils soient positifs ou négatifs, permettent d'ajuster les comportements et de valoriser les contributions individuelles. L'écoute active, telle que décrite par Carl Rogers, est cruciale lors des échanges en tête-à-tête. Elle encourage un dialogue ouvert, où chaque collaborateur se sent véritablement entendu et compris. En intégrant ces pratiques, vous favorisez une culture de respect mutuel et de collaboration, essentielle pour naviguer efficacement dans un environnement multiculturel et renforcer la cohésion d'équipe.

we often forget that our voice is a tool - how you say things really matters. Because of how your brain is wired if you want people to feel secure - speak ' slowly, pause often and in the lowest tone possible for you' Why? Because this is the opposite of how people sound when they are stressed - if you are stressed people speak very fast in high toned voices as their vocal cords constrict!

I can't emphasize enough the importance and power of journaling. Often communication gets lost in translation because we as individuals aren't clear in our own thoughts and communication. Journaling is a powerful tool that can be a point of reference to give clarity and therefore more ease in communication. Beyond journaling, I love to implement practices of active listening where we not only get to practice listening, we also allow the opportunity to hear back what we think to be communicating. You would be surprised how often we think we are saying something that is not what we are outwardly speaking.

Norms are part of the Cultural Construct that also includes artefacts and Institutions. However, note that norms are unwritten rules of 'how we do things here' and can be agreed upon but never make them formal. In fact your brain is hard-wired to work out the norms of any group it enters!

I see norms to be very close to boundaries. Norms may be the tools to frame certain values - they indicate and standardize how teams work together. Boundaries are the containers to hold core values of individuals and by making them transparent, prevent them from breaking. Both norms and boundaries can contribute as unifying factors to bridge divines across multi-cultural aspects of team work.

Becoming a member of a team means it has a built in focus and reason for being. Agreed upon co created boundaries make sure everyone can contribute to creating team effectiveness. In addition it is good to have each person create their own Self Checkin system to make sure that they are fully engaged and willing to ‘bring it’ to the team. Showing up and fulfilling your commitment to the team is a self responsibility. No one can make another do what is wanted unless they want to … as part of a team.

People may feel more or less comfortable speaking up depending on how they are invited to share. To ensure you are creating space for everyone's voice to be heard, you can create an infrastructure to listen throughout your organization in different ways. For example, you can create surveys asking for input and feedback in an annonymous way. You can have leaders or ambassadors host focus groups for a more lively discussion. You can sponsor have live Q&A sessions addressing employee questions and feedback. With creative authentic ways to hear from your employees, you are more likely to get their input, which in turn will help them contribute and buy into the change.

Involve everyone, include their perspective. Invite them to speak up, make them feel heard and that their voice matters. This is a key unifying factor - it makes people welcomed and safe. This applies specifically to involving those, who might have been earlier excluded as "resisters" , "nay-sayers" or "opposers". Create a safe space and express genuine curiosity about their point of view - regardless of their seniority in the organisation and/or official role. Core values, shared aspirations and experiences can serve as unifying factors - more likely than superficial attributes of skin color or place of births (no one is in control to choose them).

I find the biggest element missing from spaces that do not foster inclusion, is the lack of space to be heard and seen. If we aren't actively creating a time to have conversation or practices that enable engagement with the whole team, people often feel left out and unvalued. I always lean into have weekly check ins, to begin to create an environment that goes beyond the work and into supporting the humanity. The more we create space for everyone to be heard and listened to, the more people tend to bring their human self and most powerful self to the team.

Creating a thriving team means ensuring everyone feels valued. Encourage participation, implement mentorship programs, and celebrate diverse contributions. When everyone's voice is heard, true success follows!

Conflicts usually are outcomes of miscommunication - the discrepancies of what has been said versus what has been heard. There are layers of misinterpretations in between. This is more likely in a multi-cultural or multi-lingual ecosystem, where teams strive to have a unified language of communication but not always are successful to establish one. To resolve conflicts, create safe space and invite the dialogue. Enquire to double-check the intention behind what was articulated and verify what was acknowleged by the receiving party. You will find that there is a portfolio of needs that are sought to be met, but are not always clearly articulated or even considered for various interpretation. This is where confilcts usualy originate.

An example I have seen is when people can understand the subtle differences in what each other expects / needs from the dynamic and both people get an opportunity to speak up about this. The best leaders LISTEN and will suspend their thoughts and judgments in order for the “other” to truly communicate their thoughts. When both parties agree to working it out, utilise this intent and aim it into mutual agreements that create a win/win dynamic, to get the job done.

The only way we evolve is by learning. The simplest way to ensure we don't get stagnant in old ways of being and continue to expand our own minds and biases is to immerse ourselves in the education and learning of more. Honestly this is so much of the reason I love to work with companies in creating international cultural immersive retreats, as it is a powerful way to learn. Simply immersing yourself into the experiences of others, creates a long lasting impression of what is beyond your own life experience.