做不到這三點，跨國團隊很難成功
Annabelle Vultee
2018-08-06
圖片來源：視覺中國
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這個世界正在不斷地縮小成一個地球村。那些仍然期待不被卷入全球化浪潮的人們啊，很遺憾你們的努力只是徒勞。民眾、經濟，還有意識形態都在無時無刻地變化和發展，然而這并不是一件壞事。 雖然我相信能在全球自由選擇辦公和住所會讓一切更美好，但實現起來卻需要面對挑戰。不過只要攻克這些挑戰，那我們將會解鎖全新的機遇與潛能。我這里所說的挑戰就是跨文化的領導力。更準確地說，要學會領導來自于不同國家的多元化團隊，而不僅僅是本土團隊。 在管理跨國企業與項目的同時，我們也在了解和學習世界各地的政治、經濟，甚至于人們如何思考與做出決定。這無論是從個人還是從專業的角度來說都是非常重要的。當然，你也可以說在領導跨國團隊時，所面臨的挑戰大部分是相同的。那么，就讓我先來說說我自己在帶領跨國團隊時的一些思考。 1. 接受并學會欣賞多元化——不要總是試圖以你舒適的方式去同化你的團隊； 2. 保持開放態度——盡可能不帶批判思維地去學習了解不同國家的語言、哲學和歷史背景，從而更好地理解他人的價值觀和想法； 3. 信任你的本土團隊——如果不能讓本土團隊按照他們的經驗和做法去獲得成功，那招募本土團隊領導又有什么意義呢？ 接納多元化的團隊已經是老生常談的話題了，而且一定有海量的文章談過擁有多元化團隊的好處（歡迎留言你最喜歡的那一篇文章），而這篇文章將會告訴你一些有關帶領跨文化團隊的實用建議。談到接納多元化，我指的是打造一個也許沒有人會感到百分之百舒適，但每個人都會被公平對待和獲得發展的工作環境。別試圖將西班牙人變成印度尼西亞人，抑或是將俄羅斯人培養成一名美國人。作為領導者們，我們應該了解自己的角色，我們個人及專業上的價值是什么，以及我們的底線和道德標準。作為一座為所有人引路的“燈塔”，無論你的團隊差異有多大，一定要清楚地知道涉及財務指標時你的立場、你為人處事的方式以及你衡量對錯的標準，這些是建立團隊文化的基礎。為了讓團隊更好的運作，要找到你在社交和精神層面上能夠使團隊凝聚在一起的東西，讓所有人樂于在一起工作，也一起歡樂。除此之外，還應該讓他們盡情做自己。舉一個非常簡單的例子，在我們上次年會的時候，我的團隊成員們都穿著自己國家或工作地的特色服飾分享了他們的故事，度過了一個自豪、歡樂并且欣賞彼此差異的夜晚。 事實上，作為領導者，有時我們非常確定一些商業決策是放之四海而皆準的（盡管與本土團隊的意見向左），有時并不確定。如果你對于一個國家的文化與價值觀不夠了解，你永遠都無法真正地了解你處在怎樣的一個環境里，更遑論做出正確的決策。不要讓自己只停留在一件事情的表面。比如，不要在星期一來到雅加達后，在星期三僅帶著對當地機場、高速公路、辦公室和酒店的認知就離開了。趁你還在當地的時候，讀一份當地的報紙或一本關于當地人民和國家概況的書。 趁著當地的節假日，帶著你的家人一起去旅行，在旅程中多提問，去了解更多你不知道的事情。我發現沒有什么比跟團隊成員談論工作以外的一些事情并分享關于你和你家鄉的故事，更能夠促進你們之間的感情的了。去年，我帶著一隊中國的銷售員工來到波士頓參觀，我發現自己在講解時無意中給他們上了一堂關于美國內戰的歷史課，在那一刻他們對從未深入了解過的我的祖國有了更多的認識。人類的好奇心讓我們更容易拉近彼此的關系。 全球商務及其運作的方式已經經過了幾個世紀的變遷，然而在今天，我相信雇傭單一性別、國籍、年齡，或者宗教信仰的人已經無法來管理這個瞬息萬變的市場。即使你需要花一定時間才能夠在本土市場找到合適的人選也沒有關系， 但是請致力于尋找并聯結當地不同領域的人才，他們的共同努力能夠為你的業務帶來你從任何一位外來者那里都得不到的方案和策略。舉個例子，俄羅斯、印度尼西亞、西班牙、中國和美國對于“優質服務”的定義肯定是不一樣的，但我的任務就是讓企業提供符合當地標準的優質服務。我發現只有放下自己已有的認知并走出自己的舒適區，你才會獲得本土團隊的認同感。我花了一段時間才弄清楚何時應該自己做決定，何時應該將決定權交給別人，但在實踐過程中同樣需要一些時間，這有點像一場小型的心理拔河賽。 帶領一個來自于不同年齡層、有著不同文化背景的男女混合團隊絕對可以算是我的職業生涯中最艱巨的挑戰之一。但如果你希望在當下的這個時代中獲得成功，你就必須要走出自己的舒適圈。試著成為沖在最前線、保持開放思維并影響團隊的領導者吧，說不定那也將會成為你職業生涯中濃墨重彩的一筆。（財富中文網） 作者簡介：Annabelle Vultee是英孚教育成人英語培訓中心首席運營官。 ? |
The world is small and shrinking. I am sorry to those of you who want to see globalization held at bay, but your efforts are futile. People, commerce, and ideology are fluid and evolving/melding/developing by the second. And that is a good thing. Though I believe we are all better for having the ability to work and live more freely across the world, there are of course challenges. Challenges, which if overcome truly unlock new levels of potential for success. The challenge in focus here is cross cultural leadership. Specifically leading teams of people from and based in multiple countries other than one’s home country. In managing business or projects in more than one country in and of itself, we absorb insights on geopolitics, global and local economies, how people think and how values drive decisions. That is powerful on both a personal and professional level. However, you could argue that the same things comprise some of our biggest challenges as leaders of multinational teams. So, here is how I have come to think about leading my cross-cultural team… 1. Embrace the diversity – Don’t try to homogenize the group for your own comfort; 2. Remain open – With as little judgment as you can manage, learn about the linguistic, philosophical and historical reasons for the values and perspectives of the people from each country; 3. Trust your local team – What is the point of having local leadership if they aren’t empowered to use what they inherently know to be successful? Embracing diversity sounds obvious and there must be hundreds of thousands of great articles on the benefits of a diverse team (feel free to leave your favorite ones in the comments), but this article is about practical tips for cross-cultural leaders. So when I say embrace diversity, I mean get to that super uncomfortable, slightly itchy place where nobody is 100% comfortable but everyone is equally invested and open. Don’t try to turn your Spaniard into an Indonesian or your Russian into an American. We, as leaders need to know who we are as people and what roots our personal and professional values; where our lines are that can’t be crossed. Our moral compass. You are the guide at the end of the day so regardless of the differences on your team, you need to know where you firmly stand when it comes to fiscal responsibility, how you treat people and what you consider high integrity. That is where you set the culture without diminishing others’. In order to function well, I also believe it is helpful to find what bonds you on a social or intellectual level to provide that universal team comfort; that thing that makes everyone want to work together, travel together and spend copious amounts of time together. Beyond that, let them be the best of where they are from. One very simple example is that at our recent fiscal year kickoff every one of my direct reports dressed from the country they are from or operate in. It was a night filled with pride, sharing, fun and making the most of our differences. The reality is, sometimes we as leaders are right that some business decisions are universal despite arguments from local teams, and sometimes we are not. If you don’t know enough about the culture and values of a nation, you won’t have a good enough sense of which scenario you are in. Don’t convince yourself to stay on the surface. Don’t fly into Jakarta on Monday and out on Wednesday and only see the airport, the highway, the office and the hotel. Read a book about the people or country. Read the local newspaper while you are in town. Connect a trip to a local festival or holiday. Bring your family. Ask questions. Go deep. I have found that nothing brings you closer to your teams in other countries than asking them genuine questions about things outside of work and equally sharing about yourself and your home country. I led a trip of Chinese salespeople to Boston last year and found myself giving a history lesson about the Civil War. I could see in that moment how people started to understand more about my home country than they ever had before. People are curious creatures, so this is an easy win. Global businesses and how we lead them have gone through many transformations over the past couple of centuries, but where we stand today, I believe that hiring people of only one gender, nationality, age group, or religion to manage diverse markets won’t be a recipe for success. If it takes you some time to find the right people in the local market, that’s ok. But aim to find and connect with diverse local talent so that they can bring ideas and approaches to your business that wouldn’t occur to someone outside of that country. For example, “good service” in Russia, Indonesia, Spain, China and the US have vastly different definitions, but I am responsible for running a business that delivers on the local definition of good service. I have seen a clear correlation between (painfully) letting go of what I know and am comfortable with and what my senior local team believes is right. It took me a while to know when to make the decisions and when to let others, but in reality that is the process as it should be. It should be a little bit of tug-o-war. Leading a team of men and women of different ages, backgrounds and cultures is one of the great challenges of my career and without a doubt one of the highlights. If you want to be truly successful in the modern world, you can’t avoid the shrinking of and ever more artificial barriers that once closed us off from one another. Choose to be on the forefront and open your mind and that of those you lead. It may prove to be one of the highlights of your career as well. |
