50 Activities for Achieving Cultural Competence

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Part V—Leadership and Team

Development

Multicultural teams, on-site and virtual, are becoming the norm within today’s global business

enterprises. Conflicting cultural styles can become painful and costly with the pressure to per-

form and compete. Leading an organization of this nature is often like conducting an orchestra:

not only do the instruments differ, but the performers are often looking at a different score.

On an intercultural team, different work styles, communication styles, assumptions, and rules of

behavior all come into play at the same time—often when there is little time to recognize, let

alone manage, them. Moreover, many teams are formed on an ad-hoc basis, called together and

dismissed on a moment’s notice; there is little time to get to know one another, bond effectively,

or look for resources to understand the dynamics of cooperation. Leading such teams is a special

managerial competence all its own.

The collection of activities in Part V is focused on providing tools that can be used for address-

ing some of the principal needs of leadership and team development in a multicultural context.

They deal with essential attitudes such as trust and self-awareness and help participants come to

a common definition of what a team is and how it manages common processes, such as decision

making and supervision.