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Leadership
Are you nailing multicultural leadership?
Managing diverse and multicultural teams can be challenging for any leader. Use this 10-question checklist to measure how you’re doing.
Checklist
- Are you aware of your cross-cultural behavioral repertoire?
- Can you switch between styles even from conversation to conversation?
- What are your assumptions, biases, and communication-style preferences?
- How might these behaviors be affecting particular individuals?
- Are you listening to yourself and to what is happening in the room?
- When have you been listening selectively?
- Are you ensuring everyone is heard and valued?
- Are you factoring into your reading of the situation that silence is also feedback?
- What internal fears might you have, and how do they show up in the work you do?
- Who and what may support you in these times, and how?
How to lead with multicultural awareness
- Remain humble and curious, even in situations that feel well-known or safe, or where you may feel you have the perfect skillset or experience to manage dynamics.
- Develop nuanced intelligence around your own biases.
- Practice seeing other people in a holistic and non-stereotypical way.
- Use collectivistic communication so that everyone feels included and valued.
- Encourage everyone to have a stake in what happens and the decisions that are made.
- Prioritize social contracts, human connection, and relationship-building to develop trust as you establish clarity and momentum.
Key takeaway
Holding a space for diverse and culturally different people is the beginning of collective leadership and will help you forge a deeper understanding and collaboration with new colleagues and allies across the organization.
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