How you can enhance critical thinking in multicultural teams
Did you know that 89% of white-collar employees work in virtual teams? A recent survey revealed this fact. It showcases that the world of modern work presents everyone with new challenges that require new ways of thinking and communicating.
The flexibility that comes with working remotely means your virtual teams often include team members from diverse cultural backgrounds. Chances are you face team environments that are unique in a way that can interfere with your team’s ability to solve complex problems effectively.
Diversity holds immense potential for innovation and creativity. But how can you enhance critical thinking in this multicultural setting? Today, I want to introduce you to some problem-solving approaches and ways you can provide the right kind of supportive environment so your team members have their needs met and feel their ideas are appreciated and valued.
Understand the many sides of challenges and solutions for multicultural teams
For teams from different cultures to excel in complex problem-solving, it's important to understand and deal with challenges that arise from communication barriers, cultural differences, and lack of trust. Let's explore what you can pay attention to:
1. Build trust
Trust is the foundation of open conversation and sharing ideas, which fuels critical thinking and innovation. Without trust, ideas don't flow freely, and the team can't reach its full potential.
How you build trust might be different from how each team member builds trust. Recognising two key cultural differences is key to creating an inclusive environment where trust can grow:
Trust Based on Personal Relationships and Familiarity: In some cultures, trust grows from long-term personal relationships and a strong sense of knowing each other well. Here, trust is more about the bonds connecting team members personally than just their skills.
Trust Based on Competence and Achievements: In some other cultures, trust is built from proven abilities and accomplishments. Personal relationships might not be as important as what each person has achieved and can bring to the table.
Respecting both ways of building trust will help your team collaborate better and fuel capacity for critical thinking.
2. Build psychological safety
Psychological safety helps your team members have the courage to share their unique ideas and concerns. That makes it a cornerstone for high performance in multicultural teams. Timothy Clarke has a great model that explains the four stages of psychological safety that are crucial for team development. Each of the stages is influenced by cultural differences:
1. Inclusion Safety: Inclusion safety meets your basic need to connect and feel like you belong. In multicultural teams, this means respecting and including everyone's diverse backgrounds, making sure each team member feels valued and accepted. (In virtual teams, this can be tricky because people might not have met face to face.)
2. Learner Safety: Learner safety encourages you to actively join in learning activities. Different cultures have different learning styles—whether through group discussions or studying alone (see deductive and inductive thinking styles*). Recognising these styles helps create an environment where everyone can learn and contribute.
3. Contributor Safety: Contributor safety allows you to use your skills and make important contributions. Understanding the different ways cultures approach contribution, from focusing on group harmony to individual achievement, can boost the team's ability to work together and think critically.
4. Challenger Safety: Challenger safety gives you the confidence to question the status quo and suggest changes. This stage needs an understanding of how different cultures view hierarchy and disagreement. It creates a space where challenging ideas is not only safe but encouraged, leading to continuous improvement. (In some cultures with high power distance, it's not easy to challenge your superior, and in collectivist cultures, keeping harmony is often more important than challenging others.)
Recognising and respecting these stages and cultural differences helps build a team where everyone feels safe to share, learn, contribute, and challenge, leading to an inclusive, more effective team.
Start from trust and psychological safety and you will notice how much more naturally critical thinking comes for a team where everyone’s perspectives and concerns are heard and valued. Our article on The Dangers of Psychological Safety Programs: The Hidden Dangers of a Cut-and-Paste Approach in Global Companies contains practical tips for Do’s and Don’ts.
3. Explore different problem-solving approaches
Different cultures have unique ways of solving problems. Understanding these differences can help you and your team find the best solutions together.
Uncertainty Avoidance
Cultures vary in how much they like clear rules and certainty.
High Uncertainty Avoidance: These cultures prefer clear rules and structured approaches to problem-solving. They like knowing exactly what to do and having everything planned out.
Low Uncertainty Avoidance: These cultures are more comfortable with uncertainty and trying new, unconventional methods. They don’t mind a bit of chaos and are open to exploring different ways to solve problems.
These two cultural dimensions are key because they lead to different ways of thinking and solving problems:
Thinking Styles
Deductive Thinking Style (high uncertainty avoidance): This top-down approach starts with a general theory or hypothesis and moves towards specific observations. If your culture prefers deductive reasoning, you might excel in situations that need a clear framework and direction.
Inductive Thinking Style (low uncertainty avoidance): This bottom-up approach begins with specific observations and builds towards general conclusions. If your culture leans towards inductive reasoning, you might thrive in environments that encourage exploration and innovation.
Exploring and understanding these different problem-solving approaches is essential, as you need both ways of thinking to reach the best results. Skillfully combining them can be one of the secrets to why many teams are so efficient.
4. Address communication barriers
Communication in multicultural teams can be tricky on many levels. Let’s look at some common barriers:
Language
When team members speak different languages, misunderstandings and incomplete information can occur more easily. Even subtle nuances in communication styles can lead to misinterpretations, which can affect the team’s performance and problem-solving abilities. To enhance everyone’s well-being and happiness, it’s important to create an environment where language diversity is seen as a strength, not a problem.
There are also different communication styles that are interpreted differently in different cultures:
Low Context vs. High Context Communication Styles
High-Context Communication: relies a lot on implicit messages, nonverbal cues, and shared understanding, which is common in collectivistic cultures that are relationship-oriented.
Low-Context Communication: explicit, direct, and clear, often found in individualistic task-oriented cultures. The skill to read between the lines is not so developed, as the expectation is for clear expressions.
Assertive vs. Reflective Communication
Assertive Communication: confident and direct, allowing you to express your ideas and opinions openly.
Reflective Communication: involves listening, understanding, and considering others' perspectives before responding.