Hyun, J. & Conant, D. (2019, April 25). 3 Ways to Improve Your Cultural Fluency. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2019/04/3-ways-to-improve-your-cultural-fluency
Leaders often view business interactions through their own cultural framework, without seeking to understand how other cultural groups may perceive the situation. Often, cultural differences may be an afterthought because leaders want to be efficient, or they may want to avoid making mistakes and being politically incorrect. Even leaders who want to be more culturally fluent don’t always know how to do so in practice. There are three ways leaders can build their cultural fluency. First, leaders should assess their own competence level using external expertise, and then get expert guidance on where to focus growth efforts. Second, leaders should be curious and open to a new way of managing. This means being humble, listening, asking questions rather than assuming, reflecting, learning, and being willing to adapt leadership practices as needed. Finally, if conflict arises due to cultural differences, talk to the person one-on-one, considering how they might be feeling, listening without judgment, and making it clear you want to find a resolution. Increased cultural fluency can help leaders build trust and help the organization increase financial performance, innovation, and productivity.
One of my top priorities as a leader is to make sure team members feel included, balanced, happy, motivated, and supported. Cultural fluency is necessary to accomplishing these goals. I believe that building cultural fluency is a never-ending process. There are always ways to improve. The guidance provided in this article will help me continue building my cultural fluency so that I can be an even more effective and inclusive leader.
Learning Outcome 3: Address complex challenges by collaboratively leading teams across disciplines, distances, and sectors.
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