Managing multicultural teams

Research exploring the link between culturally diverse teams and organisational outcomes is relatively sparse, despite the focus on inclusion and diversity in the workplace this past year. Yet the benefits these teams bring to business are numerous – as long as those in leadership positions (like line managers) provide inclusive environments and careful management of their people.

If employers are to strengthen employee relationships in multicultural teams, they need to explore the opportunities and challenges these teams face in the first place. As such, we conducted a series of online focus groups with managers from three different global regions (the UK, Middle East and Asia-Pacific) to assess their varying perspectives on managing multicultural teams.

Download the research insights

The resultant report draws on these findings to offer practical guidance on overcoming communication barriers and problems inherent to cultural differences. It sets out the key recommendations to help managers navigate conflicting viewpoints, opinions and cultural beliefs – the end goal being to foster an environment of inclusivity and empathy within their teams.

Insights by region:

The findings generally encompass all three regions (detailed in the report). However, we’ve captured some of the key regional differences below:

Insights and recommendations from all regions:

Here we include a snapshot of findings and recommendations common to all focus group regions (explored in-depth in the report).  

Multicultural teams require patience and openness to be effective  

Make sure you foster patience and openness by: 

• being sensitive to demographic differences, values, attitudes and experiences 
• encourage employees to get to know each other on a personal and professional level 
• suspend your judgement about others until you’ve gathered enough information 
• avoid a blanket approach to managing different people  
• treat people in a way that caters to their unique, individual needs. 

Communication is a challenge to master  

You can overcome these communication challenges by: 

• using meetings to raise awareness of language barriers  
• nudging ‘code-switchers’ back to the shared language 
• talking with team members to see what can be done to promote better communication 
• highlighting the achievements of each team member in meetings 
• listening out for cultural nuances of communication from team members.  

Remote working resolves some issues but exacerbates others 

Make the most of remote working by: 

• encouraging the use of rich media like video-conferencing 
• building awareness of the best intervals to meet when working across time zones 
• getting to know the communication preferences of your people  
• finding creative ways to bring the team together for catch-ups and hangouts. 

Download the report, Managing multicultural teams: Exploring the opportunities and challenges, to explore these recommendations in depth.