Coach Tony – Communication in an International, Multi-Generational Workforce
June 3, 2021
Coach Tony – Communication in an international, multi-generational workforce.
As a member of the generation that once owned black-and-white TV’s and used a fax machine, I have witnessed plenty of changes in workplace culture across multiple areas of the world. In my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work and live in different countries, and always found that learning the local/company culture was a big part of the job. In one specific position as a plant manager, I worked with people of 17 different nationalities on the shop floor.
This was a great learning experience for me as I developed strategies and concepts that allowed our diverse team to function coherently and effectively.
Below are some of the main things that should be taken into consideration when working with a multicultural team.
- Let culture be culture and accept opinions and differences, but make sure when a person enters your company, expectations are clear and well-communicated.
- Offer training programs to those who aren’t comfortable with the predominant language used.
- Respect the needs that exist in other cultures, as long as they don’t harm anyone or the business.
- Communicate the company’s culture in the interview process.
- Treat everyone individually, not as a collective group.
- Respect everyone, but be authentic and honest if changes need to be made.
- Listen (to everyone).
- Have social events where people are encouraged to share traditions and foods. These can be amazing team-building opportunities.
In conversations with my peers, I often hear the workforce isn’t up to date. For example, people mention there are no CNC technicians for a machining company.
My typical follow-up question is this; “Did you check to see if qualified candidates for this position lived in the area before the company moved there?” If not, this suggests that either the company did not do the due diligence in site selection, or a third party was doing the site selection without fully understanding the company's requirements and workforce needs. In the ideal situation, an educated workforce should be ready to hit the ground running!
For more advice on how to work with multi-cultural teams or your other business needs,
reach out to CHV Group today!
Creating a Learning Culture within your company or business is a great way to grow the skillsets of your employees. In short, a learning culture can be found in an organization that promotes the development of staff, a healthy collaboration between teams, and employs constructive feedback loops. Purpose is a word that comes up a lot in today’s job culture. While it is important to the individual, purpose means something different to everyone, and shouldn’t be used as an ideology in a business. A lot of business lectures and seminars will talk about having a ‘purposeful culture’ but we prefer to instill a learning culture. Not every person is able to find a job in which they find purpose. In a learning culture, almost everyone has a desire to grow and learn new skills. A learning culture requires a plan to cultivate the right mindset and skillset, but it produces happy and committed employees, which increases the value of a company. The characteristics of a successful learning culture are closely linked to the ongoing strategies employed by the organization to motivate learning. Want to learn more about building a Learning Culture within your company? Reach out to the experts at CHV Group for a free consultation
According to a McKinsey study, companies that combine creativity, analytics, and purpose are growing at twice the rate of companies that only use one or two of those factors. While creativity has been used in marketing for years, data analytics have also become an integral part of successful business campaigns. Now entering the fold is the concept of “purpose”. Purpose is a new addition that can represent the overall mission of the company or product. One of the key takeaways from this study shows that “In the period 2018–19, companies using just one of the capabilities—either creativity, analytics, or purpose—saw an average growth rate of more than 6 percent. Adding a second component saw growth rates climb to more than 7 percent. For those that employed the full triple play, growth rates climbed to more than 12 percent.” Contact the Team at CHV Group if you would like to learn more about how to incorporate the concepts of creativity, analytics & purpose into your organization! If you would like to read the full McKinsey study referenced above, click here!
