Four steps to becoming a better Global Project Leader

By Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI-ACP, PMI-PBA

Issue #02

Projects are becoming more and more decentralized and remote. Sometimes, you work with colleagues you briefly meet online and don't know much about their countries and cultures. Having a clear vision or good project planning skills will not be enough to ensure success.

We can learn a lot about cultures when we collaborate, deliver projects, create products, and make changes. Let's review your L.I.F.E. as a global project leader.

Learn about other cultures.

Sometimes, when people introduce themselves, they say, ‘I work in a multicultural environment’ – but how much have they really learned about other cultures?

You can live and work in a multicultural environment without showing any particular curiosity about or interest in other cultures.

On the other hand, you can live and work in a monocultural environment and still be a culturally aware project leader.

The key is to take intentional steps to learn about other cultures. You can go to cultural centers, enroll in online courses, or read books to gain intercultural knowledge.

You can also use Geert Hofstede's national cultures model or other frameworks to understand the differences between cultures and where you will need to adjust.

Your initial investigations will help you understand the potential gaps between your culture and others. But don’t stop there!

Investigate with curiosity and respect.

Ask questions. It can help you confront theory with reality and lead you to challenge your ingrained assumptions.

Different national cultures can influence ways of working, and so can different academic and industry backgrounds. I listened to a podcast episode about an American working in a legal firm in France many years ago. He mentioned that French people use ‘Sir’ and ’Madam’ more than first names and tend to say 'vous' instead of 'tu.'

But I've been working in a French technological firm for years, and we have to use people’s first names and say 'tu' (regardless of people’s positions and titles). This is the kind of information you cannot learn from books, but it is part of this particular corporate culture and industry.

If you want to find out this kind of information, you must ask with genuine curiosity and respect (and listen to the answer). When you work in a global team, you have a direct source of knowledge through your colleagues. You can observe day-to-day behavior, or methods of communication in emails, and if you have questions, you can phrase them respectfully: ‘I have a cultural question for you if you don't mind…’

Foster diversity

As a project leader, you are also responsible for fostering team diversity.

Fostering diversity doesn’t mean you have to revolutionize society. Here are some simple steps you can take.

You can create a glossary to clarify acronyms relevant to your industry or your organization.

You can talk openly about upcoming cultural and religious festivals and how they might impact work and people’s availability.

You can pay attention to people’s working hours when planning meetings. In some countries and firms, there are fixed working hours; in others, they are more flexible.

You can define ground rules, specifying, for instance, the date conventions (Month/Year or Year/Month) and the measuring systems to use.

You can talk about local constraints, like internet bandwidth. Or you can chat about what communication methods the team will use, for day-to-day business, and in emergencies. ?

Empathize.

Knowing the local contexts of faraway countries, you work with but have never visited can be challenging. To address this challenge, I regularly talk with work colleagues who have visited these countries. Since I work with African countries, I watch African TV channels to get additional information. I have cultural mentors, something that Andy Molinsky discusses in his book Global Dexterity. I ask them questions and get their advice. It also helps me to reframe and gain new perspectives.

The knowledge you accumulate through books and conversations with your team will help you empathize because you will understand some of the root causes of people’s behavior, and of delays and issues faced by your remote team members.

Becoming a better global project leader is more than a one-off exercise. It's not about the number of books you've read (although books are a great source of knowledge); you need to go beyond this. You must practice and reflect. You must be genuinely curious about others.

What are your strategies to become a better global project leader? Share your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

Editorial support for this issue was by Anjana Wijegunasinghe MBA, PMP, CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC

This is a new initiative from the Media & Marketing team of PMI UAE Chapter to provide a platform for our members to share their experiences and thoughts with the wider project management fraternity. Do reach out to us [email protected] to be part of this.

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