Tips For Managing Culture Across Borders

An organization’s culture is what defines it. It defines values, goals, aspirations, the environment, and how it does business. It can define success.

In today’s ever-changing business landscape, a solid, resilient culture can be the difference between sustained business growth and stagnation, leading to potential failure. It may be considered a buzzword, but an organization’s agility — as I have written about before — begins with its culture.

What’s more, McKinsey predicts that the global labor market will reach 3.5 billion by 2030, bringing with it a working pattern across countries. In this scenario, your culture will be what sets you apart from the competition.

As with most critical business tools, it begins with you, the leader. Viewing your organization as global means that you are identifying and connecting with its overall purpose, and that doesn’t alter whether you are in the U.K. or U.S., in my case. You are not focusing on the local office; you are linked to its overall values and goals. This is essential for employee engagement, satisfaction, and performance. Use the following three tips to manage your global culture development.

1. Proactively take charge of your culture.

Rather than reacting to your culture and letting the people who work with you define it, now is the time to proactively define what your company culture is so that you can ensure a well-considered, consistent vision throughout the whole structure, wherever in the world that may be. This way, your global culture will be linked directly to your commercial success.

By doing this, you are identifying and defining core behaviors that can be taught and encouraged across all levels. Your culture begins with your people; the goal is to create a strong, unified culture and identity. That is not to say you should ignore regional and religious differences. Business and social etiquette vary around the world; you cannot and should not ignore it. Take it into account when establishing your values and goals.

Now that you’ve established your shared global identity, it is time to engage locally, reinforcing the culture every step of the way. It is time to lead by example. Core behaviors begin at the top, and once instilled with your management team, they can be rolled out to their respective teams.

It is easy for employees that are scattered around the globe to feel a disconnect, more so if they are working remotely as has been the case. You and your team need to ensure that every individual understands how their contribution connects to the larger goals of the organization.

2. Build an exchange program.

If you are expanding to a new country, fly people into your HQ for turkey or ham dinners —if it's currently possible — so that they can immerse themselves in your core culture and take it back with them, inspired and connected. It can also help if leaders from HQ spend time in the regional locations, instilling and encouraging those essential values and behaviors. For example, here at Moneypenny, we are looking to set up an eight-week exchange program of sorts, with new team members spending time in their sister country getting to know each other as well as the quirks and customs of being part of a global team.

Talk to your people, and engage with them, not just in creating new state-of-the-art offices, for example, but in identifying regional considerations. Even though we operate in English-speaking countries, U.K. and U.S. attitudes differ significantly along with the terminology.

3. Check in with your global teams regularly.

Trips shouldn’t be a one-off occurrence. Checking in regularly is critical, especially when you are in differing time zones. Clear, transparent, and open lines of communication lead to increased engagement. Harnessing the latest technology plays its role here in collaboration and project management; however, don’t underestimate the power of real-time communication and face-to-face interaction in keeping people connected. For example, Workplace by Facebook is great for managing our projects and teams globally but also for organizing social activities.

The goal is to create an environment where every single employee feels that they are in a safe space to contribute, from encouraging participation and discussion between offices and varying levels of language, for example, to seeking interactions to learn. Every individual brings something new and valuable to the table, capturing all the experiences and opinions is what will bring you wider knowledge and great potential for innovation, problem-solving, and growth — all key elements when striving for business agility.

Managing your company culture globally can be challenging, but it should be seen as an opportunity to share, learn and evolve, not just as a leader but as a business. Uniting around a global purpose instills a global team spirit. Build on this platform to then engage locally to achieve goals to ensure business success.

First published in Forbes , December 2021. Imagery: Photo by?Ben White ?on?Unsplash ; Photo by?Andrew Stutesman ?on?Unsplash