In working with an international firm in Madrid recently, I was reminded of
the complexities of intercultural collaboration in global teams when working with virtual working arrangements.  Although we can understand certain cultural differences in working patterns and cross-cultural communication styles, it is inevitably the little things that trip us up unexpectedly…

We should not try and view our remote individual colleagues through a telescope in stereotypical form but should look at the team as a whole, with its own specific dynamics, as though looking at a kaleidoscope. We need to understand that situations continually change and, just like looking at the pieces of coloured glass in a kaleidoscope, every rotation will bring about a new picture. The colours may be the same but the configuration is different. It cannot be predicted or controlled.  You can never know what part of a person’s culture will be brought to the fore or what challenges your organisation will throw at you but, undoubtedly, they will change the dynamics of the team – just like the colour constellation of a kaleidoscope.

Tags: change, collaboration, cross-culture, intercultural collaboration, intercultural communication, remote teams, team dynamics, virtual team, virtual working

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 5:20 pm and is filed under General, working internationally . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.