Multicultural UX Team Building
How everyone in a team wins if we bring our own perspective and culture to the table
Over the last decade, we have seen the emergence of a new concept of multicultural teams, prompted by rapidly progressing globalisation. These multicultural teams are proving to be richer in thought and talent than we could have ever expected, bringing diverse perspectives and a unique vision.
Critics of globalisation fear that it could erase cultural identities, but in reality, it has brought about quite the opposite — a demand for diversity and authenticity, a currency of great value on the global market. In fact, diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets and 87% better at making decisions.
And the coronavirus pandemic has only spurred on the development of distributed, remote teams. Many organisations have adapted to this “new normal” by embracing global teams that sign into Zoom meetings from across continents and time zones. But successful global design teams don’t just happen by accident — they require careful consideration and cultural awareness on the part of leaders.
As an IT company, intive has been able to continue with its agenda in a 100% online environment. Despite no in-person contact between employees and clients, we have been consistently delivering excellence — some might even say — as never before! As such, we’ve put together our top strategies for building and driving cross-cultural design teams in the modern world we see today.
intive’s Global Design Team
At intive, our global design team spans across more than seven cities, four countries, and two continents. There are many practical elements that we have to take into account to make this work. For example, given that we work in different time zones, we must make sure that we cater to teammates’ availability when it comes to meetings and working collaboratively in real-time. This is crucial to ensure that differences are recognised and addressed fairly and do not become a blocker to efficiency and employee satisfaction. Many other differences in global teams, however, are often less straightforward to manage — but just as or even more important.
Here are the key areas to pay attention to when building and driving cross-cultural design teams:
Recognise and respect cultural differences
Just as we start our design projects with a discovery and user research phase in order to uncover potential needs, wants and challenges within a specific context, we should do the same to examine the cultural backgrounds of our employees.
This means exploring these vital differences with your team and making each teammate aware of the others’ norms and values. These values can manifest themselves in several ways and can strongly impact your coworkers’ behavior and define what they consider “normal.”
For example, what seems like a simple and clear request to a German colleague may come across as too direct to an Argentinian team member. Once each party understands that this is nothing personal, and simply part of the culture, it’s no longer a blocker to collaboration.
One big cultural differentiator is language. At intive, we all speak English in addition to our native languages. We encourage employees to learn their teammates’ languages as well, and support this through online courses and paid accounts to e-learning platforms. As an example, on an average day at work, I usually find myself switching between English, Spanish, and German — the majority of our teams speak more than two languages fluently, making global collaboration much easier.
We must recognise and acknowledge our cultural differences; that knowledge will help us better understand the main drivers and motivators for each team, and encourage us to adapt our working processes and communication styles accordingly.
This quote from Edward T. Hall sums it up well:
Culture is like an iceberg. Some aspects, like behaviours, rituals, and artefacts, are easy to see. Others, like values and norms, are trickier to spot. Being cognizant of all these characteristics — both above and below the surface — is essential in shaping a culture that aids, rather than obstructs, the organisational results you seek.
EDWARD T. HALL
Define and implement alignment expectations
After you have uncovered the culture-specific differences within your team, this is the time to begin working together on the individual as well as general norms that should be followed in the group, and make them work to your team’s advantage.
Each team member may point out some exceptions and norms that apply only to them, such as the frequency of meetings and standard operating procedures. These specifics should remain flexible and be constantly re-evaluated (feedback from employees is key) to optimise your team’s performance and recognise its identity. No employee should feel disconnected from their own culture and location.
Align quality and outcome expectation standards
It’s important to communicate and give examples of what the expectations are, particularly if they apply to everyone within the team, no matter their background or geographical location. In this stage, it’s a wise idea to focus on the expectation of the outcome rather than the process itself — the latter may need to be adapted and exceptions may have to be made.
A pixel-perfect design is defined in the same way for everyone. Its quality is universal and objective — there’s no grey area, ambiguity, or leeway. But in the case of, say, design workshops, standard methodologies may require adjustments to build and drive team excellence within each specific cultural context.
Cultural nuances and the different needs and expectations of the participants are bound to directly affect moderation methods, therefore each workshop will be different, depending on the idiosyncrasies of cultures that have happened to “cross.” All of this has to be taken into careful consideration to ensure the best outcomes.
Set realistic goals and get everyone on board
A top priority for any team to be effective is the awareness of goals and what they are working towards. As a result, the shared value placed on these goals will turn them into a common vision for your team that runs cross-culture.
This means not only focusing on the end objectives, but also checking in on the key performance indicators along the way, and iterating and updating the major goals as needed. I advise any team leaders to plan the road to achieving these goals by breaking them down into actionable steps and define each designer’s development priorities in a way that aligns with their current skill set and development path and your company’s needs.
Your team must be able to access transparent progress tracking for their tasks in a shared space, and understand that their contribution matters and influences the rest of the team. This way, you can inspire, motivate, and enable them to do their absolute best.
If your team is required to collaborate effectively across borders and, most of the time, without face-to-face contact, it’s essential to offer them support and remind them of the importance of establishing connections that go beyond the work agenda. Encourage them to exchange life experiences, discuss their backgrounds, and share hobbies and details from their personal lives. Once people get to know each other, they collaborate more successfully as they can empathise with one another.
Respect the foundation of cultural diversity
Managing cross-cultural teams may be a challenge, but it can be successfully achieved when people show sensitivity and mutual respect. People are generally understanding and accepting of cultural differences at work, so what is needed is a framework that explains the differences between them. Nevertheless, the goal should not be only to educate ourselves and others about cultural diversity in the workplace. We should strive to internalise and leverage it, embracing the differences, new perspectives, and new ways of doing things.
Proactive, thoughtful, and agile communication
One of the most reliable and effective strategies to use while working with a culturally diverse team is over-communication. It is guaranteed to help you build and drive excellence in cross-cultural design teams.
For example, I’ve found that many native English speakers often assume that all other speakers of English — even non-native ones — can understand them perfectly every time they speak. However, this is not always the case. English learned as a second (or third) language can adversely affect nuances, expressions, and subtext, even if one is very proficient. We tend to think that our colleagues understand exactly what we say just because they have the same cultural background or frame of reference as we do.
Unfortunately, it is all too easy for something natural in one culture to cause a misunderstanding when you are interacting with team members located across the globe. Leaders and employees alike should be careful not to assume that their coworkers from different countries can understand everything they say. They should opt to over-communicate ideas and instructions, use straightforward language, and avoid culture-specific idioms where possible.
Furthermore, online communication can present challenges when we can’t read the other person’s body language or hear their tone of voice. Over-communication can help here too — make sure to carefully express what you mean to say clearly and simply, and confirm a team member’s understanding by asking them to rephrase, if necessary. Creating a comfortable environment where people feel encouraged to raise doubts and questions is also key.
Ultimately, cross-cultural teams can only be successful when everyone involved understands that each designer’s unique cultural background heavily influences their behavior and communication style. By addressing specific needs, clarifying team-level norms and expectations, prioritising respect, patience, and effective communication — and of course — gathering frequent feedback, you can ensure your team grows and thrives in the global environment as intive Design does today.
