To help colleagues understand how cultural differences affect their collaboration, in order to make concrete adjustments that improve their work.
Who participates
Any colleagues working across cultures. Two people or a team. With or without a facilitator.
What you need
The relevant one-pagers: country-topic summaries for the cultures and topics involved in your collaboration.
A current situation to discuss — friction, misunderstanding, or confusion that may be caused by cultural differences.
Before you begin
Each participant reads and reflects on the relevant one-pagers. Come prepared to discuss.
90 minutes.
The Discussion
Part 1: Where do we differ?
Discuss: Where you differ in how you think, therefore in how you work?
Draw on the one-pagers. Name the patterns you recognize. Be specific. The goal is shared understanding of the differences.
30 minutes.
Part 2: What impact are the differences having?
Discuss: What impact do those differences have on your collaboration.
Apply this to a current situation. Where has friction occurred? Where has there been confusion, frustration, or misunderstanding?
30 minutes.
Part 3: How do we make the differences work for us?
Discuss: How can you get the differences to work for, and not against your collaboration?
Be concrete. What will you do differently? What adjustments will you make — in communication, decision-making, expectations, processes? Name specific changes.
30 minutes.
After the discussion
Document. Write down what you understood, what you agreed to change, and why. Keep it brief — one page is enough. This is your clarity.
Disseminate. Decide who else should see this. Other team members? Other teams facing similar dynamics? Share it. The value deepens and broadens when others benefit from what you learned.
Total time investment
180 minutes.
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