Cultural Differences and Multicultural Collaboration: How To Build Trust in multicultural teams

Ira Asherman
John W. Bing
Lionel Laroche

Different Approaches to Building Trust

Research indicates that there is a strong correlation between components of trust (such as communication effectiveness, conflict management, and rapport) and productivity.

Trust as a Source of Competitive Advantage

High LQ Culture

Cultural differences play a key role in the creation of trust, since trust is built in different ways, and means different things in different cultures.

"The bird thinks it is an act of kindness to give the fish a lift in the air." ~ Rabindranath Tagore

Cultural Intelligence

Why

East vs. West

Managing Diversity

For instance, in the U.S., trust is "demonstrated performance over time". Here you can gain the trust of your colleagues by "coming through" and delivering on time on your commitments.

"Trust, but verify."
~ Ronald Reagan

In many other parts of the world, including many Arab, Asian and Latin American countries, building relationships is a pre-requisite for professional interactions. Building trust in these countries often involves lengthy discussions on non-professional topics and shared meals in restaurants. Work-related discussions start only once your counterpart has become comfortable with you as a person.

World Cultures

Wheel of Life

Perceptions

Cross-cultural Communication

Coaching

No one should go to another monastery with one's own charter.

Russian

proverb

Multicultural Teams

Cultural differences in multicultural teams can create misunderstandings between team members before they have had a chance to establish any credibility with each other. Thus, building trust is a critical step in creation and development of such teams.

As a manager of a multicultural team, you need to recognize that building trust between different people is a complex process, since each culture has its own way of building trust and its own interpretation of what trust is.

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