Why does Global Adaptability matter more than ever?
The ability to navigate cultural dynamics is more than just a skill, it’s a crucial asset for leaders, teams, and organisations aiming to thrive internationally. My passion lies in fostering cross-cultural intelligence (CQ) as a developmental tool that empowers people to adapt, collaborate, and succeed globally. Drawing from personal experience and insights from companies like Netflix, where adaptability and a strong People & Culture (P&C) function are embedded into their DNA, I’ve seen firsthand how cultural awareness can shape success. Reed Hastings encapsulates this mindset:
“Be friendlier... remove blame... add a relationship-based touch.”
These principles are vital for leaders committed to understanding and adapting to cultural nuances. With the guidance of Erin Meyer - business professor, culture expert, and author - Netflix has paved the way for global agility by thoughtfully blending its unique culture with local values, a balance that has helped the company grow internationally. Through similar strategies and P&C support, we can equip organisations to build strong, adaptive teams ready for today’s global stage.
Based on her global expertise Erin Meyer served as a vital expert for Reed Hastings and the leaders at Netflix, helping them navigate cultural differences across interpersonal dimensions, as detailed in her book ‘The Culture Map’:
1. Communicating: Low context (Explicit) vs High-Context (Implicit)
2. Evaluating: Direct negative feedback vs Indirect negative feedback
3. Leading: Egalitarian vs Hierarchical
4. Deciding: Consensual vs Top-down
5. Trusting: Task-based vs Relationship-based
6. Disagreeing: Confrontational vs Avoids confrontation
7. Scheduling: Linear time (Structured) vs Flexible time
Reflecting on my experience moving from the UK to the UAE six years ago, I came to appreciate the foundation built during my years working with international companies in England. At the same time, I recognised the importance of continually learning from my colleagues and clients, and enhancing my cultural intelligence to adapt in a new environment.
Culture Shifts: Lessons from Arla Foods
My first ‘proper’ job was with the Swedish-Danish company, Arla Foods. When they merged with a UK dairy institution founded in 1864, towards the end of my 3 year tenure, the differences in culture between the egalitarian, laid back Scandinavian company and the traditional UK company was stark, and I had difficulty adjusting.
As I’d climbed the ranks at Arla Foods, two out of three of my line managers were women. The CEO and VPs of our Marketing & Innovation teams were women, and an ethos of innovation and creativity prevailed. This was driven by a strong HR team, promoting a culture based on diversity, inclusivity, and personal growth.
We had clear career development pathways, we regularly undertook positive team building workshops, days and even weekends away. We worked cross-functionally and we had Learning & Development (L&D) support to grow essential professional skills. To have this support at the start of my career was invaluable. However, with a large merger with a traditional UK dairy company we saw an army of blue suited businessmen join the company, intently focused on the bottom line, with revenue becoming the ultimate focus above all else. Our team building and L&D support disappeared, teams became much more siloed, working against each other rather than with each other. This culture shift wasn’t for me, and after six months I left Arla and joined a creative agency.
I’ve held senior leadership positions in London working with colleagues and clients across Europe - Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Hungary - and across the world - USA, India, Brazil & Columbia. However, it wasn’t until I began working in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with offices and clients in Riyadh and Singapore, that I realised the effort required to adapt my communication style, and the level of support my teams needed from me as their leader. In our team of 26 people, we represented 15 different nationalities working in our offices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Each day we worked with our global offices in Singapore, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Denmark, the UK, the USA, and Japan.
Thankfully I had the benefit of an amazing mentor, our Chief of People & Culture (P&C) - shout out to the wonderful Sharon Kelly. As a lead in a global company responsible for a multinational team working in different countries, having agility across talent acquisition and retention, L&D and many other aspects of what traditionally might be called Human Capital Management, is vital to success. Without a strong P&C function leaders cannot build adaptability to navigate the different dimensions of culture.
Netflix: Developing Global Communication Skills
For Netflix, a company with business agility and agile HR operations embedded in its DNA, one distinct challenge emerged during its global expansion: candour, specifically in the area of ‘Evaluating.’
In their book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, Hastings and Meyer describe how Netflix, as an American company, aligns with the 'direct negative feedback' end of the Evaluating scale.
Evaluating Scale - Direct negative feedback vs. Indirect negative feedback
As Meyer states in the section of the book ‘Going Global’, ideas about candour and feedback can be on opposing ends of the scale.
“When Netflix opened in Japan in 2015, it didn’t take long to see that the explicit, frequent, and often upward feedback expected by Netflix management was neither natural nor comfortable for the newly-hired local employees.”
Japan lands on the opposite side of the scale to the Netflix culture map in the following areas:
Communicating: Netflix -Low context vs. High-context - Japan
Evaluating: Netflix -Direct negative feedback vs. Indirect negative feedback - Japan
Leading: Netflix -Egalitarian vs. Hierarchical - Japan
Disagreeing: Netflix -Confrontational vs. Avoid confrontation - Japan
At Netflix, utilising tools like The Culture Map became imperative for building strategies to navigate differences in feedback, communication, and leadership styles among multinational teams. By dissecting issues and engaging in culture mapping exercises, teams gained valuable insights into interpreting actions and behaviours in different cultural contexts, enhancing their CQ (Cultural Intelligence) skills.
We can’t always get it right, but we can always strive to acknowledge, understand, and appreciate how our colleagues approach these cultural dimensions. Equally important is recognizing how the nuances of our own innate approaches may need adjustment to ensure we communicate and collaborate effectively, without causing confusion or offence.
In conclusion:
While individual differences extend beyond nationality, understanding cultural variations plays a crucial role in shaping effective business interactions. Developing adaptability and enhancing cultural intelligence are essential skills for navigating the nuances of global communication and fostering collaboration within diverse teams.
For companies aiming to ‘go global,’ the support of a forward-thinking People & Culture team, one that transcends the traditional scope of Human Resources, is indispensable in embedding adaptability and enabling success in an interconnected world.
A Little Disclaimer:
My words are my own. Whilst Chat GPT and other AI tools are amazing resources to check my grammar, suggest better formatting and provide catchy headlines when the brain fog sets it, it cannot provide verifiable data without substantiation. It cannot replace experience or the passions and inspirations which fuel our professional lives. Any data and trends I have included have been substantiated via the sources I provide. The insights given in this article are based on my +21 years professional experience, my +6 years in senior leadership roles in The UAE and my own wide-ranging research. If this article has resonated with you please feel free to comment and share, feedback is always welcome and appreciated.
Sources:
No Rules Rules Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer