|
Shackleford
|
|
Shackleford
|
In today's complex contemporary workplaces, leaders face the challenge of guiding their organisations through cultural adaptations driven by globalisation and increasingly diverse workforces.
As an executive coach, I've observed that effective global leaders must be culturally competent, able to value diversity and remain aware of their own and others' cultural identities. The shift to remote work has expanded access to a global talent pool, while a rising social consciousness has heightened the focus on inclusivity in the workplace. To navigate this landscape, leaders need to develop deep self-awareness of their own cultural biases and strive for inclusive action. Coaching Adaptability Coaching serves as a powerful tool in this context, promoting trust, empathy, and clearer communication through active listening, non-judgement, and curious questioning. While diversity offers benefits like innovation and a broad talent pool, leaders may perceive it as time-intensive and slower in decision-making. Committing to cultural fluency and appreciating the effects of cultural background on team dynamics is crucial. Many organisations have established diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, but inconsistencies between declared values and leaders' actions can undermine efforts to promote cross-cultural workplaces. Coaching provides a sustainable process for adaptation, helping leaders align DEI policies with cross-cultural practices by raising self-awareness, identifying conscious options for inclusion, and taking targeted actions. Research shows that "political correctness" can inhibit cross-cultural interactions, as leaders limit contact with diverse staff for fear of causing offence. In contrast, a coaching culture promotes mutual respect and inclusion, fostering leaders' natural engagement. As an executive coach, I often invite leaders in my coaching practice to reflect on several factors:
Using coaching skills like active listening, open questioning, and nonjudgmental empathy, leaders can develop rapport, trust, and clarity within their teams and support cross-cultural fluency. 92% of organisations with strong coaching cultures use internal coaches, external coaches, and managers with coaching skills within an ecosystem that invests in employee development, internal mobility, DEI, and social justice. By consistently using coaching skills, global leaders ensure they walk the talk, bringing DEI policies to life and helping their organisation retain talent and become an employer of choice. Key Learnings:
Contemporary businesses face unprecedented rates of change driven by digitisation, talent flight, globalisation, and competition. The common response has been to "transform" operating models, customer experiences, product configurations, and ways of working. However, transformation is challenging and often unsuccessful. Organisational culture and leadership are the key levers in increasing the probability of transformation success. Traditional corporate values are not enough to embrace change; in fact, they often resist it. The right leaders at all levels, embodying values that guide employees, teams, and companies through transformation, are crucial. Intelligent Leadership® is a transformational, results-driven leadership growth philosophy and process that ignites, cultivates, and polishes an individual's heart, mind, and soul to create exceptional leadership and cultural capability within an organisation. Acknowledgment: "Effective Leaders Need to be Culturally Competent" - Harvard Business Review. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |