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World Leadership Group There are certain advantages to being a multinational corporation: working in different countries, with people of different cultures, spreading the reach of products and services. However, the recipients of such advantages often carry certain assumptions - namely, the assumption that because everyone is “on the same team” they will communicate and think in the same manner. The fact is many people lack the skills to deal with inter-cultural communication effectively, and it is under such circumstances, when multiple cultures take on tasks together, that a world leadership group is the perfect solution to smooth over the snags bound to arise in inter-cultural communication.
One important task of a world leadership group is to instill in the practice of its participants the wisdom that just because a person from a culture alien to one’s own can speak in the same language, or we theirs, it does not necessarily mean that the two individuals are really able to communicate. Words in translation can carry unfamiliar information. In a familiar environment, such as one’s home culture, it is easier to cope with inter-personal differences since in the end there appear to be more similarities than differences. Trying to communicate and lead while abroad is a more difficult matter, however, for when living among people of another culture the inter-personal differences become more apparent and present themselves as obstacles. |
A world leadership group helps leaders or potential leaders in precisely this situation to learn to see beyond the exterior of differences to the many similarities swimming underneath. Whether the cross-cultural effort casts you as host or guest to people of another culture, it pays to take the initiative and train yourself and your team to anticipate and overcome the communication barriers that are bound to manifest themselves.
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