Fostering
cross-cultural
collaboration in international teams

International team development for a Mexican & US team
mexico dos mujeres
Maschinenbau

Our Customer

Our customer is an industrial company with over 100.000 employees.

Expectation

  • Improve collaboration and alignment of a mixed management team from Mx and US in R&D.
  • Clarify responsibilities.
  • Establish a better understanding of each other’s roles and clarify responsibilities.
  • Improve relations between leaders and within their teams.
  • Assess where and why ownership and implementation discipline are lacking and work towards better, collaborative, smooth and successful project execution.
  • Establish effective and efficient communication involving different stakeholders where necessary, and start working towards a constructive, open feedback culture.
  • Define personal development activities to foster good team results.

Target

Deep dive into understanding the motives that drive behavior. Figure out how team collaboration can be improved and stabilize the team after many changes have occurred. The target is to build one team “Region America”, including management team members from both locations.

Enhance the performance of the team by leveraging every possible advantage to ensure successful team transformation. Even though leadership styles are different depending on culture, the target is to achieve effective collaboration by becoming aware of differences and overcoming them. .

Measures

5-step approach

Prepare Set-Up:

  • Gain a better picture of the overall situation: structured interviews with local HR, heads of R&D and key stakeholders.
  • Develop first hypotheses from these conversations.
  • Re-check suggested approach.Inform everyone involved about the measure, its target and timeline.

Pre-Work:

  • Lead structured interviews with the individual members of the management team à 1hr/participant.
  • Focus on the individual as well as the organizational perspective (individual perception of the current situation, organizational barriers and catalysts, relationships and collaboration, etc.)

Individual Self-Assessments:

  • Invite participants to fill out an online personality questionnaire (“WorkPlace Big Five®”)
  • Distribute individual reports and debrief 1:1 à 1 hr virtually to reflect on their personality and how it affects their management style and working preferences.

Conduct a team workshop with the entire management team:

As neuro-scientific evidence shows that goal achievement relies both on an appropriate framework (clear expectations, procedures, measures) and an appropriate culture (trust, collaborative relationships and the use of synergies of perspectives & heuristics), the workshop tackled both areas:

  • Debrief on findings from interviews and assessments.
  • Exchange on perceptions of one another, integrating biases based on culture and individual experiences.
  • Work on improvement areas, especially on mutual communication.
  • Enhance trust through team activities and understanding the “trust equation”.
  • Clarify roles, tasks, KPIs where necessary.
  • Derive next action steps to increase collaboration, trust, failure and feedback culture and commitment, and thereby foster execution.

Facilitate a follow-up…

  • three months after the workshop to review and track progress as well as to adjust actions if needed.
  • Re-allocation of initiatives/tasks.

 

4 countries, 30 people involved

Client and stakeholders in Europe and the team in Mx/US

CONTUR team of 4 consultants from Germany

US and Mexico involved

Blended approach over 3 months

From virtual interviews, assessments, and debriefs to joint workshop in presence and joint follow-up workshop.

Continuous project steering and alignment with client

To consider actual incidents and involve stakeholders’ feedback.

The result

A common manifesto was developed and signed by all participants describing the rules of communication and collaboration in the team. Individual personal commitments were made, and actions defined to realize these commitments. This was certainly the beginning of a journey – in which participants will need to remember and support each other in implementing these new ways of working before they become internalized continuously and consistently in the collective culture.

Collaboration with the people involved.

Intense exchange and preparation as well as project steering in alignment with global and local HR as well as R&D Head. Detailed involvement of stakeholders. In-depth exchange with team members before workshop to meet expectations, develop trust and address critical issues.

Participants Feedback

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