Cultural Synergies: Recent Episodes
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Having moved recently with my family from Melbourne to Perth, I have noticed the difference we all have in adapting to change. What is really interesting is the difference between my personal and professional levels. In terms of my work, I am certainly an early adopter but at a personal level I am closer to the middle.
What are your change habits?
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While there are always two sides to every story, the situation that occurred recently in Melbourne with an Indigenous elder highlights the importance of Cultural Intelligence. It also shows the mis-steps individuals and organisations often make when working across culture.
https://lnkd.in/gyV2ZDxh
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The 21st March was International day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In Australia this day falls during Harmony week, a celebration of diversity of the nation. While the name may make it easier to approach, the theme of racism is always a difficult one to talk about no matter which country you are in. I encourage courageous conversations around race wherever you may be so we can be not only diverse but also inclusive.
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It was reported recently in Australia that burnout is becoming more and more frequent.
Burn out can be described as “ a special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.”
New research indicates up to 30% of people experience burnout at some point in their life. With burnout becoming an increasing workplace challenge, it is worth considering what you can do to minimise it. Having routine self-care practices such as: speaking about your experiences with a trusted person, practicing mindfulness, daily exercise and meditation are all useful ways to assist in managing stress.
How are you managing your work stress?
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Today being International Women’s Day, I thought I would share the Diversity Council Australia’s recent report on Culturally and Racially Marginalised women. It highlights the complex nature of inclusiveness and the importance of an intersectional approach.
https://lnkd.in/g_UJ83PY
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It is well known in the D&I world, that the cumulative effect of microaggressions can be very damaging.
When speaking about inclusion, I usually define it as – recognizing, respecting and accommodating human differences.
Similarly, microaffirmations are small positive messages and actions that explicitly recognize and validate an individual and their identity.
For me, seeing Ramadan KitKat chocolates, which I have never seen before in my local supermarket, is a great example of inclusion and microaffirmation. It is wonderful to witness small changes such as this being taken on board by organisations and in society.
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Below is a link to a thought provoking article on the DEI industry. It highlights the deep work that needs to be done and sustained to attain real change. Something I have noticed is that clients are becoming more aware of this and taking a more long term view.
https://lnkd.in/gZ6ngAwE
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When groups are discussing important topics where they are different points of view, it is useful to remember that part of the process is that individuals will have divergent views at the initial stages. Sometimes, it is useful to even encourage this divergence. Then, a convergence of views will emerge. It does not necessarily mean that everyone agrees but that they can work with what’s been decided.
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Both perspectives are necessary… the strategic and the tactical. Many a time what is the view from the balcony is different when we get on the dancefloor and vice versa. Many challenges seen from the balcony may seem to have an easy solutions but we find it difficult to execute when we are on the ground, hence the importance of both.
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Do you have a favourite quote, poem, piece of writing? Do you have a piece that you can always return to? I have quite a collection gathered over the years from various people, Nelson Mandela, James Clear, Shakespeare to the Dalai Lama. I find them useful to maintain a sense of perspective during different times in my life. One of favourites is the Stoic perspective, ‘Momento Mori’ – keep death daily in front of your eyes. I find it a useful reminder that life is short and to make the most of it.
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I have had a number of conversations recently with individuals who have unintentionally offended others. It was highlighted to them and there were different perspectives to the same situation. Even though this may the case, we must remember that it is in the eyes of the beholder. Who knows what’s been happening in the person’s life and why they were offended by something said which was not the case prior?
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Have you given up on your resolutions? About 5 years or so ago, I gave up on resolutions and instead choose a word of the year. Three years ago, it was equanimity, and it was certainly handy during the peak of Covid 19. Last year it was service and this year it is adventurous. I find that having a word provides a underlying focus within the subconscious.
What is your word for 2023?
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How often are we in a position to feel what it may be like to be the outsider or in a minority? Too often we are magnetised to situations in which we are comfortable and at ease, thereby protecting ourselves. Developing more empathy and understanding is a key part of understanding what it may be like to be an outsider. It requires an openness to challenges and different viewpoints. The flipside of this is that sometimes, those that may have been outsiders may be less understanding and accommodating as they believe that what they have had to endure should be endured by others in the same way.
What is your experience of being an outsider and how does that inform your approach?
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We have been working with a client recently that is implementing a program to assist with the integration of the business with a foreign partner. It is wonderful to see an organisation being proactive and looking for ways to ensure that cross-cultural partnerships are successful and minimising the risks involved.
Having known the leader who is driving this initiative for some time, I know that this wisdom comes from experience and knowing how challenging it can be when partnerships don’t work due to lack of preparation and foresight.
Having said that, gaining this experience is something that one learns through living it and navigating through when things don’t go so well. This personal experience is intrinsically powerful and cannot simply be shared or understood theoretically.
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I have recently been working on a project for a client that involves an approach where program participants are provided with prework (self-learning content) which is then followed up by an intensive application clinic. We developed the learning content with the assistance of a learning designer and then assumed the length of time it would take. The participants comprised of both native and non-native English speakers who have a high competency in English. However, when they did the prework, the non-native speakers found it took much longer and found it more challenging.
This was a useful reminder of ensuring that adequate testing on multiple target audiences is carried out. Going forward I will be looking at ways where I can make the program more inclusive and flexible for different types of learners.
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The FIFA world cup currently being held in Qatar has certainly raised some interesting challenges in terms of culture. At the same time though, having the event in a region where it has never been...
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Many organisations are finding the recruitment of suitable staff very challenging. A recent survey found that 89% of companies feel they can’t find the talent they need. It begs the question- how are organisations adapting...
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The recent debacle with the new Essendon Football Club CEO resigning a day after his appointment due to a conflict in values is troubling. It raises questions about the governance and due diligence that the...
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It’s been 12 years since I was last engaged by a client to prepare their teams for knowledge transfer of business processes overseas. In a recent short burst, there have been 2 requests for this...
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The Andon cord was implemented by Toyota as part of their Quality Process to enable workers to stop the production process when something was wrong. Regardless of position or hierarchy, anyone could activate the Andon...
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We recently conducted some focus group exploring the levels of diversity and inclusion within an organisation. When participants were asked to give a rating on D&I separately, diversity was consistently rated higher than inclusion. Wonder...
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Recently I have had several conversations about the qualities of good leadership and what makes a good leader. One theme that emerged was leaders being authentic, open and genuinely sharing aspects of themselves whether it...
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This year has been one of the busiest ever for me as a consultant in the last 30 years. The awareness of and need for DEI work seems to be growing exponentially and is being...
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I am currently working on a development program for mentors and mentees for a large consulting firm. During a session, one of the mentees mentioned that her mentor is never fully present when they meet....
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Quiet quitting has been a buzzword across the media in the last few months. It describes a situation in which an employee becomes disengaged and does the bare minimum required in their work. Recent research...
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The pandemic has brought many changes, among these are that it has made people reprioritise and rethink the notion of work. More people are questioning how, where and when work is done and the value...
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Everywhere I go, I am noticing many signs advertising for staff. It seems that this shortage of staff is across many industries and fields. An overlooked resource for employment is individuals aged over 50. Unfortunately,...
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Ageism in workplaces is becoming more noticed and spoken of than ever before. It raises the question, how aware are we in regard to the age demographic in our organisations? We now have multi-generations in...
The post IS AGEING YOUR ORGANISATIONAL BLINDSPOT? appeared first on Cultural Synergies.
The discussion on racism is certainly one that is coming to the fore and rising to prominence in the DEI conversation as a result of the black lives matter movement and greater social awareness. In...
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Carol Dweck the Stanford psychologist, has done a lot of work and research around mindset. Dweck identifies two basic mindsets – fixed and growth. If you have a fixed mindset, you believe your abilities are...
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I led a retreat recently and one of the activities was around self-limiting beliefs. These are stories that we tell ourselves that may hinder us from taking some stepping forward into a new project. Once...
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I was recently in a presentation on the relevance of stories in sustaining culture. It drew my attention to the Indigenous culture in Australia, which dates back roughly 60,000 years and how it has survived...
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We all have Strengths and Weaknesses. Being self-aware and understanding the impact of these on our actions is useful. Any strength that is overplayed can become a weakness. For example, when courage is overused, it...
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Dylan Alcott, the Australian of the year for 2022 has been a powerful voice for those with disabilities around the globe. As a champion wheelchair tennis player he has led by example. He has recently...
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A key objective of any leader, no matter which stage they may be in, is be cognizant of the need to replace themself with other people. Every leader should have in place a strategy for...
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People’s work lives are so incredibly hectic, that when managing time, they tend not to differentiate between what is urgent vs important. Steven Covey created a useful model that plots urgent and not urgent against...
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When we are in positions that are powerful, ego can get in the way and stop us from having a level of humility. It precludes us from saying, ‘ I don’t know’ or ‘ I’m...
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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are trying to be inclusive of a group of people but in the process somehow exclude another? I remember being at a function where the...
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When I think about diversity and inclusion, I often wonder how we can make it an everyday practice. It reminds me of the example of seatbelts, which at some point became mandatory and people had...
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Change is constant and a requirement of leadership. A leader I was working with introduced a process change and was met with some resistance from his team. Have you ever experienced that? The leader had...
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Over the past few years with a number of movements emerging, I am seeing a shift in the way that more diverse voices are being heard and presented. It strikes me as I see a...
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There is a premise that regardless of what you set out to do, if you make the minimum viable effort towards a change or implementing change it increases the likelihood that you will stick to...
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How often are you distracted during a meeting or conversation? Have you noticed how much more difficult it is to be present, especially in online meetings? As a result, you miss out on the totality...
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As Winston Churchill once said, ‘Optimists see opportunities in every difficulty’ . Of course it is easy to be optimistic when all is going well, but the real test is when things are not going...
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Over the last 3 years, instead of the annual new years resolution, I have selected a word of the year. It has been a way to guide my thinking and actions – sometimes consciously and...
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When the year comes to an end, I always like to spend some time contemplating what the year has brought and how I have navigated through it. 2021 has seen some interesting changes, and at...
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With the pandemic, we are seeing vast shifts globally regarding the way people live their lives and what they do for work. There have been sea changes, tree changes, flexible work, labour shortages and continued...
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Our health and wellbeing are one of the most precious assets we have. Having access to medical assistance when we need it and receiving this care has been identified as a human right. Medical staff providing care are trained with a basis in strong ethics that accord with the Hippocratic oath of ‘doing no harm’.
However, research has found that there exists a significant bias in the provision of medical services to people of colour in many countries which is characterised in some cases by less attentive care, funding and access. We are also seeing examples in how the Covid-19 vaccinations are being unevenly distributed globally. This highlights the importance of being aware of our own biases and how it impacts equity from both a personal and institutional perspective.
What are your practices when engaging with different cultures to make sure that you are being equitable?
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As we begin a return to normal after the pandemic, there seems to be a tremendous explosion in growth and opportunity making human resources more important than ever. As labour shortages and resignations increase across industries, the question becomes how do we better leverage our workforce? In particular, how do we better utilise older workers?
In many countries, older people continue to be included in society and are engaged in continuing working roles in society. In Japan, for example elders are very visible working in supermarkets and stores- even at the airport. In Australia, there seems to be a focus on younger people doing this type of work. It highlights for me a need to address ageism and adopt a strategy that is more inclusive of older people. There are many benefits to our society from this.
How could you be leveraging mature workers in your organisation?
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The Global Pandemic has created great change at many levels. I attended a webinar recently in which the presenter gave numerous examples of how organisations have been able to rethink their internal processes and the way they provide products and services .
From a sales point of view it is about understanding how greater growth can be implemented through the adaptation to change that has already occurred.
How can you adapt your team or business to enable further growth for your clients?
How do we repurpose our work?
Do we need to rethink our mission?
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We have now moved into a hybrid model of working, where we will find many people coming into the office at different times and days. Some people will be working more from home and teams will be fragmented.
The challenge of this situation becomes how to bring everyone together and address social cohesion and also how to bring high levels of trust which is important for high functioning teams.
As we re-emerge from a difficult time, we all need to take some time to think about how we create connection and activities to develop that. It is imperative to build cohesion- and also consider what the risk is if you don’t do that. This provides an opportunity to implement an ideal team value which is to encourage social cohesion but allow for intellectual friction which can only occur with trust and psychological safety in place.
What steps are you taking to build social cohesion?
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