I’ve said in other posts that the more you understand the people you work with, the easier it is to work with them. Learning to understand cultural diversity is essential for everyone. Communication is critical in any well-run business but it isn’t always easy when you are dealing with a culturally diverse workforce.

Language as a barrier to communication is one of the many topics discussed during any diversity training workshop, such as the ones I lead for businesses around the world.

How important is it to you that your employees understand what is expected of them? It should be pretty important if you want to have a successful business. Good communication not only affects the efficiency of your business, it impacts on the well-being of your multicultural employees. Everyone needs to understand safety regulations, emergency procedures and how to use safety equipment.

Here are some strategies to overcome language barriers in a culturally diverse workforce:

In the last blog, I gave [I’ve given] you two strategies for overcoming language barriers in a culturally diverse workplace. A multicultural leadership workshop will provide you with many more communication strategies.

I’ll tell you about two other strategies that will help you manage your diverse workforce and build an atmosphere that encourages open communication.

Provide English instruction: You can’t assume that the people working for you will have the resources needed to learn English. If they are new to the country they may lack money to pay for the class or they may be unable to find transportation to the class. A manager who respects the cultural diversity of his employees will support efforts to learn English; provide instruction on the job site and arrange the schedule to allow time for “homework.” Many states will subsidize these classes as part of a workforce development initiative. Support and encouragement is important; most adults find it difficult to learn a new language and will lose interest quickly.

Knowing your customer is critical for a good marketing campaign. And you really need to do your homework if your target audience is a minority group. A business that wants to tap into the multicultural sector of the population has to be sensitive to cultural differences that drive spending habits.

That means dropping stereotypes and investing time and money in some research. There are research groups out there who gather information about how people in minority groups like to spend their money. According to a Forrester Research report, “there is more to reaching minorities than understanding demographic differences.”

Culture is more than skin color. It is a complicated mix of race, language and religion. It is influenced by immigration experiences and “cross-cultural” marriage. Ethnic identity affects cultural practices, beliefs, and even dress and eating habits. And just to keep it complicated, no matter the ethnic background people are all influenced by age, gender and income.

Minority groups represent a huge part of the North American population. There are 39 million Hispanics in the United States surpassing African Americans as the largest visible minority. In Canada South Asians are now the largest, outnumbering Chinese by a half million.

So why are marketing campaigns still missing the mark with our multicultural populations? In a survey carried out in multiple languages the Solutions Group of Canada found that 52% of people said that they rarely saw advertising they believed was intended for them.

The problem seems to be a combination of corner-cutting and fear that something might be perceived as racist.

A smart business person understands the importance of a productive and efficient workforce. Business experts insist that your employees are your biggest investment.

If you are a manager of a culturally diverse workforce you will have to make an effort to understand what motivates your employees and makes them happy. This requires an understanding of cultural differences; your employees will have many different values and traditions.

A culturally diverse workplace could include people from many different Asian and Latino cultures. I use these two examples only because they represent large numbers of immigrant workers. The following advice can be applied in most situations.

In my last post I said that a culturally diverse workplace has people with many different traditions and values. Managing diversity in the workplace requires you to be sensitive to differences while still being fair to everyone.

One characteristic that is quite common to different cultures is the importance of personal relationships. Your employees may be from countries where life was not easy. A strong family and close friends might have been needed for survival; family and friends are first priority, work a distant second.

Here are two more strategies for managing diversity in the workplace.

Human beings are creatures of habit. We like to know what to expect and what is expected of us and we don’t really welcome changes to our routine. This tendency is at odds with the fact that businesses need to evolve constantly if they want to stay competitive. A change management strategy is essential.

Psychologists agree that it is human nature to resist change. Some see it as a chance for growth and new opportunities. Most of us see it as a time of instability that causes anxiety and confusion which is never good for productivity. Within a multicultural workforce there may be individuals who are especially affected by the threat of change.

You need a change management plan. If you consider the people who work for you a key to your business’ success, or failure, it just makes sense that you would want to guide them through changes so that they can continue to be valuable assets.

If building a winning team is difficult, building a winning multicultural team may seem impossible. It’s not. But the team leader does have to consider the different communication styles, language and ideas about teamwork that come with cultural diversity.

Any team functions best in an atmosphere of openness; it’s critical for a multicultural team. Team members need to be comfortable talking about differences and it’s the team leader’s job to create the necessary atmosphere by being open-minded and willing to discuss issues as they arise. One sure way to prevent a team feeling from developing is a “boss” who doesn’t want to listen to his or her team members.

Your winning multicultural team’s first discussion should be about what is meant by “team.” Team concept is different across cultures. Some cultures, like Hispanic and Asian, are traditionally very team-oriented. Team members work together and everyone shares decisions, every step of the way.

Is your employee incentive program limited to handing out Christmas cards in bulk that have the company name stamped inside rather than a signature and contain a gift certificate for a turkey?

This example may seem ridiculous but it still happens. There are many reasons why that approach doesn’t work and, frankly, is insulting to your employees. Read on for advice on motivating your multicultural team.

1. Get personal. Research shows that the best motivator is a boss who takes a sincere interest in his or her employees. People from many cultures are more motivated by a warm, “family” atmosphere than they are by monetary incentives.

2. Communicate. A truly effective multicultural team is one that openly discusses the project, outcome goals, and concerns. When team members are asked their opinion and given some control over their assignments they will be motivated to be successful.

3. Customize. The Christmas card/turkey certificate incentive sent out en masse is very impersonal and could even be offensive to multicultural team members who don’t celebrate Christmas. Find out what holidays they do observe and customize the incentive. An office fiesta for Cinco de Mayo could be fun.

Other ideas for non-monetary incentives include:

Imagine you came into work this morning and found your desk moved from its spot by the window. Now you’re facing a wall by the elevator. Your reaction? Some might be okay with it; most of us would be confused. Why were you moved? Is the boss trying to get rid of you?

If the boss had used a change management approach you’d know what was going on and you wouldn’t waste your morning asking questions and trying to get over the shock caused by the change.

Now imagine that you are new to both the organization and the country. Within a multicultural workforce there may be several people coping with many challenges. Hopefully your organization has a program to help with language barriers and culture shock. Mentoring a newcomer with someone who “knows the ropes” is one effective strategy.

It’s important to have a change management plan, especially for a multicultural workforce, but who creates the plan and who carries it out?

Change management plans are carried out by a team. Even a small business needs more than one person “on board” for change to be successful.

The change management team is the group of key people who come up with a strategy for change. Someone from each department should be on the team. The team’s main role is to manage the “people” aspects of the change. This team will make sure that important information gets communicated to everyone.

Remember that communication is very important for a multicultural workforce. Have information booklets printed in the languages used by your multicultural workforce. Then have small group discussions with a translator present to answer questions and address concerns. Members of the team will be the “go-to” people for everyone else; they are the ones who keep up the momentum when challenges arise.

Big changes within a company are most likely to succeed if a change management team is created. I talked about that team’s role last time. There are many people, not part of the team, who also have an important role in change management.

Change takes time; this is especially true with a multicultural workforce. Senior managers and other “upper” management who are already looking past the change and into the future may forget to practice patience with others who are just beginning the change process. Executives need to get in-sync with employees and become a visible, and vocal, “cheerleading” squad. Lack of leadership is the main reason change fails, even with a solid change management plan. When a multicultural workforce sees the “big bosses” actively committed to the change they are reassured that this change will be a good thing.

When a member of a multicultural workforce has a question, who do they go to for answers? Their immediate supervisor will be the one to communicate information about change.

Six months ago you became part of your company’s change management team. Now it’s time to assess whether or not the changes were successfully implemented. If something went wrong, there are two places to look at first.
If the change management team did its job the transition was step-by-step with plenty of two-way communication between management and its multicultural workforce. Goals and objectives were clear; everyone accepted the change and carried out their responsibilities flawlessly.

Things never go according to plan.

My work takes me around the world and I find it fascinating to learn about different cultures; such knowledge is invaluable. Thanks to globalization, cultural awareness is crucial for business success. I would like to share some of my observations with you.

In the U.S., business is quite impersonal; beliefs about religion and cultural traditions are “left at home.” American ideas about business are also very scientific; approaches are analyzed, methodology studied in a search for what is more efficient, more cost effective, and/or more unique.

With this cultural awareness, a foreigner doing business in the United States can understand why change is readily tolerated here. New ideas change the way business is done and the work force is constantly revolving; some leave, some are fired and new people hired. Friendly working relationships don’t often carry over to after-work hours.

Some cultures are not so comfortable with change.

Cultural awareness leads to successful business ventures with other cultures. In the United States, change and all things new are a driving force. Koreans are conservative, influenced by Confucian ethics of respect. In Saudi Arabia, the tenets of Islam dictate the way business is done. Today I’ll compare business structures in these countries.

It’s no surprise that business structures in the U.S. vary greatly. There are some commonalities though. For example, all large companies are considered entities in themselves; they are separate and independent from employees. Usually there is a CEO and some senior management at the top of the structure. The CEO has a lot of influence and is held accountable for the success or failure of the company.