Transform Conflict into Collaboration: The Benefits of Cognitive Diversity

Posted on 2. July 20242. July 2024 by Tania Pellegrini

Friction, conflict, discord—call it what you like, it’s present in most cognitively diverse teams even when not invited. It shows up unannounced at meetings and lingers like a bad smell. While it can provide differing and innovative views, it can also hinder collaboration.

By understanding and managing these dynamics, we can turn potential conflicts into opportunities for growth and innovation, helping our teams thrive rather than remain demotivated. Let’s look at how to transform this conflict into collaboration

Unlock a wealth of creativity by transforming conflict into collaboration

Cognitive diversity refers to the inclusion of people who have different ways of thinking, distinct problem-solving approaches, and varied perspectives. When we bring together individuals with diverse cognitive styles, we unlock a wealth of creativity and innovation that can drive our teams and organizations to new heights, such as:

Enhanced Problem-Solving

Increased Innovation

Improved Decision-Making

Broader Skill Set

Let’s explore how a cognitively diverse team can turn conflict into collaboration

Case Study: Elena and Kwame

Meet Elena, a strategic thinker who excels at looking at the big picture and future implications. She is known for her indirect communication style, which she believes fosters harmony and avoids confrontation. In the same team, we have Kwame, an analytical thinker who is direct in his communication. Kwame is data-driven and prefers clear, concise conversations to address issues head-on.

The Clash

Team Culture Clash creates friction rather than collaboration

Recently, during a project meeting, Elena suggested a long-term strategy to expand the company’s market presence. She presented her ideas subtly, hinting at potential benefits without going into too much detail. Kwame, on the other hand, sought immediate clarity. He interrupted with direct questions, asking for specific data and concrete steps to validate Elena’s vision.

This led to a tense exchange. Elena, who does not appreciate conflict, visibly lost her confidence and excused herself from the meeting to avoid further discord and discomfort for the other team members.

Elena was furious with herself for allowing the situation to unfold as it did, and she was equally frustrated with Kwame for putting her in that position. What could have been a true strength for the team instead created unnecessary tension.

What could they have done differently to turn their conflict into collaboration?

To avoid reaching this moment, consider these three steps:

1. Team Culture Discussion: At the beginning of any new project or when a new team forms, hold a team culture discussion where each member shares their values and communication styles.

2. Understanding Similarities and Differences: Examine the similarities and differences between team members and discuss how their communication impacts their thinking, meeting techniques, conflict resolution, and decision-making processes.

3. Defining Team Culture: Collaboratively discuss what you want your team culture to look, feel, and sound like. Ask, “How can we make the most out of our differences?”

What does it look like in a meeting?

– Effective Communication: Encourage Elena to be more explicit in presenting her ideas and ask Kwame to consider the strategic context before diving into details. This helps both appreciate the other’s perspective and adapt their communication techniques.

– Embrace Different Thinking Styles: Value Elena’s strategic thinking for long-term planning and Kwame’s analytical skills for immediate problem-solving. Combine these strengths by having Elena outline the vision and goals, while Kwame provides the data and steps needed to achieve them. This complementary approach leads to a more comprehensive project plan.

– Facilitate Inclusive Meetings: Restructure meetings to allow each member to share their views without interruption. Techniques like round-robin sharing ensure that both Elena’s strategic insights and Kwame’s analytical assessments are heard and integrated.

By addressing and leveraging their cognitive and cultural diversity, the team turned potential conflict into a powerful collaborative advantage. They enriched their team dynamics and enhanced their ability to innovate and succeed and finally soar.

#CognitiveDiversity #TeamCollaboration #Innovation #InclusiveWorkplace #Leadership #DiversityAndInclusion

Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone: Breaking Free from Autopilot for Effective Team Communication

Posted on 20. May 202420. May 2024 by Tania Pellegrini

To thrive as a team, it’s essential as individuals to move beyond our comfort zone and break free from autopilot. In cognitively diverse teams, colleagues bring different perspectives, various problem-solving approaches and communication styles. We can drive innovation and success as long as we learn to appreciate the different styles of our colleagues.

We need to modify our communication style and ensure our teammates comprehend our messages in the manner in which we see these messages in our brain. It consequently gives them the opportunity to express their ideas and take personal risks without the fear of being mocked or ridiculed.

Move beyond our comfort zone to harness innovation and increase productivity

To fully harness the potential of cognitively diverse teams we must be self-aware and intentional in our interactions. This means recognizing our automatic behaviours and biases, and understanding how they impact our colleagues. By doing so, we create psychological safety, fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and empowered to speak up. Here’s how:

1. Understand our Autopilot Behaviour

We all have default modes of operation—how we react, decide, and communicate when we’re not actively thinking about it. Our autopilot reaction usually occurs when we are feeling nervous, stressed or overwhelmed. When we’re relaxed, we usually have the time to observe what is happening around us and take the time to reflect on what we might say and how we might say it.

For example, if you’re someone who enjoys debating and challenging ideas in team meetings, you might become even more heated when you are feeling defensive about an idea or project. Consider how non-confrontational teammates might perceive this behaviour.

Culturelink - Car driving on autopilot through busystreets — *In cognitively diverse teams we need to switch off autopilot to be prepared for unpredictable reactions from our teammates.*

If your voice is raised in defence-mode, does it encourage them to speak up and challenge your ideas? Do they feel they can share their thoughts openly so that together, as a team you can find an innovative creation? Or do you think your harsh defensive voice might cause them to back off and refrain from sharing their thoughts? Recognising these patterns helps us understand our automatic responses and adjust them to better fit the diverse needs of our team.

2. Identifying Our Biases

Everyone has biases that influence how we perceive others. These biases can stem from cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, or societal norms. For instance, you might unconsciously favour input from colleagues who share your educational background or professional experience. We’re not always aware of these biases, but we sometimes instinctively appear to be more proactive with people we like and trust. We might subconsciously smile at them while they are speaking to encourage them to continue their thought process, or we might ask inviting questions.

On the contrary, if we’re unaware of our biases, we might display distrust on our face or frown when speaking with colleagues we’re biased against. From personal experience, I know that when someone frowns, I often hesitate to share my true thoughts for fear of ridicule.

Being aware of these biases and moving beyond our comfort zone, allows us to question our assumptions and see our colleagues through a more objective lens, ensuring we value contributions from all team members equally.

Break free from autopilot to create psychological safety

Effective communication in cognitively diverse teams hinges on building trust and creating an environment of psychological safety. When team members feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and express concerns without fear of judgment, the team thrives.

Self-awareness is critical if we wish to create psychological safety and build trust within our cognitively diverse teams. By being aware of our autopilot behaviour and biases, we can make necessary adjustments to our communication. Reflecting on the examples mentioned above:

Here are some techniques you could use if you tend to dominate discussions with debates.

Try to moderate your approach by inviting quieter team members to share their thoughts, by asking them directly what’s on their mind. Invite them into the conversation by using their names, not just asking the group if anyone has anything against your proposal.

Also avoid asking something like, “Do you agree with me?” Because if they have to say, “No”, it can come across as quite rude or conflictual for someone who prefers to avoid confrontation. Which means they will likely avoid saying it and keep quiet, even if they don’t agree.

Modify your questioning techniques

Rather use open-ended questions such as, “Robert, what are your thoughts on the topic?” Consider allowing pauses in the conversation to give others space to contribute, especially if they are speaking a language that is not their mother tongue.

Show appreciation for different viewpoints by not frowning when somebody else is speaking even if you are not in agreement with what they are saying. Listen actively by acknowledging their input. This can help build their confidence and willingness to speak up.

By being mindful of our behaviour and biases, we demonstrate respect and openness. This encourages our colleagues to trust our intentions and feel comfortable engaging with us.

When team members feel understood and respected, they are more likely to speak up and contribute. This psychological safety is the cornerstone of a high-performing team.

In summary, working in cognitively diverse teams requires us to be self-aware and adaptable. By understanding our own behaviour, recognizing our biases, and considering how others perceive us, we can communicate more effectively and create a collaborative, trusting, and innovative team environment.

Talent Development: How to Navigate Challenging Situations

Posted on 30. January 20248. March 2024 by Tania Pellegrini

Are you a talent development professional wondering which skill to focus on for 2024 for your teams?

In today’s interconnected global landscape, cultural intelligence (CQ) has emerged as a critical skill set for professionals to effectively navigate diverse environments. It enables individuals to foster understanding, create collaboration, adjust misalignments and help create a thriving team.

We’re not born culturally-intelligent, but the good news is that we can develop it. In fact we can continue developing it with each challenging situation we face. Let’s look at the four steps that can help you and your team overcome challenging situations that hinder achieving goals through miscommunication and misalignment.

Meet Sarah, a software engineer working on a multicultural team. She finds herself in a challenging situation with her colleague, Kayla, from a different cultural background. Despite their shared goals, communication barriers and misunderstandings have hindered their collaboration. Sarah has been working on an important document that needs to be sent to a client ASAP. Sarah sends an email to Kayla asking for her feedback before sending it to the client.

Kayla does not give Sarah the feedback. Sarah is stuck. She knows that Kayla is an expert on the subject matter and would really like to have her input before sending the document to the client. What has gone wrong?

Let’s work through Sarah’s situation using CQ.

When you find yourself in a challenging situation, ask yourself the following:

How motivated am I to adapt?
What do I know about the other person’s cultural influences?
How do I usually behave and what is my code switching strategy?
What is one action I can change?

Step 1: Drive – Motivation

How motivated is Sarah to adapt? She needs to change something to influence Kayla and convince her of the importance and urgency of this document. In this situation Sarah is very motivated because not only does she have a financial bonus at the end of the project, but she generally feels she will learn and develop her skills by applying new communication techniques. She knows she will improve collaboration and team spirit so that next time it won’t be so difficult to get the feedback.

Your motivation might change according to each situation you find yourself in. Some projects will motivate you to adapt and code switch and others won’t.

Step 2: Knowledge – Understanding the Other Person:

What does Sarah know about Kayla’s cultural background that can influence the way she communicates and behaves?

Sarah comes up with 3 points that influence Kayla’s behaviour.

1. Firstly, Sarah knows that Kayla works in a very relationship-oriented culture. In such an environment, it is usually vital to build a trusting relationship before giving feedback. For Kayla, giving a 5-line bullet point email just with feedback could come across as harsh. Kayla does not wish for Sarah to misunderstand these comments as criticism. This might ruin the relationship between the two for any future collaboration. Therefore, she prefers not to comment at all.

2. Secondly, Sarah also knows that Kayla likes to understand why she is being asked to work on something, rather than just do it because someone has asked her.

3. Finally, Sarah knows that Kayla is group-oriented. Kayla’s message was full of the word “I”. I need your feedback, I am writing this because … etc.”

Step 3: Strategy – Adapting and Bridging Differences:

Armed with this knowledge, Sarah devises a strategy to improve her interactions with Kayla.

She reflects on how Kayla might perceives her because of the way she writes her mails. She realizes that she might come across as rude, bossy and even arrogant.

Sarah identifies areas where she can adapt, an important one will be on how she will write her messages. She is going to spend some time building the relationship, being more group-oriented and use the “why” technique.

Step 4: Action – Implementing the Strategy

Sarah implements her strategy by putting her thoughts into actions. She decides to use TEAMS and the webcam instead of email to communicate, she explains why the document is so important and finally she decides to use the term we and incorporate collective words such as “our goal”, “what can we do together as a team to improve this document” and generally asks Kayla to work on the document together.

As a talent development professional, it is hard to know which skills to focus on for your team. When looking to create high-performance, and navigating the complexities of cross-cultural interactions, developing cultural intelligence is paramount. By following the four steps – Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, and Action – individuals like Sarah can effectively bridge cultural divides, foster inclusivity, and unlock the full potential of diverse teams. Embracing cultural intelligence not only enhances professional relationships but also cultivates a more enriched and impactful work environment where psychological safety thrives.

Want a collaborative Team? Embrace Cultural Intelligence

Posted on 19. January 202419. January 2024 by Tania Pellegrini

A few years ago, I dedicated about four months to preparing a team workshop for a client. It was mostly enjoyable, but there was one colleague, let’s refer to him as “Alex,” who made my hair stand on end.

Every email I received from Alex felt like a slap across the face. I couldn’t help but interpret his emails as brash, arrogant, and even misogynistic. Those mails which were at most seven words long, triggered a cascade of negative emotions in me. Here is a sample of three typical mails he would write.

– “What are your thoughts to the attached?”

– “FYI.”

– “Take a look at the below.”

No greeting, no salutation, no context to why he was sending the message.

It’s not just expats who need to embrace Cultural Intelligence

There seems to be a misconception that cultural intelligence is only relevant for expats or colleagues who don’t share the same mother tongue. In reality, cultural intelligence is the corner stone for fostering team spirit, collaboration, and achieving excellence within any multicultural team.

Cultural intelligence empowers us to understand our own communication style and its potential impact on others. It helps us analyse how culture influences our colleagues’ communication styles. Most importantly, it equips us with the ability to adapt our communication or “code-switch,” enhancing effectiveness in collaboration.

Practical example of embracing cultural intelligence

When I received messages from Alex, I didn’t stop to think about his cultural background. I was just reacting according to my intuition, my biases. Our biases are created by our normality. My normality in the email field, is to always greet with at least a “Hi” or “Good Morning,“ if it’s the first mail exchange of the day with that person. If it’s the first email of the week, I’ll likely even ask about the person’s weekend. I then usually also give some context to what is on my mind. Admittedly, maybe I give too much context… but that is my normality.

I felt offended by Alex’s mails because they didn’t fit into my normality. When you start thinking negatively about your colleagues and losing motivation to work with them, you need to stake a step back and ask yourself: “What do I know about this person’s cultural background? What is impacting their communication style, for example, are they individualists, are they transactional, are they linear thinkers rather than big picture thinkers?”

Cultural Intelligence teaches us to adapt or code-switch

If we embrace cultural intelligence we learn to adapt our communication to be more effective. If I was offended by his short, straight to the point messages, who knows what he thought about my long-winded, time-consuming messages. He probably thought I was wasting his time and therefore also losing respect for me, not to mention what it did to his motivation.

Once we understand why our colleagues are communicating in a certain way, it helps us eliminate the biases and therefore the negative judgment. This in turn helps us not feel offended by the situation.

So, in this scenario, one of us had to adapt. In a high-performing team, ideally both colleagues adapt. How far you decide to adapt is up to you. I certainly could not eliminate my morning greeting. However, after the “Hi Alex”, I decided I could also go straight to the point.

Cultural Intelligence creates an environment conducive to collaboration

Lack of consideration for cultural differences can lead to misinterpretations and hinder collaboration. We cultivate cultural intelligence to understand others and to foster an environment where diverse communication styles are appreciated and leveraged for team success.

The positive outcome of our journey with Alex speaks volumes about the transformative power of cultural intelligence. By acknowledging and adapting to each other’s communication preferences, we eliminate biases and create an environment conducive to collaboration.

In our globalised workplace, where teams are diverse in every sense, cultural intelligence isn’t just a skill; it’s a necessity for fostering understanding, promoting collaboration, and achieving excellence collectively. Embrace it, and watch your team thrive.