I am the kind of person who used to smile when I heard somebody speaking about cultural shock in a workplace environment or that they experience being home sick while staying long time in a different country. Well, I probably needed a lesson… and it came when I was in a need for a change and support in my life. And I experienced it all, at all levels and with high intensity…

My multicultural experience started 11 years ago when I have decided to pursue an MBA with an American business school in Dubai. I am Romanian by nationality and lived only in my country to that date. I had some travel experience for both, business, and holidays, mostly in Europe and North America. The rest of the world was known to me only from books, documentaries, and movies.

While quite successful in my career, working as a marketer in a local subsidiary of a multinational company, I reached a moment when I felt trapped in the corporate web. After declining a career path my manager offered me, I have experienced a series of settle backs that made me lose the motivation and engagement at work. This led me to start exploring alternatives for personal and career development. And I have decided to pursue further education and I have chosen a full time MBA program delivered by an American business school in Dubai.

In August 2009, I landed out of a conservative Eastern European country to a country that hosts people from more than 200 different nationalities, living and working in harmony in a vibrant environment. At school, the class composition was reflecting this reality: 57 students of 28 nationalities. Although the faculty was amazing in helping us to adjust and to learn how to work together by organizing cultural orientation classes, do’s and don’ts in a multicultural team, body language and business etiquette, potluck meals gatherings, etc., the process was extremely challenging.

I must admit that it was hard for me to adjust and to leave aside stereotypes and biases. Bringing people in, engaging, and motivating them to be able to produce high end results working in teams, was a struggle. I simply could not understand why smart, educated, experienced businesspeople do not appear in time for a set meeting and/or they do not deliver their part of the project as agreed. I remember once when I was asking why this happens somebody answered “because I am human…” – this let me literally speechless…. I have also been through strange situations where I have received contradictory feedback  for the same behaviour: while my westerner colleagues considered me being a kind and soft person, my easterner colleagues assessed the same behaviour as too direct, rude and insensitive. Frankly speaking, I did not know what hit me…. Nothing seemed to work…

All those trainings the school provided gave me a pool of information to help me navigating in this unknown, unchartered (for me) territory of uncertainty and ambiguity, but nothing really helped me until I was ready to open not only my mind, but also my heart, and start to practice humility by exploring my own and my colleagues cultures, being curious and genuinely interested in their values and beliefs or asking questions instead of making assumptions. This led me to discover that we have many things in common and that concepts like trust, respect, honour, friendship are almost the same everywhere. Building awareness about my cultural background like the communication style, the way I build relationship, or I relate with time or environment, etc., helped me to observe and understand how the people around me approach and behave in these situations and to adapt my behaviour accordingly, finding different approaches to various situations without compromising my values and beliefs. And slowly, things started to fall into place.

John Dewey used to say: “we do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience”. Looking back, I have realized that I have learnt a lot, I have been through various situations and built experience, but progress and development occurred only when I took the time to reflect on what happened and what I can do better next time.

In the past decades. globalization brought in increased complexity and change, not only in the work environment, but also in our day to day lives. Population cultural diversity increased in all countries around the world, bringing in challenges even for locals. In this context, cultural competency or cultural intelligence is a critical skill we all need to develop. It is like a new muscle we need to build, and this needs time and practice to strengthen.

The key is not to underestimate the challenge. As humans we “do not see things (or people) as they are, we see them as we are” (Anais Nin) and we tend to treat people as we want to be treated. And here comes the issue. Treating everyone the same, without acknowledging their unique cultural identity, ignoring the differences, might not lead us to the desired results. We need to commit ourselves to become aware about our cultural heritage and be open to learn about the cultures of the people we interact with. We need to develop the ability to respect their beliefs, values, interpersonal styles and behaviours of people around us. Another important aspect is to be able to find the positive in others approaches and start to appreciate them. Sometimes cultural diversity can cause inefficiencies and confusion, but understanding how people from various backgrounds behave, give us the chance to turn differences into a team or community greatest asset by fostering creativity, innovation and driving personal growth and development.

Staying humble, remaining curious about learning diverse perspectives and be willing to adapt are critical factors for our success in multicultural teams or communities. After all, “is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” (Charles Darwin)

How about you – what is your multicultural experience? What helped you to succeed in multicultural teams and environments?   Feel free to share your thoughts/comments below. I would love to hear from you…

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