{"id":5005,"date":"2020-10-01T13:35:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T13:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/uncategorized\/how-to-manage-virtual-teams\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T11:43:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T11:43:58","slug":"how-to-manage-virtual-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/fuhrungsentwicklung\/how-to-manage-virtual-teams\/","title":{"rendered":"How to manage virtual cross-cultural teams – interculturality"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog we talk to TPC Leadership Associate Partners Catherine Bardwell<\/a> and Valeria Cardillo Piccolino<\/a>\u00a0about how to manage virtual teams and in particular cross-cultural teams.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to manage virtual teams<\/h2>\n

In our last blog, we explored why it\u2019s important to capitalise on internal resources by designing inclusive workplaces.<\/p>\n

Inclusion often encounters resistance among those who consider it a passing HR trend and feel the voice of the diversity and inclusion (D&I) advocates is too paternalistic. But often this resistance exists because we lack perception of the ways in which we are non-inclusive.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that only a few people are intentionally non-inclusive, unless we approach inclusion from all angles, employees won\u2019t necessarily feel included, nor will the true creative potential of our organisations be realised.<\/p>\n

For cross-cultural teams, when commonly overlooked voices begin to be heard, the results can be dramatic. As Kim Belair of Sweet Baby Inc. said in a panel regarding interactive media, \u201crepresentation has the potential to be as innovative as new tech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCross-cultural virtual teams have become the norm in many corporations,\u201d says Catherine Bradwell, Associate Partner at TPC Leadership. \u201cYet we still underinvest in cross-cultural skills necessary to create high-performing teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, \u201cfor the deeper work to happen, inclusion cannot remain HR policy,\u201d says Valeria Cardillo Piccolino, a TPC Leadership Associate Partner. \u201cIt must involve all leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me explain,\u201d says Catherine. \u201cDo you hear your people say: \u2018Lack of participation\u2019, \u2019no decision-making\u2019, \u2018boring meetings\u2019?\u201d If so, they may be misdiagnosing the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome cultures may tend to be comfortable taking the lead in a group conversation,\u201d says Catherine, \u201cBut other cultures are less inclined. Now is the time to understand different perspectives and how to best adapt one\u2019s own style to better lead cross-cultural virtual teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grow in awareness of cultural norms\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cIn any culture there are certain ways of behaving that are considered dominant,\u201d says Valeria. \u201cThese dominant traits shape what we perceive to be polite or acceptable. And they create filters that affect our understanding of others and the wider world.\u201d<\/p>\n

A common difference in dominant culture characteristics is that of introversion vs. extroversion, for example. For in some cultures it is considered rude to interrupt or express dissent, while in others forthrightness is perceived to be a sign of confidence and strength. This affects people regardless of their personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour personality determines how you WANT to behave, culture determines how you SHOULD behave,\u201d says Csaba Toth, developer of the Global DISC framework<\/a>. Personality still plays a part, but an extroverted South Korean will still act differently to an extrovert born and raised in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Grow in awareness of unconscious bias<\/b><\/h2>\n

It affects all leaders and teams, but unconscious bias can become acute in virtual teams. In our pursuit of efficiency \u2013 and desiring to keep our fifth zoom meeting that day as short as possible \u2013 we default to the path of least resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMicro affirmations or micro-behaviours create a barrier to inclusion, even more so because they act at an unconscious level\u201d says Valeria.<\/p>\n

One example of a micro-behaviour is not involving certain colleagues in a challenging and strategic project because we perceive them as \u2018not fitting.\u2019 And this could simply be because they are very different from the dominant, inner-circle culture. The problem is that, in the majority of cases, we won\u2019t be aware of our internal logic and we will just follow our \u2018managerial instinct\u2019 or, \u2018the gut\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiases form from existing relationships, and without realising it, we find ourselves working with, listening to and handing strategic responsibility to the same few people. This is the effect of \u2018affinity bias\u2019 or \u2018similarity bias\u2019. We like people whom we perceive similar to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unconscious bias by its very nature is not malicious or intended, but unless we deliberately act to include \u2013 forcing ourselves to be curious, discussing the effect our actions could have on someone with a different set of values \u2013 we will continue to create exclusive inner circles of trust, populated by people like us. And we will inevitably overlook and miss out on the full range of competencies in our teams.<\/p>\n

HR can address some issues directly, particularly when it comes to diversity. But inclusion is the responsibility of everyone in leadership. As Brenda Trenowden, the Global Chair of the 30% Club says, \u201cIf you throw a lot of diversity at an organization and there isn\u2019t an inclusive culture, it\u2019s not going to stick. So we really need to focus on both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Create space in the virtual space<\/b><\/h2>\n

When it comes to leading cross-cultural teams, every detail matters. Whenever someone in our team concedes an argument, or refuses to push back when they are contradicted, we need to ask ourselves, \u201care the dominant traits of their culture at play here?\u201d Their opinion might be unmoved, yet they may have let the issue go for the sake of politeness. This is just one of the many cultural factors we need to consider.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking in a virtual space requires us to put in practice our sensitivity to how different cultures perceive not only our non-verbal or paraverbal communication,\u201d says Valeria, \u201cbut also our written communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an example of this, someone I coach recently expressed in a direct and assertive way his \u2018right,\u2019 to take a few hours leave. The email he sent to his boss simply stated that he was informing her about this.\u201d says Valeria. \u201cBut his email, he realised during our coaching session, could have been perceived a bit rude or too direct by his boss, an Asian young woman whom he met not long ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working virtually is also putting our capability to manage our work and private life under pressure. Managers need to be aware of their own expectations \u2013 and whether they are inappropriate in light of the other demands a team member faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people have a greater need to switch off,\u201d says Valeria. \u201cAnd their boundaries need to be respected.\u201d Those from cultures that lean towards compliance are less likely to make these needs explicit, so managers need to pay attention. If they can read between the lines of cultural context, they will know when a team member needs rest.<\/p>\n

When managers are trained in interculturality, unconscious bias will hold less sway, and the needs of team members will be better met. Essentially, those who display different cultural behaviours will not be overlooked for having different needs \u2013 and the resulting flow of trust will give new and emerging voices the opportunity to shape strategy, spot errors and expand the range of our collective intelligence.<\/p>\n

Our teams will be more innovative than ever. Not just because of the steps that HR took. But because of the steps we all took \u2013 to see the brilliance beyond our own culture.<\/p>\n

Want more insight on how to move forward?<\/b> Get in touch with us<\/strong> to find out how we can help.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this blog we talk to TPC Leadership Associate Partners Catherine Bardwell and Valeria Cardillo Piccolino\u00a0about how to manage virtual teams and in particular cross-cultural teams. How to manage virtual …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_title":"Manage Virtual Teams | Diversity & Inclusion | TPC Leadership","rank_math_description":"In this blog we talk to TPC Leadership Associate Partners Catherine Bardwell and Valeria Cardillo Piccolino\u00a0about how to manage virtual teams.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"diversity & inclusion, virtual teams","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[47,57],"featured-blog-post":[],"page-type":[],"class_list":["post-5005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fuhrungsentwicklung","tag-diversity-inclusion","tag-virtual-teams"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8856,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5005\/revisions\/8856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5005"},{"taxonomy":"featured-blog-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-blog-post?post=5005"},{"taxonomy":"page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/de-de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page-type?post=5005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}