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Is your multicultural team ready to… …understand the ways cultural differences impact team interactions, both positively and negatively? …explore methods for identifying, validating, and leveraging difference as a creative resource? …build a strong team culture by using narrative and organizational storytelling as a team development tool? …gain processes and tools to use in both building and sustaining an inclusive, cohesive, and productive work environment? Then engage the teambuilding process with purpose and intention!
Barbara's work with multicultural teams take two main forms:
Multicultural and multinational teams, as research documents and experience demonstrates, are at one and the same time the most challenging teams to bring to high function and the highest functioning teams when properly developed. Indeed, multicultural teams can be considerably more creative and effective than same-culture teams, but only when they are built and managed knowledgably. And for complex tasks such as designing and implementing transition programs, a team approach is invariably more effective than actions undertaken by a single individual! When appropriate, teambuilding clients are invited to participate in the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to identify and target developmental priorities for individual team members and for the team as a whole. Please Contact Me for a fee schedule and for more information, without obligation, on how the teambuilding process can enhance the function and performance of your multicultural team.
Multicultural team development is a highly purposeful, personally empowering, and communally engaging process. It is directed by and grounded in both the specifics of the team’s daily function and its overarching purpose—and is necessarily influenced by whether it is a new or existing team and whether it is already functioning well or functioning at-risk. In all cases, our work together begins with a detailed needs assessment which includes telephone-based interviews with all team members. Assessment results, which are typically presented in general overview to team members as well as to team leaders, then determine the design of the teambuilding session(s). On-site team building session(s) include a structured process of follow-up. Session designs, while directly customized to the particular team, are inspired by and build upon the foundational framework of Personal Leadership, a framework my colleagues and I have developed through our many years of teaching and consulting in the intercultural field. It offers specific practices for those who want to deepen their own effectiveness leading and serving on multicultural, multinational teams. “Barriers diminished or disappeared; the cohesion and caring was apparent. We accomplished more than I thought possible, and it’s good to know you’ll be checking in again along the way!” —Member of an existing, at-risk multicultural team Geographic and cultural transitions are defining characteristics of most international school and expatriate communities. While many recognize such transitions as a significant issue, dedicated individuals still often work in relative isolation. A Transitions Program Team, a representative group of 12-15 members, integrates disparate efforts into a systemic whole, fills the gaps that are left outstanding, and ensures that year-round, proactive attention is offered to students, parents, and staff in transition.Team consultations take place in three phases: foundational, developmental, and long-term implementation. While these necessarily exist in dynamic inter-relationship and therefore overlap, the form of the consultation varies according to the needs and focus at each stage. On-site team building and strategy sessions are typically both preceded by and interspersed with virtual consultation through telephone and email. For more information on transition program teams, read Transition Programming in International Schools and Transition Resource Teams. “We're all feeling energized, organized, and up to our eyes with all there is to do–and much better equipped to take it on. Thanks so much for your help.” —Team leader of a new transitions team, The Netherlands “The consultation spurred a lot of creative thought; it filled a number of gaps in our transitions program and as usual you ignited a lot of new ideas and paths to go on.” —Team member of an existing transitions team, England
Please note that requests for research guidance and professional development information may be invoiced at Transition Dynamics' standard consultation rates.
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What is the Power of Multicultural Teams?
