Sociologist, Trainer, Speaker, Coach, Leader

Lead service and specialist teams for 7 years

Lead and managed teams with 17 different

nationalities virtual and local

Worked with professionals from all around the

globe

My Pole Star: Facilitate open, creative and

progressive self and team leadership that

results to high individual and team

performance across diversity.

Increase awareness of how multicultural

the Dutch market is

Understand the challenges in

multicultural teams

Learn how to overcome some

challenges in working in & managing

multicultural teams

Most highly skilled migrants come from India, US, UK, China and Turkey (Dutch Daily News, pbl.nl)

30% of HSM work for international companies and 70% in Dutch companies (pbl.nl)

Current shortage of candidates in ICT, sales, and technical positions (HR Trends 2015-2016, ADP)

Knowledge migrants also needed in trading, health and education sectors.

In 2014, 139 new international companies in Amsterdam = 1,308 jobs; predicted to 2,359 jobs within 3 years (Dutch Daily News)

September 2013, cbs.nl

August 2014, cbs.nl

1999: 417,000

2011: 683,500

After 2008:

660,000

2014: 76,000

immigrants (8,6k

more than in

2013)

- Polish

- Romanian

- Syrian asylum

seekers

Delta.tudelft.nl

450% growth in 10

years (NUFFIC)

- German, Chinese,

Belgian, Greek and

Bulgarian

What challenges are there in

multicultural teams? what do you

think is your role in it as HR

professional.? Give 1 or 2 topics.

10 minutes

Miscommunication

Productivity

De-motivation caused by bias

Lack of sense of “team”

Misjudgments

Personal Conflict

Giving Feedback

Building Relationship of Trust

Communicating Flexibly

Giving Negative Feedback

A: Give her negative feedback and

criticize her work openly

B: Set up an informal 1on1 meeting and

discuss points for improvement

“Face” or “Loss of Face”

If you openly criticize someone from China,

he/she will feel humiliated, will feel he

lost credibility or reputation. In high

context cultures such as China, Japan

and South East Asian countries, it’s best

to give praise in public and criticize in

private. But maintain balance.

Communicating Flexibly

A: He needs more time to analyze the

data. You asked for a tentative

completion date but you feel confident

it will go smoothly.

B: This is nowhere close to complete. You

openly discuss what help he needs.

Meyer, E. The Culture Map

Receiving Negative Feedback

A: Understood the frustration of the manager. You give him a recap of the situation and what you’ve done so far. You also openly ask for his opinion how to speed things up.

B: Feel hurt and angry. How dare this manager say “I’m slow!” You argue that you’re not slow but the circumstance is out of your control.

Meyer, E. The Culture Map

When Russian’s speak to their boss, they are more diplomatic with

criticism however if they are the boss or feel more superior, they tend

to be hierarchical and frank.

Low-context/explicit

Indirect

negative

feedback

Direct

negative

feedback

High context/implicit

US

Canada

UK

Brazil

Argentina

Mexico

India Saudi Arabia

Thailand

Japan

Australia

Netherlands

Germany

Denmark

Italy Israel

Russia

Spain

France

A C

B D

Geert-hofstede.com

Building Relationships of Trust

A: By formally booking a room, make sure to share your enthusiasm about the project and prepare an agenda that you will use to kick off the meeting.

B: By scheduling a coffee break/lunch together, ask how he likes his new home, let him share some personal information and when the timing is right, proceed to the agenda.

Meyer, E. The Culture Map

Giving Negative Feedback

A: “You’re a very competent analyst however I noticed that you have a tendency to miss deadlines. That’s slightly a concern. However, I trust that with your professional qualities, you can get up to speed with the whole team.”

B: “I want to address the fact that the past couple of weeks you’ve been missing deadlines. That’s completely unprofessional for this team and because of that, there are other delays caused. You need to start cooperating better.”

Indirect negative feedback: Feedback to colleague is provided

softly, subtly, diplomatically. Positive messages are used to wrap

negative ones. Qualifying descriptors are often used (sort of, slightly)

when criticizing. Criticism is only given in private.

Giving Positive Feedback

A: You’ve been doing a good job. Your

ideas are refreshing so far.

B: Excellent work so far! I really think your

ideas are great and some can be

implemented as soon as possible.

When giving positive feedback to

Americans, openly appreciate one

another. Also use adjectives in

superlative degree. Good – Excellent. Or

frame your feedback to your direct

report. E.g. When you say ‘okay’ you

should hear ‘very good’ and you when

you say ‘good’ you should hear

‘excellent’

Use a true-to-life scenario where you’ve

been challenged or are currently feeling

challenged in. The focus is on giving

feedback to a colleague/direct report

with a different communication pattern.

You’re working for a global team of HR advisors where you’ve been employed in for 6 months. For the last 6 months, your team in Amsterdam have been busy changing some HR processes and flows. Your Indonesian colleague based in the Singapore office has pioneered this project in the past and has also been with the company for more than 10 years. How will you give feedback to her that what she set up before will no longer be of use without hurting her feelings.

15 minutes

OPEN

EERLIJK

NIEUWSGIERIG

Record number of international

companies to Amsterdam in 2014

Buitenlandse werknemers vaker voor

korte tijd naar Nederland

Immigratie loopt op

Buitenlandse kenniswerkers in Nederland

Spectaculaire groei buitenlandse

studenten