Does understanding Culture Matter?

Yes!

• It increases the openness and respect for group diversity

• It benefits the outcome when team diversity is valued

• It creates high-performing teams through improved understanding and clarity between diverse members. 

What is Culture?

Culture encompasses the social behavior and norms, knowledge, beliefs, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in a group. Culture is the way that our values impact how we interact with others.

What is Project Culture?  

Understanding a team members' geographic origins that may shape how they communicate, collaborate, and create.  

But note beyond this, Project Culture may also be influenced by:

• Corporate organization's norms learned by members that become the shared way of working within the organization.

• How long a team has worked together, allowing them to form their own way of working.

• The nature of the project which may require skill sets that come with their 'own' subgroup culture (experienced in scientific or highly technical)

These factors may change the team culture, but we all start with some cultural reference points, defined mainly by where we started out in life. 

Since individuals are unique and have many personality preferences, take this information as helpful insights, not as facts about individuals. For more insights into how people work within teams, see the Belbin Roles and Team Roles articles.

Why Culture Important to Project Teams?

Today teams are more global than ever. They are working together in virtual and face-to-face situations. Organizations often expect teams to form with little discussion, direction, or "norming focus." Lacking time to create a cohesive group means that the individuals and subgroups don't learn to work together effectively.

Projects can be high-pressure and fast-paced. So Projects don't have time for cultural sensitivity, right? Wrong, the best projects do make time to build the team before starting the work. Good Project Managers understand that every voice matters in their Projects. They find ways to build cultural awareness and inclusion into the team's way of working to harness the power of diversity.

Taking time to build a Project Culture can help your team:

• move faster 

• be more flexible

• leverage the talents of all the team members

• the best results for the project and end product

This results in working in the flow - an experience that enables high-performing teams. 

Compare that with the project teams that are rushed into action without creating a shared Project Culture.

• Assumptions going into discussions cause misunderstanding

• Misunderstanding make members more rigid and make listening harder

• When communications break down, mistakes increase, causing errors and missed deadlines

This results in lower team satisfaction. Opportunities to improve the project and product are missed. If not corrected, this can lead to Project failure.

Project Managers need to understand the Culture pitfalls and turn what might look like a handicap to the benefit that it actually is. But we cannot improve what we don't understand. So let's discuss the attributes of Culture.

A large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but that a positive environment will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.

- HBR, Proof that Positive Work Cultures are more Productive

What makes up Culture?

Culture is complex. Let's use one of the largest and long-term studies ever done on the topic to understand it better. Hofstede Intercultural Management and the 6D National Model.

The Dimensions of Culture

This model compares to opposed cultural attributes as either high or low. The focus of this model is on national cultural norms, but it also might include certain subcultures (such as types of job roles or functions).

Below I summarize this model.

For your Reference: this is what a some examples countries score on the above Model.  

A Case Study in Culture

Imagine you walk into a project launch with a group that may be unknown to you. You know their names and that they are the department heads of a Fortune 500 company. These Executives come from China, Germany, India and the United States.

The Sponsor starts with the call to action. Then hands are over to the you, the Facilitator. You open by sharing a vision of the new, bright future. This vivid story details improvements to the companies departments Including changes to their: processes, support, people, and organization.

Facing this group with an understand that the group has differing:

• size and complexity

• business targets and objects

• and very different cultural norms

  
  This ‘brave’ Facilitator opens with a picture of the head-office goals for these businesses:

  "This project will take just three months of your time. We plan to create a fast-paced team and follow the process developed with our European pilot project. We have a lock step process that will make it easy for your team. This should allow us to replace your existing systems with minimal disruption."

Nice introduction, right? Maybe, maybe not. What do you think the reaction of these different countries will be? Let's look at the scatter diagram of their Hofstede 6D Model.

Based on the data above, how do you think this meeting would go?

• Do the people in each of these cultures understand the messages and the ‘ask’ by the facilitator in the same way?

• Would they believe the statements from the Sponsor?

• Would this approach make them confident or careful about the project?

• Would they end such a meeting invested in the outcome, or carefully distancing themselves from the work ahead?

Consider these questions for your project and the team based on the cultures you are working in. Ask the team to talk about their cultural norms. Use the Hofstede Insights model and ask your team to discuss culture before getting into content.

Okay, full disclosure - this was not an example. This was the start of one of the larges programs I have ever run. And it was not just these four cultures, but dozens more. The challenge is real!

A major part of that presentation centered on the value proposition. And we included stakeholder assessments as part of the work. However, the real work began after that meeting adjusting our message, tone and plan to each countries needs and norms. Spending time in country and working to understand the local situation was important. Creating a culture for the project and the product was a part of the work being done. This allowed this diverse group of leaders to see the possibility to implement a single solution in so many countries. We had one solution (we referred to this as ‘vanilla’. as in the ice cream), but we customized the marketing, user experience, and services based on the country, size, and other variables (we referred to this as ‘French vanilla’ meaning an enriched version fit for local tastes).

How to create the Right Project Culture?

Now you know the importance and aspects of Culture. Let's focus on what you can do to make your Project Team Culture better:

1. Recognize differences, and see them as a positive.

2. Build a team that values member uniqueness.

3. If there seems to be a disagreement, check for understanding before continuing.

4. Create an open exchange of ideas and show consideration of other points of view.

5. Promote team members taking turns using their natural way of problem-solving to discuss and address solutions.

6. When brainstorming, use different approaches to engage team members (see more on Idea Techniques).

7. If your team calendar shows holidays, add all those related to the countries and team members involved.

8. If you have a team building or training day, create some fun by including details of each Culture with the rest of the team.

When Project Manager's increase their Team's Cultural awareness and create a unique Project Culture that fits the Organization, Project, and Team, they create the opportunity for everyone to expand their skills, knowledge, and empathy. When that happens everyone wins.

So what did you think? Is Project Culture a thing? Which impacts Project culture more? National Culture, Organization Culture, or something else? Please answer in the comments below.