Written by: Barbara van Heerden, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Philippe Rosinski writes, "For developing leaders… you will have to embark on your own journey. You need to find the courage and muster the will to achieve your own objectives, doing all you can to make your dreams come true. You will have to be true to yourself, unleash your potential, and bring your contribution to society. On this journey toward performance and fulfillment, the first dragons you will have to slay will be inside; you will need to confront the fears, beliefs, and weaknesses that are holding you back. But you will also meet your heroes within, the talents and strengths that will be your resources to win those battles. You will learn to cherish the journey itself and not just the destination.” – Coaching Across Cultures, Page 194- 195.
The leadership learning journey that Phillipe Rosinski describes includes all the key elements leaders need to acquire to lead effectively across cultures, however, their may be some stumbling blocks we need to better understand.
Most Western cultures are educated to use binary thinking to negotiate their realities. The elements of binary thinking are outlined below:
Aristotle and binary thinking
Choose either or options
Leads to choosing between “right and wrong”
“Good versus Bad”
The quest for the “one right answer”
Examples of when this kind of thinking is appropriate would include parliamentary debate, applying ethical standards and law enforcement to name a few
Binary thinking leads to a conversational style which is a debate
Debate is characterised by win/lose
The conundrum of binary thinking is as Kierkegaard said “Everything, fades, alternatives exclude”. In other words as soon as we choose the one right answer we exclude all other alternatives.
Rather than binary thinking leaders can consider dialectic thinking as summarised below:
Plato and dialectic thinking
Leads to and/ both thinking
Considers contrasts
Looks at paradox
Looks at the possibility of opposite viewpoints both having value
Considers compromise
Leads to a conversational style which is dialogue where everyone is heard
Dialectic thinking is used widely for solving complex global issues and was used in South Africa in the CODESA negotiations leading to the peaceful transformation to a constitutional democracy.
“It happens that all take part in contrary ideas and that through this double participation they are similar and dissimilar all at once” Plato
Leaders need to be willing to engage dialectic thinking in order to learn intercultural competence.
Without dialectic thinking leaders and teams are missing out on multiple perspectives which can impoverish thinking by limiting alternatives for problem-solving, exploring all opportunities, or creativity.
Surely the whole is more than the sum of its parts? Surely the opportunity is to facilitate accessing the collective wisdom in the room?
We have an obligation as leaders:
to seek out multiple perspectives,
to invite in the unheard voices
to invite in the minority voice
to co-create lasting solutions
Awareness of “difference including cultural difference” often leads to a sense of “dis-comfort” or “dis-ease”
We have two possible choices to make:
To move to our comfort zone to reduce the discomfort leading to
Reinforcing our beliefs, assumptions, and opinions
Limiting creativity, problem-solving and decision making
And sadly, leading to prejudice, stereotyping, racism and xenophobia when working across cultures, or;
To move towards curiosity
Leading to the possibility of new insights
Leading to the possibility of new experiences and new adventures
The first journey using binary thinking leads us to a place of conflict characterised by debate and negotiation to a win/ lose or lose/ lose outcome, or;
The second journey to a place of discovery characterized by dialogue and a shift to synergy where the whole is valued for being more than the sum of its parts.
Characterised by the awareness that:
whatever I bring to the dialogue.
added to whatever you bring to the dialogue;
together we create greater possibilities
than either of us could create if we choose to continue to walk alone
“We can talk of living between the opposites. Living in the opposites does not mean identifying with one side and then belittling the other. To live “between” means that we do not only recognise opposites, but rejoice in that they exist. To live between, we stretch out our arms and push the opposites as far apart as we can, and then live in the resonating space between them” - Robert Bly
As we move from:
Awareness of cultural differences
To appreciate of cultural difference
To valuing that we are culturally different
To honor our cultural difference
The possibilities of what we can achieve increase.
Always remember – leadership is a lifelong journey and not a destination.
“Perfection is elusive, let’s rather be remarkable”
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Barbara van Heerden, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
“Coaching is change management one person at a time”. Jenny Mc Nulty. Regarding coaching, she specialises in business leadership coaching but can work within any organisational context. Her personal passion is leadership coaching to equip leaders to effectively lead multi-cultural and cross-cultural teams. She follows a strengths-based leadership coaching model that enables leaders to harness their strengths in such a way that their weaknesses become insignificant. She successfully concluded of a PhD in Leadership Coaching Towards Intercultural Competence in 2016. Working across cultures is often seen as a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity to be explored. She is also an experienced programme and change manager. She has led large-scale programmes in corporate South Africa over the last 25 years and has worked in seven different African Countries.
