This Week's CultureQuiz: "ME" or "WE"?
All cultures work in teams. But in some cultures "me' rules the team, and in others, the team rules "me". In this week's CultureQuiz, can you match the culture with the team?
I remember working with a team in Stockholm, Sweden several years ago: the Swedish team and I were casually chatting around the meeting table when the manager of the team walked through the door. I expected the casual chatting to quickly turn to the business at hand, but instead, when the manager took his seat, he greeted the group, they acknowledged, and then continued their casual conversation. After a few minutes, the talk gradually moved toward some of the business at hand, while, at the same time, bringing the manager into the discussion. Within about five minutes, everyone was engaged in the business details set out in the meeting agenda, but at no point did the manager call the group together to do so, and it seemed to me, that at every turn, his role was to participate as a co-equal to everyone else. When decision-making time came, he asked the group what they thought they could do, and the best way to do it. Having come to Sweden just a week or so before from some work I was doing in Bogota, Colombia, I could not have imagined a meeting being run this way in Latin America.
What I was experiencing, of course, was a classic difference between how different cultures expect individuals to behave in a team. While there can be several cultural issues that affect team behavior, in this case I was experiencing the culture difference of “we” vs “me”: that is, some cultures, like Sweden (and many others) value building consensus (100% agreement) among team members, while other cultures, like Colombia (and many others) value the ability of individuals to advance their own agendas, often in spite of others on the team. Does the culture expect team members to subordinate their own agendas to the will of the team, or does the culture allow individuals full expression to advance their own ideas, even in competition with others? Is this expectation strong for every issue, or just certain ones? Does it apply to everyone, including the manager of the team, or just to certain people on the team? Every culture is different, more or less, around this issue, but managing this issue is certainly an extremely important skill when working around the world. It affects everything from how roles and responsibilities are defined to how much time you should anticipate having to dedicate to building consensus, or promoting your own individual agenda.
In this week’s CultureQuiz, we’ve got five scenarios below, each illustrating how this “me/we” difference can play itself out in meetings and with teams. Can you guess the culture listed after scenario in which the scene is most likely to be occurring? You’ve got four multiple choice answers to choose from for each scenario. Good luck, and let me know which answers you choose! If you are a subscriber, all the correct answers, and their explanations, follow the questions, so if you haven’t yet subscribed, now’s your chance…and you can do so RIGHT HERE!
When the manager stepped into the room, everyone at the table immediately became silent and, standing up at their seat, greeted the manager formally, one by one. Once everyone did so, the manager began to review the agenda for the meeting, and presented his thoughts. When he finished, the discussion that followed was focused on finding ways the team could accomplish the challenge that the manager presented. You are likely at a meeting in…
a. Lebanon
b. Korea
c. Belgium
d. South Africa
Once the presentation began, you were surprised at the number of interruptions and questions you were getting from the meeting attendees. No matter how many times you tried to explain that you would be addressing the points they were raising, or asking them to hold their questions until the end of your presentation, the interruptions and questions continued throughout your presentation. You are most likely making a presentation in…
a. Mexico
b. Thailand
c. New Zealand
d. France
The meeting you were attending had a boisterous feeling about it, sometimes even contentious, as participants were eagerly presenting their best ideas to the problems being discussed, sometimes in direct competition with each other. There was a great deal of debate, with lots of (sometimes simultaneous) conversations going on. You are most likely at a meeting in…
a. Indonesia
b. Egypt
c. Israel
d. Canada
After the manager outlined his thoughts, the meeting attendees asked questions of the manager that appeared designed to confirm the attendee’s understanding of the manager’s wishes, but not much more than that. However, once the meeting was over, you learned that there was a great deal of informal networking going on between team members around how best to achieve the manager’s goals, and were surprised that none of this was brought up at the meeting. You are most likely working in…
a. Russia
b. Japan
c. Nigeria
d. Scotland
Once the meeting got going, it seemed as if every participant at the table had something to say, sometimes adding to the value of the discussions, but sometimes simply to not appear as if they were un-engaged with the issues. It appeared as if a lot of time and energy were being spent on competing with colleagues, at the expense of substantive solution-finding. You might likely be at a meeting in…
a. United States
b. Ethiopia
c. United Kingdom
d. United Arab Emirates
So, how did you do? Hard? Easy? A little of both? Did you recognize the culture being described quickly, or did you need to ponder the answer? Most importantly, did you recognize these scenarios as something you’d experienced, in your home country or abroad?
Here are the correct answers below, with the explanation for why they are right (and the others, not so much!). Here you go…
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