One of the things I noticed most during my recent visit to Dublin, Ireland was how many new nationalities that could be seen on the streets. Since I’ve been to Ireland over the course of many years, it’s interesting to watch it change over time. There seem to be different groups each time I visit and it’s something to hear the multitude of languages.

In Boston, I experience this on a daily basis. It’s one of the things that makes me love living in such a cosmopolitan area! I get my suppositions and hypotheses about people challenged on a regular basis. But…what preferences or biases am I following without being aware?

Look like us = One of us?

Pankaj Ghemewat wrote an interesting post on the HBR Blog Network, “Stretching Your Global Mindset“. His previous post opened with an observation about how the Arab Spring and the tsunami in Japan made it very apparent how interconnected and even interdependent the world is. When supply chains are disrupted, there is a network of businesses that reaches beyond borders right into our own backyards. Maybe it’s your business and you had to figure out how to respond to a global event.

In Stretching Your Global Mindset, Ghemewat discusses a study that reveals that the further away people affected by a disaster live, the less sympathetic people feel. In a nutshell, if a disaster occurs on the other side of the world versus one in your own country, you will care a great deal more about the people in your country.

Curiously, travel seems to mitigate this.  Well, maybe it’s not so curious. When you meet people from somewhere else, that place becomes real and the people become less strange. They become “one of us”. And when you live there for a length of time, could you (or part of you) become one of  them?

A past client of mine who has a strong affinity for Japan presented an interesting request. She explained that she lived there so it feels like home to her. Speaking Japanese is effortless for her. Her request was to modify how we approached writing her business plan to include imagery rather than creating a linear document.  The result? Her business plan is formatted as a mindmap and is mostly in Japanese. (She provided a translation for me so we could measure her progress).

You’re not from around here, are you?

Maybe it is something wired into our primitive survival instincts. If you’re different, you’re a potential enemy. It underpins the argument for isolationism in political debates.  If you hear someone saying, “I’m not racist but…”, are they really expressing hatred or are they trying to understand how their neighborhood is changing? The thing is, the world has become so connected with social media, ease of travel and  immigration that we can meet someone different very easily. We don’t even have to physically leave our own country to do business with someone who speaks a different language and looks different.

It’s not always comfortable.

It’s easy to get out of your comfort zone while interacting with someone from another country. There can be language barriers. (Yes, even with other English speakers. I’ve managed to create a lot of confusion just telling bar staff that I didn’t want another drink.) There are phrases and slang that we use without thinking. In a business setting, this can create unnecessary tension. There are countries where “yes” isn’t actually yes. Speaking a foreign language is challenging if you’re building up your proficiency. In some places, you have to develop a relationship before you discuss business. These are some of the things that can highlight your preferences in a hurry.

What is going on in your head anyway?

• Do you want everyone to communicate in your language?
• Do you have certain beliefs that all (other nationality) are (generalization)?
• Does the business relationship have to follow a particular pattern?
• Are you willing to learn the language of your customer/business collaborator?
• How would adapting your behavior change your thinking?
• What else are you thinking or feeling?

Not every business is going to do business globally.

But if your business is one of them, becoming aware of your cultural filter is essential. We hear stories, we meet people and we have the choice to broaden or narrow our mindset. There are some days when landing on an alien planet will make more sense. The tension felt is an opportunity to see what biases or preferences you have. Your greater self-awareness may be the difference between going forward or staying home.

*Please join us on Friday, August 5th at 12pm ET/5pm BST/9am PT on the Twitter chat, #kaizenblog as we explore this topic in conversation.

What do you believe about leadership? Your answers makes a difference every day that you lead your organization. Bill Taylor asked an interesting question in Where Have All the Business Heroes Gone?  . He asked if we would know a corporate hero if we saw one. Small business owners certainly have a relationship with power. Without self-awareness, this relationship with power will kill your leadership.

Five negative beliefs of leaders:

• I’m successful so I don’t need to continue learning. It’s easy to believe that you know it all if you’ve been in business for awhile and have achieved success. After all, you are getting reinforced for your behavior by your customers and experience.

Deadliness factor: The stage is set of stagnation and complacency. When you become complacent with your performance, you don’t see how the business landscape changes and or hear feedback from your customers. Social media has increased opportunities for businesses to interact with customers. Organizations are being encouraged to be more innovative and mashup ideas from other industries or ways of thinking. Your competitors are seeking to increase their market share. When you stop learning, you reduce your company”s ability to adapt and thrive.

• You have a job, you should be happy. This belief probably worked rather well in the Industrial Age or even the Great Depression. Work was treated differently. Society had different norms. The message here is that the worker is simply part of the Machine. 

Deadliness factor: Your employees want work that has purpose and meaning. Small businesses are well-suited to share a value-based mission . My accountant’s mission is to ease the pain of math and money for small business owners.  If someone can’t buy into you organizational mission, they aren’t going to go along and help you weather storms your busines is likely to experience.

• Managers are the ONLY ones who should have information. Leaders who are the only ones with information risk isolation, inadequate data, and encouraging others to hoard information as well.

Deadliness factor: Doling out information in bits and pieces becomes political and petty. Do you want your  people clutching information to their chests as if it’s the Ring in Lord of the Rings? It does make sense to use your judgement when sharing information. However, if you’re not sure how to share important and/or very negative information, get advice from a trusted peer or mentor. If you are in the US, try SCORE. If you are outside the US, look up small business services in your country. (For example, in Ireland, you can find advice at the Dublin City Enterprise  Board)

• Systems are more important than people. Keeping things in order (paperwork, job responsibilities, and procedures) are very important for smooth operations. Policies are written out for all to know expectations and consequences for noncompliance.

Deadliness factor: Systems are designed to serve you and your people. Simply emphasizing compliance to the systems creates the impression that you are rigid and merciless. This adversely affects morale and productivity. I worked for a human service agency that had very strict policies about completing documentation and billing. If anything, no matter how minor, wasn’t filled out properly, it was returned to the clinician and he/she wouldn’t be paid for his/her work. This created feelings of resentment, hardship, helplessness and being ill-used. Keep track of when policies actually interfere and/or create a heartless, robotic environment.

• Tyrants are the best bosses. I have to admit this one gets me on my soapbox pretty quick. I worked for a tyrant early in my career and the organization was extremely dysfunctional. While I agree with some of George Cloutier’s points, there are ways to let people know that you’re in charge without being  so heavy-handed.

Deadliness factor: A tyrannical boss sets the stage for high levels of conflict and politics. Set expectations so accountability is like breathing. Make goals public with a whiteboard or an e-bulletin board. As one small business owner described to me, allow your staff to have leeway to make “below the water” decisions but leave “above the water” decisions for you. You can be decisive and still allow for recommendations and information to be shared with you. You don’t have to walk around like a general saying, “I’m in charge here.”

Your beliefs about leadership are reflected in the culture and efficacy of your business. Develop an awareness of how you view leadership to prevent negative consequences for your company. None of us start out with the intention of building a dysfunctional organization. It starts with you and it is certainly in your hands to make your business a place everyone wants to work.

What negative beliefs do you observe in leaders?

How do you catch yourself when you forget to treat your position of authority with respect?