I’ll be out of town next week, working with a team of eight others, presenting leadership lessons to a group of Spanish-speaking pastors and missionaries. This will be my seventh trip of this kind over the past six years. Here are some takeaways I’ve received from the opportunity to lead in a different culture.
First, relationship is always the key to genuine leadership. Because I’ve been to the same place over the past several years, some of those attending the conferences from year-to-year remember me. Because I’ve taken the time to get to know their names, and to learn a bit about them, they know I care and I’m there for them. That opens their receptivity to hearing what I have to say wide. As the old cliche puts it, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
The next takeaway for me has been learning to communicate at least nominally in their language goes a long way to gaining credibility to lead. Americans are known for expecting everyone to speak English. Because I’ve invested the time to communicate possibly in Spanish, people take note. I haven’t done it so I’ll be credible, I’ve done it because I genuinely want to communicate with them in their own language, but an added benefit is they know I care enough about them to work at listening to them and speaking with them in Spanish.
Learning the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle cultural differences between us, has been another benefit when it comes to being received as a leader. We all find it easy to assume that our way is the “right” way, but as I’ve discovered in all my relationships over time, while sometimes a “right” way exists to say or do something, often my way is simply one way to say or do it. In learning the nuances of the culture and particular being able to joke with the folks in an appropriate way has opened the doors much wider for my leadership. When I make a mistake in this area, and cause offense, I’m often forgiven easily, because I have made is so clear that I’m doing my best to understand their language and culture. Instead of seeing my faux pas as insensitivity, they give me the benefit of the doubt and gently correct me.
While you may not be engaged in a cross-cultural leadership opportunity in the near future, the truth is the generational differences in America are virtually a cultural gap. The principles of getting to know one another as people and friends, learning to communicate in the others’ “language,” and attempting to learn and understand the other’s cultural differences goes a long way to being welcomed and heard as a leader.
When do you have opportunities for cross-cultural or cross-generational experiences as a leader? How have you demonstrated your leadership by going the second mile in preparing for them and in using them to learn and grow as a leader? My hope is this post will motivate you to consider how you can invest yourself in being a bridge-builder as a leader and become a more effective leader int he process.
Here’s to leading better by engaging across cultural or generational boundaries in relational ways–today (or the next time you have the opportunity)!