MODERN HR
Christmas, Diwali, Ramadan, the
Winter Solstice, White Sunday,
the Blossom Festival, the Lantern
Festival or Matariki to name a few.
There are other opportunities to do
this such as with acknowledging
National days, and the friendly
rivalry of world sporting events
such as the Olympics, the football
World Cup and other international
tournaments. The list is endless,
but it needs to be done well, with
goodwill and through-out the
organisation. A calendar of events
that are important to staff can be
developed with staff input and
scheduled in a business work
programme.
with a genuine desire to get to know
the other person better. It is an
engaging and curious conversation
and an exploration to find a point
where their interests meet, an area
of common ground where they
can enjoy each other’s company.
It is not a sparring for position or
advantage.
There could also be the recognition
and a gesture of allowing staff
members some limited time off
that coincides with the celebration
of different cultural festivals at
different times of the year. This
might include events such as:
The business simply has to provide
the opportunity for social conversation
and interaction to take place in a safe
and socially conducive environment
with management leading by example
- ‘Walking the talk.’ The benefit to the
organisation will be more engaged
staff, more cohesive teams, happier
customers and a positive impact on
the bottom line.
A genuine conversation can lead
to the start of building stronger
team relationships that deepen and
strengthen over time and contribute
to the company in the pursuit of
shared business goals.
An easy, non-threatening way to
do this can be through the age old
custom of the sharing of food.
This can be through organised
special diversity events such as
the multi-cultural lunch days where
staff members bring a typical dish
of food from their culture to share
with their colleagues.
Holona and Trish Lui specialise in building cross-cultural effectiveness
to support high performance in teams and organisations to achieve their
business goals. They design and deliver coaching and facilitation of
cross-cultural communications programmes for team development and
the workplace. Email: [email protected]
January 2016
ModernBusiness
21