I am responsible for a team of 16 people, but nine of the people have been hired recently, over the course of the last four months. Plus six of the nine are Asian Indian.
So I have the dynamic of new people being added to a team that has been together for two years, plus the dynamic of another culture/language.
I have not had problems, but do not see the new team in entirety meshing together as the original team did. Any input as to how I can get people more comfortable with each other and more together more efficiently?
The Team Doc Says…
Merging new team members into an existing team can be a real challenge. One key to remember. You don’t have an old team with new members, you have a completely new team with all the challenges of a start up team effort.
That means your team building tactics must follow the same path as if you had just brought the team together for the first time.
In case you are not familiar with that process, talk a look at Merging Two Teams With Different Cultures for tips on how to build your team into a high performance one.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m Indian – and have worked in global teams. The best managers I have worked under have striven to get the team together. As they say about the four stages of team formation – Form, Storm, Norm, Perform – it is easy for a team with differences amongst its members to fall apart after the initial high that comes from being part of a new team. Some things you could do to alleviate this:
1. Communicate and communicate proactively. Ask questions about them, their experience, how comfortable they are and if they wanted anything better
2. Set expectations. Helps to let them know that they can’t cross certain boundaries – whether this is about work, interacting with team members, or acceptable behaviours
3. Transcend from avoiding discussing someone’s background – to acknowledging it. This helps build trust and get a close knit team.
4. Become one of them. Try to make them feel like their ideas will be heard. You may not agree – and need not agree, but give their voices some ears.
5. Get them involved in team activities. (Indians from different parts of India have vast differences in culture, language and views) Exercises like this will help them (and you) come together on real projects/work.
Excellent suggestions. It’s is definitely important to consider cultural issues in today’s teams which are a melding of many cultures. Thanks for taking the time to comment.