Last week, I had the pleasure of joining Sarah Black on the Athrú Communications Podcast to discuss credible leadership, organisational culture, and cultural communication.
The hidden cultural tensions within organisations
When most leaders think about “culture,” they immediately consider national or regional differences. But as I discussed with Sarah, some of the most impactful cultural tensions exist within organisations themselves.
In my work helping organisations move from chaos to calm, I frequently encounter situations where different subcultures are clashing:
Mergers and acquisitions bring together organisations with different norms, practices, and communication styles. In the conversation, I shared an example where six different organisational cultures had to find common ground—an enormous challenge regardless of company size.
Deskless vs. office workers represent distinct cultural groups within the same organisation. Workers in hospitality, healthcare, or manufacturing think, speak, and operate differently than office staff. These differences create friction and make it harder to accomplish shared goals.
At the root of these challenges are communication and relationships and improving these elements creates workplaces that function better for everyone.
Moving from Chaos to Calm
How do we begin transforming chaotic situations into calm, productive environments?
The process always starts with listening.
We typically begin with leadership teams to understand their perspectives and goals. Often, leaders have one view of the problems while the reality might be something else entirely.
The next step involves observing people in their environments. This makes everyone uncomfortable (nobody likes being watched!), but it’s essential for understanding the context:
– Observing meetings to identify communication patterns
– Examining physical workspaces and how they affect interaction
– Creating space for people to speak openly
In our fast-paced, “busy culture,” organisations rarely pause to evaluate what they’re doing and why. We challenge that pace, providing a fresh outside perspective to identify what’s really happening beneath the surface.
Building culture in hybrid workplaces
Sarah asked about the challenges of building culture when people aren’t physically together—a question many organisations are still wrestling with post-pandemic.
Hybrid work emerged and three to four years later, organisations need to make firm decisions about their cultural identity. We can’t simply continue “lifting and shifting”, and we have to remember that what works during a crisis doesn’t necessarily work for the everyday.
Leaders and organisations need to determine what kind of culture they want to foster:
– What does an “innovative culture” look like in a hybrid environment?
– How does this manifest in day-to-day communication?
– What new norms need to be established?
This requires intentionality about communication. As I mentioned to Sarah, even small details matter—signing an email with just your initial might signal to someone that you don’t have time for them, especially if you’re in a position of power.
And when you add global, cross-cultural dimensions to hybrid work, these communication nuances become even more complex.
Credibility: Being believed and followed
My latest research and book focus on credibility – what it means to be believed and followed as a leader.
While people often reduce credibility to simple phrases like “doing what you say you’ll do,” the reality is far more nuanced. Credibility varies across cultures and depends on what people value, which is why I identified eight distinct practices that contribute to leadership credibility.
To be believed and followed, leaders must consider elements including empathy, capability, and likeability in equal measure (though the balance may shift depending on context).
Leading across cultures
The eight practices of credibility can help leaders become more effective across different cultural contexts, whether organisational, functional, or national.
The key is understanding which practices are more valued in different cultures. For example, vulnerability is widely promoted as a leadership quality in some contexts, but in certain cultures, admitting “I don’t know” could destroy a leader’s credibility.
Leaders must recognise what’s appropriate in each environment and emphasise the practices that will help them be perceived as credible in that specific context.
As Sarah noted, many aspects of the credibility model align with cultural intelligence: self-reflection, strategic planning, knowledge-building, and perspective-taking. These skills allow leaders to recognise and respect differences without judging them as better or worse.
The importance of empathy
One of the eight credibility practices is empathy – believing in someone else’s experience regardless of your own.
I shared a story about a leader who was angry when I presented feedback that didn’t match his experience. The challenge was helping him understand that just because he hadn’t experienced something didn’t mean others hadn’t.
This type of empathy is crucial in today’s diverse workplaces, where people’s experiences inevitably differ due to countless factors.
And for those in leadership positions, credibility must take precedence over authenticity because of the power dynamics involved. Leaders have a duty to invest in understanding, empathy, and listening.
Thanks to Sarah and the Athrú Communications Podcast for having me on to discuss these important topics. For those interested in learning more about cultural intelligence, I highly recommend David Livermore’s “Leading with Cultural Intelligence”—a book that has greatly influenced my thinking about leadership across different cultures.
If you’d like to hear our full conversation, you can find the podcast wherever you listen, and it’s also available here.
