Schindler Group

Fernando Herranz

Latin American cultures are growing closer than ever before. Unfortunately, these evolving relationships are occurring through rapidly increasing immigration levels rather than a properly paced integration. Today, if you are working in a mid-sized company in Latin America, it is likely you will have people of at least three to five different nationalities within your organization, within your own team. Ten to fifteen years ago, this reality would have been rare. It is more than likely some of them have relocated recently, looking for new opportunities, professional and personal development, or a life change. The region’s ever-evolving socio-political and economic scenario does not seem to be slowing, nor does the accompanying immigration. This scenario is exacerbated even more by “work from anywhere” policies and “Nomads”.

Understanding the impact in our organizations

With explosive immigration comes natural segregation. Yes, we (almost) all speak the same language, and yes, we share many similarities, but our cultural background, customs, and many other fundamental behaviours can differ vastly. In this rapidly changing environment, we cannot adapt quickly enough to integrate into a potentially harmonious, colourful, and diverse community of people. Instead, we are defaulting in many cases to a strong drive to protect our original habits and traditions so they will remain unchanged, or more accurately, uninvolved; segregating ourselves from the society we have become. This sense of cultural self-preservation exists not only with those experiencing the immigration of others into their country, but with the immigrants themselves, who appreciated the country enough to choose it for their new home, and yet, want to bring their sense of self with them.

Given this larger context, what is this migration and enmeshment of cultures doing to our organizations?

Migration, no matter the reason, changes culture. Without judging if these changes are good or bad, as leaders of an organization we need to work towards creating an environment that provides a sense of belonging and psychological safety for our employees. As our cultural base expands, we need to be prepared to adapt and even shift our organization’s culture to better reflect the society to which we now belong. This is not to say that we compromise our company’s identity, values, or purpose. However, if we remain culturally static in a changing society, we will soon find we are not a representation of the reality surrounding us, which will ultimately lead to attrition of talent, difficulties attracting new high potential candidates, and the alienation of entire new generations that either were born into or chose to evolve to participate in a culturally diverse, more cosmopolitan society.

Key roles and skills for the challenge

Leadership then, takes a key role in the success of this integration. After all, with their behaviours, leaders create the work environment for most of the organization. So, what are we doing to prepare them for these new challenges? Are our leaders ready to manage a transforming organization?

“Yes, we (almost) all speak the same language, and yes, we share many similarities, but our cultural background, customs, and many other fundamental behaviours can differ vastly.”

Leaders who can take, and are prepared, for this challenging (but beautiful) task are not necessarily those with all the tools and credentials, but those with a growth mindset and genuine curiosity and respect for others. In this sense, our investment needs to be directed to identify, develop, and reward flexible leaders who can adapt and whom provided with the right learning environment and understanding of the importance of the company’s values, can create and model these behaviours for their teams, living and leading by them. It is not only about multicultural leadership skills, it also about developing the necessary cultural intelligence and sensitivity to understand (empathetically) the migrating situation of others and how it affects our immediate environment.

Our challenge and responsibilities

Our organizations face the challenge to evolve into a melting pot that celebrates our individual identities by sharing and integrating them with one another, fearlessly and respectfully. Similarly to when we all as teenagers try to balance our need to stand out as unique individuals but just enough so that we were still accepted as part of a group of friends, it is our responsibility as leaders and organizations to allow and encourage self-expression and kindness while striking a balance between acceptance, belonging, and also maintain a recognizable corporate identity, all while our companies continue to embrace a continually shifting culture.

Our responsibility is not grounded in political correctness; it is in fact the key to a sustainable business.

And what’s best, beyond productivity and results, we might not only become better professionals and leaders in the process, but also become better people on the journey.