The Personal ProfileErin Meyer
Even cosmopolitan managers often have oversimplified ideas about how people from other cultures operate. That’s because they tend to zero in on just one or two elements, communication, for example, or decision making. But culture is more complex than that.
Erin Meyer, author of The Culture Map and “Navigating the Cultural Minefield” (HBR May 2014), has identified eight dimensions that together capture most of the differences within and among cultures — a much more nuanced approach than focusing on just one or two elements, as people usually do.
So how does it work? You simply answer 24 questions about your personal approach to communicating, leading teams and building relationships. The results reveal your own positioning on the eight Culture Map behavioral scales. See how you compare to others of your own culture and then map your results to that of various countries, all on one graph.
Example:
The Team Mapping Tool
Much like the Personal Profile tool, the Team Mapping tool allows you to gauge cognitive, relational and behavioral differences within a team, along the previously mentioned eight dimensions.
The Corporate Culture Mapping Tool
We use this tool to map out the culture of your organization on the eight Culture Map scales through small group discussion. Groups are divided into small teams to debate where the organizational culture falls on the Culture Map scales. Each group uses this tool to plot the positions of the organizational culture, as they see it. The tool then allows you to view the maps developed by each team on one chart and create a final corporate culture map. Once the corporate culture map is complete, you can compare it to the maps of the various countries you are working with.
Results are immediate and can be saved and printed if you wish to do so.
I was glad to have had this cultural training before starting my work with the Spanish team.
I was able to understand certain behaviour and habits that are diametrically opposed to the German way of work.
