Leadership and Uncertainty Avoidance
Different cultures embrace uncertainty differently—are you adjusting your leadership style accordingly?
For all the unique differences among cultures throughout the history of civilization, a common truth unites us all: the future is unknown to us.
We’re all aboard this train called life.
Where it leads — and when we disembark — is a mystery.
Different cultures handle this transcendental mystery — uncertainty — in different ways. Geert Hofstede (the Dutch social psychologist and founding father of cultural intelligence) notes that for some cultures, uncertainty is a threat and is viewed with hostility. For other cultures, uncertainty is more of an exploration and is viewed with curiosity.
In short, some cultures are more comfortable with uncertainty while others work hard to avoid it. Uncertainty Avoidance is defined as the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations.
Uncertainty Avoidance (noun)
the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations.
Understanding how different cultural groups grapple with uncertainty is important because uncertainty so often leads to anxiety, which can limit the effectiveness of people on the job.
If people are anxious, they are likely to be distracted from the task at hand — precisely the conditions good leaders try to minimize. When workers are distracted and less focused on their objective, productivity decreases, and the potential for injury increases.
Optimizing for uncertainty, then, has a direct impact on the bottom line.
But this is hardly an easy task.
The challenge for any organization is to assemble a team and allow it to perform at its best, while still acknowledging that every person is unique and that individual behavior changes when working in groups.
Furthermore, for many Anglo leaders learning about the cultural differences between themselves and their Hispanic workers, the research from Hofstede and others is counterintuitive. The reality is Hispanic cultures wish to avoid uncertainty and unstructured situations far more than those from the United States do.
The reality is Hispanic cultures wish to avoid uncertainty and unstructured situations far more than those from the United States do.
The culture in the United States is far more comfortable with ambiguity than our neighbor to the south.
Two questions emerge here:
1. Is there ambiguity in your business operations?
2. If so, how can you reduce it to improve performance?
One surefire way to reduce ambiguity is to ask questions.
However, different cultures view authority differently, so asking questions is often ineffective.
While citizens of the United States are—as a culture—more comfortable questioning authority, people of Hispanic cultures are typically much less likely to do so, not wishing to be perceived as disrespectful.
Are you beginning to sense the challenge here?
Members of Hispanic cultures typically want to eliminate as much uncertainty as possible. But they are also not generally inclined to engage in the kind of direct dialogue (asking probing questions, for example) that would eliminate the very uncertainty they are trying to avoid.
How to reduce uncertainty
Albert Einstein is often quoted as having defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
This happens frequently on the job. Even after a problem has been identified, managers will repeatedly round up their crews and say, “OK, we’re gonna go over this … one … more … time.”
Try some different tactics.
Choose sanity.
Reducing uncertainty, at its core, is about teaching and learning. Sometimes we need to adjust our teaching method depending on the student and how s/he learns best.
So, how do people learn? And how can we use that knowledge to reduce uncertainty in learning situations on the job?
Human beings learn in different ways.
Four, to be exact — visual, auditory, read-write, and kinesthetic.
The first three in this list are self-explanatory. Some people learn better with visuals, others learn better by listening, and some learn better by reading and writing.
The last one might not be familiar to you.
Kinesthetic comes from the word kinesiology, which is the study of how the body moves. When you see the word kinesthetic, think of doing.
Kinesthetic learners prefer hands-on activities, situations where they are physically engaged in the process of learning.
I recommend the acronym V.A.R.K. to remember the various learning modalities to help reduce uncertainty.
Visual
Audio
Read-write
Kinesthetic
To help your message reach the largest number of people, consider V.A.R.K. a simple checklist. In addition to your verbal instructions (which would be A in the V.A.R.K. acronym — A for Audio), try factoring in the following ideas to deliver your message more effectively.
1. Make a video
The smartphone in your pocket right now has incredible screen resolution. Use it to create brief videos on repetitive tasks or processes that have been problematic in the past. This is especially effective if you record a voiceover in Spanish.
2. Record audio en Español
Using the voice recorder app on your smartphone, ask a trusted bilingual colleague to translate your message ahead of time.
3. Show a picture
An iPad or any tablet computer is large enough to show several people at once what you’re talking about. Use it to show a photo or draw a picture on a whiteboard app. If you don’t have a tablet, use an actual whiteboard.
4. Make a checklist
So simple, yet so effective. Add pictograms to support the text and increase the memorability of the behavioral changes.
5. Work together
Sometimes the most effective way to eliminate any confusion or uncertainty when teaching someone something is to have the person physically perform the activity with someone who already knows how to do it.
Certainty drives consistency and confidence. Instead of assuming how people feel, tap into multiple ways of communicating your message.
Assume less, observe more.
Think of a recent example of rework on your job or some frustration you’ve had with some of your Hispanic workers.
Did you immediately assume the challenge they were having was the result of a lack of cognitive ability or language comprehension?
The challenge could very well be a cultural barrier.
Or potentially all three.
We’re all aboard this train called life. Where it leads — and when we disembark — is a mystery.
While there’s little you can do to eliminate uncertainty around the existential nature of life and death, you can intentionally reduce confusion and uncertainty on the job today. To do so requires thinking differently about the behaviors you observe and understand the cultural forces that drive them.
