Many organizations are staffed by a mix of people from individualist cultures (e.g. USA, Canada, Western European cultures) and collectivist cultures (e.g. Latino, Asian, African cultures).
Building trust and understanding between these diverse groups is not easy, either for the team members concerned, or for managers and learning specialists who facilitate the process.
Everyone has an “I” consciousness and a “we” consciousness. The “I” focuses on self achievement, self responsibility and autonomy. The “we” identity focuses on connection to our reference groups, and our relatedness. This emphasis varies from person to person, and from culture to culture.
I grew up in Africa, where many people have a mainly collectivist approach to life. In business, one usually asked African clients about their families, because it is impolite and cold to do otherwise, yet one discussed impersonal subjects like the weather and a little politics or economics with Caucasian clients. (In some cultures, like the UK, it is quite normal to discuss politics. Right after the weather, which always comes first!)
When working with learning groups from both Collectivist and Individualistic backgrounds (think of Puerto Rico and the US for example) it was often helpful to ask how some of these differences might affect group dynamics, for instance:
Innovative out-of-the-box thinking (I) vs. loyalty to group interests and approval (C)
Individual achievement (I) vs. group affiliation as a basis of group standing (C)
The right to have unpopular opinions (I) vs. the importance of group harmony (C)
Personal initiative (I) vs. consensus-based group action (C)
This concept can be used for team-building and inclusivity work, because people love to teach others about their worlds. People also love understanding what makes them tick - e.g. in Africa, Individualism is stronger in people who are more urbanized and whose tribal identity and affiliation are of lower importance. (This showed up as a factor in my first graduate degree thesis).
Create space for concrete and personal narratives, and jumpstart these by sharing a story of your own - e.g. I have an Anglo-Indian father, and Welsh, Irish, French, Dutch, African and Malay blood, and can trace threads of both traditions through my family and friends. It gets people thinking and talking.
A critically important issue when working with culture is to create a cheerful awareness that differences exist, that we’re learning to understand them, learning about each other, and that different is not wrong, it is merely different.
Heavy read: Try “The Geography of Thought : How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why” by Richard Nisbett. It explains how people from Eastern and Western cognitive traditions often process information differently. Nisbett gives details of how a mix of thought patterns may offer a competitive edge, and lead to innovative breakthroughs in many industries.
Hilarious read: Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Social Anthropologist Kate Fox. Not related to Individualism/Collectivism, but an essential for any bewildered American who has to deal with the British, and a great gift for anyone who grew up in English culture, so that we can laugh at ourselves.