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\n\t\tOpinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.\t<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like him. He\u2019s rude.\u201d That was the chatter I was hearing about our newest hire, an IT whiz from Ankara in my native Turkey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dismayed as I was to hear this assessment, I wasn\u2019t totally surprised. The person who made it was American; exactly the sort of eternally upbeat, outgoing person the country\u2019s reputation is built upon. Our new hire, on the other hand, was more introverted and subdued \u2014 he was polite, but not overly focused on pleasantries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What was happening here wasn\u2019t a difference in personality as much as culture. I experienced this myself when I first moved to the U.S. \u2014 people were so friendly, it was almost unnerving. It took me a while to realize the friendliness wasn\u2019t fake. Nor was it the same thing as closeness. Americans will ask how you\u2019re doing, mean it for the few seconds it takes to respond and move on. In Turkey, you don\u2019t ask unless you have the time to actually hear the answer. It took time for me to understand this and adapt to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jotform has offices across five countries; even within those offices, our teams are incredibly diverse. Our strength comes from our differing backgrounds and perspectives, but they can also lead to moments of friction, like the one with our new hire. As leaders, it\u2019s incumbent on us to build a culture that leverages these differences rather than suffers from them. Here\u2019s how.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hiring is one of the areas I refuse to delegate completely \u2014 it\u2019s just too important. By the time we\u2019ve narrowed the field to a handful of candidates for a position, it\u2019s clear that any one of them has the qualifications needed to do the job well. But when making a final hiring decision<\/a>, I want to learn more about how they think.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the key qualities<\/a> I always look for? Open-mindedness.\u00a0<\/p>\n Open-minded people don\u2019t assume their default way of thinking is automatically the right one. When something collides with their perspective, they don\u2019t dismiss it \u2014 they want to know more.\u00a0<\/p>\n To find this, I like to ask candidates to tell me about a time they were proven wrong. Do they get defensive and shift blame, or do they walk me through what changed their mind? The answer tells me whether they\u2019ll bring that same flexibility to a teammate who does things differently than they expect.<\/p>\n There are several reasons that I have my teams work in-office<\/a>, not the least of which is that remote workers tend to struggle<\/a> more with isolation and stress than onsite workers, and experience lower overall well-being.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s in part because so much is lost when we interact only through screens. Nonverbal communication, like body language and tone of voice, make up the bulk<\/a> of how we present ourselves to others, much of which get flattened out online. If you recall the feeling of emptiness and exhaustion that often accompanied a pandemic-era online happy hour or team-building exercise, you know what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0<\/p>\n At my company, we have what we call Jotformers Week, in which employees from nearly two dozen countries gather together for several days of camaraderie. And because no one likes forced fun, we ask what would make the experience meaningful for participants, ensuring everyone has a say in how the time is spent.\u00a0<\/p>\n These retreats build a sense of cohesion, filling in the gaps that time and distance tend to create. A tone that seemed cold over Slack gets clarified over dinner. A silence that may have seemed disagreement turns out to be the way someone gathers their thoughts. Our American team quickly found out that our new Turkish IT hire only seems stern; he actually has a quietly wicked sense of humor that regularly has the group in stitches.\u00a0<\/p>\n Making time for in-person team building<\/a> is an expense, to be sure. But having your employees feel genuinely connected, even across oceans? That\u2019s priceless.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the absence of information, people will make it up, the saying goes. Ambiguity<\/a> tends to breed misunderstandings, which can quickly erode the culture you\u2019ve worked so hard to create.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t leave room for misinterpretation. Write down what your company stands for, and make sure everyone sees it. Reinforce it regularly in visible forums like company-wide newsletters and all-hands calls.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also, be clear about expectations. At Jotform, I encourage employees to sign off on nights and weekends. When they take PTO, I tell them to delete Slack off their phones and truly take time to refresh and recharge. This way, no one has to spend their family vacation stressing about whether they\u2019re expected to check in \u2014 they already have the answer, no interpretation or guessing needed.\u00a0<\/p>\nGet your teams together\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Leave less room for interpretation<\/h2>\n