In July, 2012, my family left rural Minnesota to move to Berlin, Germany. There were a lot of things I expected to learn and process, but I did not expect that I would discover a connection between language learning and leadership.
Language Learning and Leadership?
There is plenty of evidence that talks about the benefit of learning a second language. You score better on standardized tests, you can multitask better due to learning how to focus on necessary and ignore unnecessary details. Adjusting to new cultures also makes you a better observer of your surroundings.
But some of the changes I noticed that have helped me in the leadership roles the most are:
Awareness of nuances in conversation.
The first year of language learning I was happy if I just managed to understand the general direction of a conversation. If I could walk away figuring I had not nodded at a bad time, or laughed when I should have been sympathetic, I was happy. But as I progressed, I began to notice that there are many conversational nuances that impact what a person is REALLY saying. Becoming aware of those in a second language has also helped me see them more in my first language.
In leading people there is much more to focus on than just the exchange of verbal information. There are layers to conversation that need to be picked up on, which is why wires often get crossed in communication that only takes place in written form. These nuances vary from personality to personality, and also from culture to culture. Having to learn them to adjust to a new culture helps you realize how much they exist in your own. If you are not aware of the conversation taking place without words as you talk with your team, you are missing the majority of what they are really saying. (You can read more about nonverbal communication here)
Open to alternative ways of doing things.
I never really realized how many ways there are to say the same thing, or how confusing that can be. For example, in English you can say that a person is “100% correct”, “They hit the nail on the head”, or that the are “dead accurate.” They all mean the same thing – but to someone learning the language, striking nails and something being dead have completely different meanings that should not have anything to do with accuracy. These phrases with different meanings can take some time to learn. This is because there is more to learning language than just learning the words. You have to also learn the culture and history to discover why certain phrases have certain meanings. That means you have to be open to alternative word definitions.
The same is true in leadership. An organization has a culture, and a history. These have influenced decision making and approaches. Just because something does not make sense to me, does not mean that it does not make sense. And as I learn and observe the culture of the work place, I can also discover alternative, but successful ways of accomplishing a task.
Recognition of Cultural Hindrances.
Learning the language begins to open up cultural doors, which means there are times you really put your foot in your mouth! I am American by birth, an Air Force brat by upbringing, and I studied to be a Pastor (and my faith continues to be very important to me.)
Now I lead a meeting place/art gallery, and there are dozens of opportunities for me to be unaware because of my own cultural shaping. Today I had an art student in the gallery, and I wanted to know what he studied. He told me he had no required classes, his professor told him to get out to travel to learn, and basically eventually he has to do a project and exhibit his work to graduate. I was like, “What?? No art history? No basic finance classes? No learning how to work with a gallery?” I am sure he walked away thinking I was some kind of capitalistic jerk.
And I get it! My culture makes me sometimes blind to other ways of seeing things. It’s true of everyone. But once you know that potential is there, you can work at peeling back the hindrance caused by the culture to actually explore the potential benefits of doing things in a new way.
Not all easy!
When I go to another country in Europe now, even though I speak the International Language for most businesses (English), my first attempt to talk to someone in a store is in my second language (German). Why? Because in my brain foreign is now German. Crazy.
But I have noticed that in other situations as well. If it is not the way it was in my first job, it must be the way it was in my second. If it does not follow culture a’s rules, it must follow culture b’s rules. Beware of the risk of assuming that once you have learned one different way of doing something, you have it mastered.
Not everyone has the opportunity to learn a new language and discover for themselves the connection between language learning and leadership. I am convinced that if you view the subtleties of language at a new work site and approach each new team as having it’s own culture, you can apply some of these tips.
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