What You Can Expect When Using Freelancers
Singapore is a diverse little Red Dot, with cultures from all over not only SE Asia, but indeed the whole world coming here to live, play and work. Furthermore, given our size limitations, Singaporean business must be comfortable working outside our little borders, with neighbours in the region and beyond.
All of this means that cross-cultural fluencies and a focus on diversity aren’t just bonus “nice to have” skills anymore – they are essential to a successful business. Even local businesses need to know how to navigate working with myriad different cultures and backgrounds, or risk being left behind.
This is just as true when you work with freelancers as it is with your core staff. You may find that the freelancers who best meet your project needs are, in fact, outside the country. They may understand the culture you come from, and they may not. In order to procure their best work, you will have to approach them with sensitivity and care. The good news? Often these are the best relationships, producing the best results for both freelancer and employer.
In fact, there are real benefits to having a multicultural team, whether you include freelancers or not. Some of these are:
1. Diverse perspectives: having team members who think differently than you can inspire creativity and drive innovation
2. Better understanding of different markets: would you assume to know a country you are not from as well as a local? Then trust them and use their knowledge to your company’s benefit!
3. A greater talent pool: If you are cross-culturally comfortable, you exponentially multiply the talent field from which you can draw
4. Better performance: it’s been proven that more diverse teams – racially, ethnically, and regarding gender – perform better.
5. Greater opportunity for personal and professional growth: if for no other reason, work with a diverse team because it will make you a better thinker, worker and performer!
Of course, developing a truly diverse team comes with challenges as well, but fortunately, each challenge can be addressed as long as you have an open and cross-cultural mindset.
Some of the issues you might encounter, as well as a way to mitigate the difficulties they create, are as follows:
1. Team members from some cultures may find it more difficult to voice their opinions, or feel they are heard when they do. Remember that this is likely due to systemic prejudices that make it easier for some of us to hear privileged voices over marginalised ones – don’t blame it on them, and instead look for ways to make space for your team members to speak up.
2. Negative stereotypes do still exist, and sometimes they pop up in unexpected ways, even on teams that pride themselves on not being prejudiced. Keep an eye out, and believe team members who tell you they have experienced discrimination.
3. Even the most professional communications can be misinterpreted when styles of communication differ across cultures. Are you reading too much into an email? Or not seeing something a co-worker is trying to tell you? Take the extra moment to think about how various team members are trying to communicate. The more you get used to this, the more you start to pick up on subtle clues, and even begin to understand a different culture better.
4. Professional etiquette might seem like something universal, but in fact any etiquette – professional or otherwise – is intensely cultural, and therefore subject to wide change across different backgrounds. If you feel like someone is being rude, or not observing the rules of etiquette, take a mental step back and try to understand their perspective before gently helping them understand what you need them to do while representing your company.
In working with freelancers in particular, you might find that working styles differ quite a bit from your own. Remember that the freelancer is working in their own environment, where they are most likely operating completely normally. Set your expectations clearly, and try not to overreact if miscommunications happen (they, inevitably, will). As long as you both remain professional and respectful, there’s no reason you can’t work together and thrive!
Diversity is a much larger topic than one small article can truly tackle, which is why it’s important to constantly be learning, and stretching your empathy skills to work with team members from all sorts of backgrounds. Fortunately, we can help!
We are conducting our next CreativesAtWork's TAP series soon, with our partner at Jobbatical, in June 2018. Come on and join us on 28th June 2018 (Thursday) at PIXEL for an evening of drinks and good conversation while we speak about effective Cross-Cultural Strategy for Remote and Virtual Teams. To find out more, please see HERE!
See you there!
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