ILA-Europe Forum in Maastricht Well Received

What is the possibility of a leader developing successful multi-cultural teams in a multi-cultural environment? This was the overarching question of the Leadership Forum on February 18, 2005 in the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Netherlands where 20 participants from different companies and business fields gathered to enhance and share their knowledge in the field of leadership.

After a warm welcome by ILA Board member Ted Baartmans, the day started with an informal lecture by Geert Hofstede, Emeritus Professor of Organizational Anthropology and International Management. He spoke about preferred and perceived leadership styles and his five cultural dimensions (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity and long vs. short-term orientation).

He showed that leadership and culture cannot be separated: leadership styles reflect the dominant culture of the leader’s country of origin and asking people to describe the qualities of a good leader is a way of asking them to describe their culture. Hofstede enlivened the theory by relating it to current issues and giving examples from his broad experience, “Food for thought”, as one of the participants mentioned. The participants were then invited to ask questions and start discussions.

After lunch, there was a guided tour through the Bonnefanten Museum. The Bonnefanten Museum is the foremost museum for old masters and contemporary fine art in the province of Limburg. It is housed in a building designed by the Italian architect Aldo Rossi. The guide selected three artworks and talked enthusiastically about them.

The afternoon program dealt with leadership practice. Gert Jan Hofstede, associate professor of Social Science at the University of Wageningen, developed the exercise “In the trenches” in which culture and leadership are integrated. Groups of five people were formed and participants were asked to do a role-play. In the role-play a marketing team and a production team had a meeting with their new managing director. Each team picked one of the cultural dimensions and exaggerated this characteristic in their role. The exercise led to lively meetings with completely opposite viewpoints. Afterwards the groups discussed the pros and cons of the meeting.

The Maastricht Leadership Forum ended with a cocktail reception where the participants were able to share their experiences of the day over a glass of wine and a snack.

Participants had this to say about the event:

“It was very interesting to discuss the subject with other leaders.”

“I liked the participative setting and the possibility to link up with new people who are working from different perspectives.”

“The forum gave me new insights in theory and practice.”

“The atmosphere was relaxed, the presentation was good and I liked the ability to discuss the material in smaller groups.”

For more information about future leadership forums and other ILA-activities in Europe, please contact Eveline Selhorst:
selhorst@depresentatiegroep.nl.

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Communities: ILA-Europe: February 18, 2005  Maastricht, the Netherlands