Forging Bonds in a Global Workforce

By Andy Molinsky and Melissa Hahn

McGraw Hill Publishing, 256 pp., $32

Collaborating with colleagues from around the world has become commonplace because organizations rely on relationships between disparate colleagues to drive sustainable business practices and achieve strategic goals. With that advancement comes both opportunities and challenges. This book is a must-read for anyone working on global teams.

Molinsky and Hahn begin by listing the common errors in building global relationships such as stereotyping or believing that everyone is the same. The authors introduce the six Ps (power, purpose, place, privacy, pacing, and presence), which are "at the heart of the confusion, misperception, and misattribution that can occur when people attempt to build relationships across cultures."

In the second and third sections of the book, readers learn techniques and skills to build and deepen new, cross-cultural relationships. The book's concepts—such as ensuring "the other person is no longer a stranger, but someone who feels just a bit closer because you can empathize and identify with some aspect of their experience"— are simple to understand and apply. Read through the chapters and make personal notes to take into the next conversation with someone from a different culture. Further, you don't have to wait to find a new colleague to start replicating the skills; use the text to strengthen pre-existing long-distance relationships.

The authors write the book in a practical manner, enabling readers to understand the psychology behind forging relationships and, more importantly, giving them a library of reflection questions, techniques, and applications to apply right away.

The simplicity and ease with which Molinsky and Hahn approach the topic make Forging Bonds a cheerful experience for readers. Following its advice can bring colleagues closer together, inviting them to have aha moments, as each chapter evokes past experiences and depicts future interactions.