Strength-Based Leadership in Multicultural Teams

Leading a multicultural team is both rewarding and demanding. Different cultural backgrounds influence how we communicate, make decisions, and collaborate. What feels natural to one person may seem unusual to another. For leaders, this raises an important question: How can we make cultural differences work for us instead of against us?

One approach I find especially valuable comes from positive psychology: working with character strengths.

Why Strengths Matter?

The VIA Classification of Character Strengths, developed by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, identifies 24 universal strengths such as curiosity, kindness, fairness, humor, and perseverance. Research has shown that these strengths are recognized across cultures, even though their expression can vary.

In multicultural teams, this creates a useful foundation: rather than only noticing what separates us, language, habits, or expectations, we can focus on what connects us. Strengths offer a common human language that helps us see the best in one another.

You may be interested in reading my blog post about emotions in different cultures.

Practical Ways to Apply Strengths in Leadership

Knowing about character strengths is one thing, bringing them into everyday leadership is another. In multicultural teams, this step is especially important, since cultural differences can otherwise overshadow what individuals bring to the table. By intentionally using strengths in daily interactions, leaders can turn abstract ideas into concrete practices that support collaboration and trust.

1. Create space to identify strengths

A simple first step is to invite team members to reflect on when they feel at their best. Tools like the VIA Survey can support this, but even a conversation around past successes already brings out strengths. In a multicultural setting, this also opens discussion on how a strength may look different depending on cultural context. For instance, leadership might show up as consensus-building in one culture and as clear, directive action in another.

2. Use complementary strengths in projects

Strengths give leaders a way to balance teams. Someone high in perseverance can keep a project moving, while another person’s humor keeps morale up during setbacks. By noticing these patterns, leaders can deliberately use the mix of strengths to the team’s advantage.

3. Reframe tensions as strengths

What first looks like a clash often reflects a strength in action. A colleague who insists on structure might feel rigid—but from a strengths perspective, this is prudence, ensuring quality and reducing risks. This shift in lens often lowers frustration and builds respect.

The Leader’s Role

Leaders have a responsibility to model strengths-based practice themselves. Being open about one’s own top strengths can create trust and reduce misunderstandings. For example:

“Curiosity is one of my top strengths, so you may notice I ask a lot of questions—I see it as a way to learn from you.”
“Gratitude is important to me, so I will regularly acknowledge your contributions.”

When leaders show how they use their strengths, they normalize diversity in expression and invite others to do the same.

How to Lead Across Cultures: 6 Steps of Becoming a Global Leader

Turning Diversity Into an Advantage

Strengths-based leadership doesn’t erase cultural differences. Instead, it puts them into a context where diversity becomes a resource. By combining individual uniqueness with shared human strengths, leaders can shift their focus from “managing differences” to “leading through strengths.”

In global and multicultural workplaces, this can be the factor that transforms a group of individuals into a team that not only functions but thrives because of its diversity.

Tanja Saarinen Chávez

Tanja is a Certified Intercultural Communication Coach and an expert on Work Style Analysis (WSA). With a Master's Degree in Business Administration, specializing in Leadership and People Management, she helps companies and assists leaders in comprehending cultural dimensions and leveraging existing cultural differences to create powerful organizational strengths.