Adaptive Leadership in Action: Managing Multicultural Tech Teams at Scale

At SMG, collaboration doesn’t stop at borders – it thrives across them. With engineering teams spread across various locations, building seamless digital platforms like Ricardo means mastering not just code, but also communication, culture, and coordination. We sat down with Jérémy, Head of Engineering Manager, and Nassim, Head of Platform Services & Operations, at our Valbonne office to learn how they navigate the exciting complexities of cross-country and multicultural management – spanning Switzerland, France, Serbia, and Vietnam.

Managing tech teams across different countries must come with unique challenges and opportunities. How do you approach cross-cultural communication and collaboration to ensure everyone stays aligned and motivated?

Since we’re not in the same physical office, it’s important to take a step back and fully embrace the tools available to us. Effective cross-country collaboration starts with building strong communication habits. We’ve put in place daily stand-ups, regular 1:1s, and pair programming sessions, adapted in frequency and length based on each engineer’s needs. Every morning, we run asynchronous updates on Slack to keep everyone aligned, regardless of location or time zone. But beyond the tools, it’s about fostering the right mindset. In a remote environment, you have to be intentional about staying connected. We encourage engineers to share achievements, blockers, or updates openly on Slack. It wasn’t always easy at first, but over time it’s become a natural way to maintain team cohesion and transparency.

Cross-cultural collaboration also calls for a high level of emotional intelligence. Communication styles vary, and so do expectations around hierarchy, feedback, or conflict. We make a conscious effort to build relationships, not just processes, by being aware of cultural nuances and putting plans in place to create real proximity, even at a distance.This requires managers to rethink their role. It’s no longer just about overseeing tasks: it’s about adapting to each individual, understanding their context, and meeting them where they are. As managers, we carry the responsibility of adjusting to different mentalities and ways of working. That adaptability is key to building trust across diverse teams.

When it comes to motivation, distributed teams demand extra care. In the office, informal moments happen naturally: on the way to a meeting, over lunch, or at the coffee machine. Remotely, we have to create those moments intentionally. We regularly check in, not just on progress, but on how people are doing. These small, human conversations help ease the atmosphere, create connection, and remind everyone that they matter, not just as engineers, but as people.

From your experience, what are the key differences in working styles or technical practices between these countries and how do you harmonise them within your teams?

One of the key differences we’ve observed across countries lies in how people communicate and collaborate—some cultures are more direct, others more consensus-driven. To bring our teams together, we focus on building shared rituals that go beyond pure work. For example, we introduced the Platform Weekly Smile, where everyone shares a quick update about their weekend in a Notion page. It may sound simple, but it helps humanize remote work and creates opportunities for casual bonding across borders. These moments build trust, which ultimately makes technical collaboration smoother.

Another important principle for us is avoiding a “single point of contact” model. Instead of routing all questions or dependencies through one person (often the Head of or manager), we encourage engineers to connect directly with others in the team who have relevant knowledge. This flattens communication and helps develop a more resilient, empowered team culture,regardless of location.

What role does trust and autonomy play in remote and multicultural engineering teams, and how do you foster it across different time zones and cultural expectations?

Trust and autonomy are at the heart of any successful remote and multicultural team but they don’t happen by chance. We believe that transparency is essential for building both. To foster that, we’ve implemented practices like sharing visible timelines in Jira. Whenever someone takes ownership of a task or speaks up in a meeting, they’re encouraged to share where they stand, what they’re working on, and why. This habit keeps everyone aligned and allows us to move forward together. Transparency like this builds trust because everyone can see the progress and the challenges.

We also make a strong distinction between autonomy and isolation. Being autonomous doesn’t mean working alone. Engineers should feel empowered to make decisions, but they should also know when and how to ask for help. That’s why we normalize asking for support within the team. It’s our job to ensure that no one gets stuck in silence, especially in remote settings where it’s easier to feel disconnected. Deadlines can shift, and that’s understandable. But it’s not acceptable for someone to struggle unnoticed. Even in distributed teams, it’s the manager’s responsibility to stay close enough to understand what’s going on and offer support when needed.

Cultural differences can also shape how people express uncertainty or ask for help. In some cultures, saying “I don’t know” is perceived as failure. That’s why we work hard to create an environment where it’s safe to speak up. We repeat often: it’s okay not to know. What matters is raising your hand when something’s unclear.

How does your leadership style adapt when working with colleagues from different cultural or regional backgrounds, particularly when it comes to decision-making or conflict resolution?

When working across cultures and regions, leadership can’t be one-size-fits-all. We believe in adapting our leadership style based on the individuals we work with. That means being intentional about how we communicate, setting clear goals, and regularly reflecting on what the team needs at each stage, not just in terms of delivery, but also support and alignment.

Even if, as leaders, we hold the final responsibility, we always strive to involve the team in decision-making. Giving people a voice and creating space for discussion helps surface diverse perspectives and leads to better outcomes. This is especially effective in multicultural teams where leadership can come from many places. Our role is to provide structure while empowering engineers to take ownership and participate fully.

When it comes to conflict resolution, cultural differences can sometimes amplify misunderstandings even when people are fundamentally aligned. In those situations, communication is everything. What looks like disagreement may simply be a misinterpretation. In those cases, we prefer to move from async tools like Slack to real-time conversations. A short video call often clears up what a multi-day thread can’t. We also make sure that meetings are inclusive and respectful. We encourage everyone to speak and just as importantly, to listen. We rotate speaking time, avoid interruptions, and ensure that each person has a moment to express their perspective. That shared space for expression is essential for trust, especially when navigating different communication styles.

Ultimately, adaptive leadership means knowing when to guide, when to listen, and how to bring people together so that decisions are not just made, but understood and supported across the team.

Can you share a success story or a challenge that taught you something valuable about managing distributed teams across Vietnam, Switzerland, France, and Serbia?

One of the most important lessons we’ve learned is the difference between building a local team and building a truly multicultural one. You can’t just assemble people from different countries and expect diversity to work on its own. You have to actively cultivate it through daily interaction, shared ownership, and a team-first mindset.

Nassim’s success story:
One of the projects I’m most proud of was a large-scale cloud migration involving colleagues from multiple disciplines (platform, front-end, back-end, even data) and spread across different locations. We had engineers from Vietnam, France, Serbia, and Switzerland all working together. There was no “magic formula”, what made it work was assembling the right people and nurturing a team mindset across borders and specialties.

But creating that mindset also means making hard decisions. For example, we once had to let someone go, not because of skill, but because they weren’t aligned with the team’s collaborative spirit. Sometimes, protecting team culture means being willing to take difficult actions for the greater good.

Jérémy’s success story:

A key success was when the company made a deliberate choice to mix teams across countries, rather than organising them by geography. That decision fundamentally changed the way we collaborate. Suddenly, engineers from France, Vietnam, Switzerland, and Serbia were no longer working in parallel, they were working together, every day.

This new structure naturally encouraged cross-cultural communication and helped people open up to one another. It created opportunities to observe different ways of thinking, learn from one another’s strengths, and build mutual understanding over time. With that came deeper trust and a stronger team spirit. It showed us that the way you design your organisation directly shapes how people connect. By bringing diverse individuals into shared teams, we moved from isolated local groups to a truly integrated, multicultural organisation. And that shift has been key to building a collaborative, resilient engineering culture across borders. One of the biggest challenges in managing distributed teams is that nothing is ever set in stone. 

It’s about keeping the spark alive. That means regularly checking in, reading between the lines, and proactively supporting your team – not just when problems arise, but to prevent them in the first place. Helping the team maintain a proactive communication culture is part of that ongoing effort. The responsibility ultimately rests with the manager to keep the team connected, aligned, and energized over time.

Beyond cultural diversity, there’s another dynamic that can be just as challenging: generational differences. People from different age groups often come with different expectations, communication styles, and relationships to authority or feedback. Bridging that gap requires just as much attention and empathy as managing across cultures. You have to adapt your leadership not only to where someone is from, but also to where they are in their career, how they see work, and what motivates them. It’s a challenge but also an opportunity to build richer, more dynamic teams.