Working Across Cultures: Your Guide to Thriving in Multicultural Teams

When your development teams are spread across countries, cultures, and time zones, simple things like feedback or even silence in a meeting can suddenly mean different things.

At Tunga, we don’t just talk about culture, we live it. We’ve seen how team culture plays out every day, not as a theory, but as something that shapes every message, meeting, and milestone.

We turned our lessons into a practical five-part video series: Working Across Cultures: Your Guide to Thriving in Multicultural Teams; because we know how tricky and essential cross-cultural collaboration can be,

Each episode is a short, honest take from our team on what makes global collaboration work.

Part One: Culture Starts With You

Before you can understand how others work, you need to understand yourself.

In Part One, Dorcas Olawale (Head of Delivery, Tunga) shares a powerful story about how a small misunderstanding between a client and a developer vanished the moment they talked it through. Both had good intentions, but different ways of showing respect.

The lesson is simple: great collaboration doesn’t start with a handbook, it starts with self-awareness.

Part Two: Different Ways to Communicate

Sometimes a simple “yes” can mean “no,” and a pause can say more than words.

In Part Two, Dorcas explores how tone, silence, and context shape understanding across cultures. She shares a story about a developer and a client who had a communication slip and how it was fixed by clarity and curiosity.

The takeaway: when in doubt, ask. The strongest teams don’t assume, they clarify.

Part Three: Trust Is Built in Small Moments

Trust doesn’t happen overnight. It grows through consistency, honesty, and care.

Dorcas shares a story about a developer who went beyond the task list to flag a potential risk. That one small action built more trust than any contract could.

The takeaway: Small actions matter. Trust is built in moments that show care.

Part Four: Communication Rhythm and Rituals

Good teams communicate. Great teams find rhythm.

In this episode, Dorcas explains how communication rituals bring teams together — not through endless meetings, but through intention and structure. She shares how one client and developer team turned routine check-ins into something more meaningful.

The takeaway: Communication rhythm is the heartbeat of your culture.

Part Five: Maintaining Synergy

You don’t build great teams in one project. You build them over time.

In the final episode, Dorcas shares how long-term multicultural teams stay aligned — through reflection, curiosity, and mutual growth. She tells the story of a Ugandan developer who grew from contributor to mentor, and how staying open made all the difference.

The takeaway: the best teams evolve. They learn through difference and grow together.

About the Series

Working Across Cultures was created by the Tunga team to share what we have learned from years of building global software teams.
We believe the future of work belongs to those who know how to collaborate across cultures with empathy, trust, and curiosity.

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