Failed international assignments are often due to the wrong person being sent for the job.
Time and again exceptionally skilled people create chaos because they aren’t prepared to work within the culture they are entering, says Elva Mertick, of CRA International, a Calgary-based firm that works with companies to prepare employees for relocation.
Successful international assignments depend on successful personal relationships and successful relationships are only possible with somebody who is a quick study of the culture they are entering.
Simply choosing somebody because they’ve done a great job at the home office is no guarantee they’ll succeed on foreign shores. On the contrary: “The number one key to success is to find people who can adapt in order to be successful,” she says.
Good relationships on a personal level will go a very long way to building successful business relationships, agrees Don Rutherford, president of Culture Connect, a Calgary company specializing in intercultural training and consulting.
People often don’t recognize the step-by-step approach to achieving things through communication and an important first step is being able to relate to people on a personal level — understanding events within the cultural matrix of the host country and being able to relate on issues that matter to the native employees, says Leonore Clauss, an independent Toronto-based intercultural trainer.
In almost every culture outside North America, personal relationships must be given time to develop before business relationships can flourish.
Consequently, things that may at first seem to have little to do with business will in fact go a long way to ensuring business success. What you do with your hands and the gestures you make, how you hand out your cards or pass food, appreciating national holidays and the importance of family events, all have meaning and significance which can offend if done wrong or endear when done well.
It is unrealistic to learn all of the dos and don’ts of a culture before arriving, but the key is to learn quickly and demonstrate sensitivity to culture.
Consider the American working in Canada who suggests Canada is a great country because it is so similar to America. They may think they are paying their Canadian counterparts a compliment, but those are often fighting words for many Canadians, says Rutherford.
“It’s usually not the faux pas that kills you, it’s not recognizing it or correcting it,” he says.
Through their eyes
It is not unusual in many African and Arabic countries to provide public officials with “presents,” to smooth-out the business process.
“We would see it as bribery, but that is simply the custom of the culture and we have to make certain it is their culture we’re relating to and not ours,” says Mertick.
Many societies, particularly in Asia are much more hierarchical, where almost everyone has a sense of place and asking someone to do something beyond his position is considered extremely offensive, Rutherford says. Expatriates have put themselves in very difficult situations because they asked somebody, a driver for instance, to do something considered below his station. It has reached the point where machetes come out and the driver becomes violent, he says. If the locals are asked about it, they typically agree with their countryman, saying the foreigner was out of place and had it coming.
“To be culturally aware is more than a frill, it is an absolute must,” says Clauss.
However before the prospective expat can begin to learn about the destination culture, they must first consider their own culture; by recognizing how values are shaped and formed and how they are expressed in daily business, people can begin to understand how other cultural traits will be reflected in business environment of the destination culture.
Cultural training is useful for getting rid of fanciful perceptions of the destination country, says Mertick. Typically, people derive their understanding of other countries according to what they see as tourists, or in advertising or what is picked up from the media. Or because they have travelled a lot, they think they will be able to do business in other countries, but travelling and visiting countries as a tourist has very little to do with doing business there, she says.
Employees going on assignment should learn a little bit about the history of the region they are going to. Culture flows from the history of place, says Rutherford. Learning about the ethnicity, the religion, the demographics of the country, helps to understand the culture and how the society functions, but also provides some sense of what the good conversation topics might be and which ones to avoid.
Culture shock
It is important for the expat to be able to deal and thrive in an atmosphere of ambiguity, not knowing and being OK with that, says Clauss. “The other thing I look for is resilience, because it is anything but easy.”
When people hear they are going to be working in France, they have romantic notions about sidewalk cafes by the Eiffel Tower, but people who are working abroad are always at a disadvantage and it takes enormous energy and is very tiring for those looking to succeed in foreign settings.
The difference in culture will in most cases lead to some culture shock, says Rutherford. Most expats eventually go through some sort of depression while they are away from home. The normal roles and realities and the points of reference that provide stability change so much that the person actually goes into shock. It won’t happen to everybody, but he warns all of his clients to expect it. It is often worse for the spouse because they don’t even have the corporate culture, he adds.
So when it comes time to fill an international job opening, job descriptions must be rewritten. Of course technical ability is still very important. But the trick is to find people who are extremely adaptable, with astute powers of perception and, someone who goes abroad with an open mind and who looks forward to learning more about the culture and developing personal relationships.
Time and again exceptionally skilled people create chaos because they aren’t prepared to work within the culture they are entering, says Elva Mertick, of CRA International, a Calgary-based firm that works with companies to prepare employees for relocation.
Successful international assignments depend on successful personal relationships and successful relationships are only possible with somebody who is a quick study of the culture they are entering.
Simply choosing somebody because they’ve done a great job at the home office is no guarantee they’ll succeed on foreign shores. On the contrary: “The number one key to success is to find people who can adapt in order to be successful,” she says.
Good relationships on a personal level will go a very long way to building successful business relationships, agrees Don Rutherford, president of Culture Connect, a Calgary company specializing in intercultural training and consulting.
People often don’t recognize the step-by-step approach to achieving things through communication and an important first step is being able to relate to people on a personal level — understanding events within the cultural matrix of the host country and being able to relate on issues that matter to the native employees, says Leonore Clauss, an independent Toronto-based intercultural trainer.
In almost every culture outside North America, personal relationships must be given time to develop before business relationships can flourish.
Consequently, things that may at first seem to have little to do with business will in fact go a long way to ensuring business success. What you do with your hands and the gestures you make, how you hand out your cards or pass food, appreciating national holidays and the importance of family events, all have meaning and significance which can offend if done wrong or endear when done well.
It is unrealistic to learn all of the dos and don’ts of a culture before arriving, but the key is to learn quickly and demonstrate sensitivity to culture.
Consider the American working in Canada who suggests Canada is a great country because it is so similar to America. They may think they are paying their Canadian counterparts a compliment, but those are often fighting words for many Canadians, says Rutherford.
“It’s usually not the faux pas that kills you, it’s not recognizing it or correcting it,” he says.
Through their eyes
It is not unusual in many African and Arabic countries to provide public officials with “presents,” to smooth-out the business process.
“We would see it as bribery, but that is simply the custom of the culture and we have to make certain it is their culture we’re relating to and not ours,” says Mertick.
Many societies, particularly in Asia are much more hierarchical, where almost everyone has a sense of place and asking someone to do something beyond his position is considered extremely offensive, Rutherford says. Expatriates have put themselves in very difficult situations because they asked somebody, a driver for instance, to do something considered below his station. It has reached the point where machetes come out and the driver becomes violent, he says. If the locals are asked about it, they typically agree with their countryman, saying the foreigner was out of place and had it coming.
“To be culturally aware is more than a frill, it is an absolute must,” says Clauss.
However before the prospective expat can begin to learn about the destination culture, they must first consider their own culture; by recognizing how values are shaped and formed and how they are expressed in daily business, people can begin to understand how other cultural traits will be reflected in business environment of the destination culture.
Cultural training is useful for getting rid of fanciful perceptions of the destination country, says Mertick. Typically, people derive their understanding of other countries according to what they see as tourists, or in advertising or what is picked up from the media. Or because they have travelled a lot, they think they will be able to do business in other countries, but travelling and visiting countries as a tourist has very little to do with doing business there, she says.
Employees going on assignment should learn a little bit about the history of the region they are going to. Culture flows from the history of place, says Rutherford. Learning about the ethnicity, the religion, the demographics of the country, helps to understand the culture and how the society functions, but also provides some sense of what the good conversation topics might be and which ones to avoid.
Culture shock
It is important for the expat to be able to deal and thrive in an atmosphere of ambiguity, not knowing and being OK with that, says Clauss. “The other thing I look for is resilience, because it is anything but easy.”
When people hear they are going to be working in France, they have romantic notions about sidewalk cafes by the Eiffel Tower, but people who are working abroad are always at a disadvantage and it takes enormous energy and is very tiring for those looking to succeed in foreign settings.
The difference in culture will in most cases lead to some culture shock, says Rutherford. Most expats eventually go through some sort of depression while they are away from home. The normal roles and realities and the points of reference that provide stability change so much that the person actually goes into shock. It won’t happen to everybody, but he warns all of his clients to expect it. It is often worse for the spouse because they don’t even have the corporate culture, he adds.
So when it comes time to fill an international job opening, job descriptions must be rewritten. Of course technical ability is still very important. But the trick is to find people who are extremely adaptable, with astute powers of perception and, someone who goes abroad with an open mind and who looks forward to learning more about the culture and developing personal relationships.
