Transcending Leadership

Excellent HBR Article on Working in China as an Ex Pat

Many of the current discussions I am having with my coaching clients revolve around gaining global leadership experience. HBR just published an excellent article in the June '10 issue about the challenges of working in China. The article is called The Globe:  The China Rules.  Here is just a short excerpt - you can read a longer excerpt on the HBR website or purchase the entire article for $6.50 - well worth it!

The Globe:  The China Rules by Lynn S. Paine

“An army of a thousand is easy to find, but, ah, how difficult to find a general.” So runs a Yuan Dynasty Chinese proverb that has, tellingly, found its way into the parlance of CEOs and human resource managers eager to grow their China businesses today. Achieving growth and profitability in the world’s third-largest economy depends on leadership, but China is tough on top executives. The red-hot economy, pulsating with opportunity, attracts foreigners—both ethnic Chinese and non-Chinese—but HR professionals continue to rank China as one of the most challenging destinations for expatriates. Hard numbers are lacking, but anecdotal evidence suggests that underperformance and early departures add up to a failure rate there that is twice that for expats in other countries.

Executives Demonstrate Willingness to Relocate: Preparing to Lead Globally

Perspectives on Recent Survey Indicating

Executives Demonstrate Willingness to Relocate:  Preparing to Lead Globally

Korn/Ferry recently surveyed (Executive Quiz - May 3, 2010) executives from 65 countries about their willingness and motivation to relocate and they found that the majority of participants, 82%, stated a willingness to relocate to another region, state, or country for new career opportunities.  "Career acceleration" was indicated as the primary reason to move; however, in times past one of the top reasons that employees relocated was to increase their compensation.  That doesn't seem to be the case in these results as "quality of life in a new location" was indicated as one of the primary motivators for relocation.  Obviously, the global recession is having a significant impact on everyone, and it is now a "buyers market" for talent.  You can link to the full article by Korn/Ferry here; however, I would like to share just a little personal perspective, some indicators of this shift that I am noticing, and the context of the conversations that I am having with my coaching clients.

We recently relocated to London on a global assignment with my husband's company.  While it was a difficult decision to leave the U.S., we believed it would be a wonderful opportunity.  My husband and I both developed our career goals early and we knew that a global assignment would not only be a tremendous benefit from both an experience and a networking perspective, but also a requirement for our continued success and effectiveness within the global marketplace.  Additionally, we wanted to expose our children to other cultures and new ways of thinking.

Since our move, I have received many questions from my coaching clients regarding our transition, including our perceived benefits and disadvantages and the current "global assignment" landscape.  The first few months was a definite adjustment because we had to get used to everything from new brands to a new work commute and driving on the left hand side of the road.  However six months later, I can say that I believe that we are well adjusted and now have a supportive network of work colleagues and families. I have learned to drive on the left, and also to effectively coach over the phone while managing different timezones.  My husband is settling into his new role, and he seems to be gaining knowledge at warp speed regarding what it takes to run his global organization.  And he is building relationships with other leaders from around the world. Our children, in just a short time, seem more accepting of other cultures and nationalities.  My daughter has good friends from many different countries and it no longer bothers her to be in a household where everyone speaks a different language.  My son brings home science projects and is being asked to study reproductive procedures that I didn't even know existed. I am continuously impressed with the content of my children's curriculum at this international school - it is much more focused on global citizenry than what we experienced in the U.S.  I am not sure that there are disadvantages, except the obvious ones.  We miss family events and celebrations, and cannot be there easily in person for loved ones.  Our home country will always exhibit aspects of culture that we cherish that other countries may not.  With that; however, we feel very fortunate to be on this global assignment, and I would highly encourage anyone with global career aspirations for themselves or their children, to seek international experience.

While global assignments may be desired, the local indicators in the expatriate community are that assignments are becoming fewer and farther between, at least for the time being.  Last year, my children's international school saw one of the largest reductions in re-enrollment since 9.11.  The local buzz is that many of the expatriates who were scheduled to stay for three or four year assignments were pulled back early.  And the trend seems to be continuing this year.  We have just been informed that at least five of the families who are in our immediate circle of new friends, will be going back home earlier than expected, or have been offered positions to stay but as a local hire instead of an expatriate.  This is disconcerting news; however, we must assume that the recent economic downturn is the cause for this reduction in global assignments.  In fact, one may argue that the recent economic downturn will also further promote the requirement for global development, especially for companies that are already stretching their own national boundaries.  I believe that we should focus on the latter.

With this information, several questions come to mind.  How can we prepare our leaders for globalization?  If the demand is exceeding the supply right now, how can we become creative in the interim to support the development of these skills that are needed?

These are questions that I would like to continue to research for a more thorough answer; however, I will outline some high level recommendations that I provided recently to a client desiring to transfer to his company's overseas operations facility:

1)  Gain a thorough understanding of the degree to which your organization operates within the international marketplace.  Understand which functions exist globally, what percentage of revenue and profits are gained from these markets, and the statistics on customers and consumers from international markets.  Find out how this information is expected to change for your company in the next 2 to 5 years. 

2)  Understand how your company is expanding, or plans to expand globally.  There are multiple globalization models (see John L. Daniels book, Global Vision).  What strategy does your company employ?  What are its strengths and weaknesses?  Evaluate your company's external environment - understand the impact of global trends on your organization's plans for growth.    What skills and expertise will your company need to be successful with globalization?

3)  Develop an understanding of common business processes from a global perspective.  This is important for all organizations.  I have noticed in the past 12 to 24 months a renewed focus on large scale process simplification strategies.  This is both a cost savings strategy and an expansion strategy.  Companies can expand more easily if they have simple processes which allow them greater flexibility.  One US company in which I coach has 3 of its 8 strategic objectives focused on the understanding, management, and development of a more robust supply chain.  This is directly related to their globalization goals, and they are seeking key talent with supply chain experience.

4)  Learn about cultural differences between your home country and the countries in which you desire to work (Cultures and Organizations:  Software of the Mind by Geert Hofstede is an excellent resource).  Cultural differences are related to areas such as authority, hierarchy, societal perceptions, perceptions of time and personal space, ways of dealing with conflict, and the expression of feelings in the workplace.  My husband has boiled down his success in working with other cultures to one key trait associated with his interpersonal skills; mindfulness.  Other executives describe a "high level of adjustment", "tolerance for ambiguity and change", "active listening", and "building trust" as key behaviors required in a global workplace.

5)  Determine your personal value proposition associated with your desires to work globally.  How can your unique gifts, abilities, skills, and leadership behaviors support your organization's global success?  This is often a step that my clients skip, which is a huge mistake.  If you have achieved answering the questions in 1-4, do not stop there.  Use that information to build a business case that supports the company in choosing you over other key talent for a critical global role. 

6)  What opportunities are available right now that would provide you with exposure to global business practices, strategies, or an opportunity to lead globally?  Brainstorm this question with other leaders in your organization.  Hold informational interviews with those who are currently involved with setting strategy, and have your personal business case ready.

These are my current recommendations for understanding global initiatives and for positioning yourself to take advantage from a leadership perspective.  As I continue writing postings for this blog, I plan to further research topics such as mindfulness, dialogue, and the more character based traits that are creating positive outcomes for multi-cultural leaders and teams.

  

The New Competency of Global Listening

The New Competency of Global Listening

I recently finalized a coaching engagement which included a wrap-up conference call with my client and his manager.  My client presented his proposed development plan which included the improvement of his active listening capability.  To construct his development plan, he had utilized the definition of active listening as defined by the Center for Creative Leadership (www.CCL.org) as follows:

 

Active Listening

1)  Listens carefully to others’ ideas and suggestions.

2)  Makes people feel they are truly heard.

3)  Shows a willingness to listen and be open to input.

4)  Is open to constructive feedback.

When my client presented his plan, his manager responded, “I am supportive of including active listening in your development plan; however, I would like for you to rename this competency to global listening.  I am asking everyone in the department to place a focus on this.  Since our group is both global and virtual, listening is a very important capability for us all to master.  And listening from a global perspective is even more important.”

 

As a competency buff, the term global listening peaked my interest.  I asked for his personal definition. He said, “Global listening is listening with a cultural ear.  It is understanding that different people have different communication styles, depending on where they are from.  It is understanding what is important to an individual based on his or her culture and how that comes through his or her in communication, or not.  For example, if I contact someone from Brazil, I recognize that they will typically want to talk a little first before getting down to business.  They are very relationship oriented and they want to please others.  Sometimes they agree to things that they may not be able to fully deliver.  So I know to listen carefully, and ask questions about potential problems and issues that might get in the way of their commitments.   So it is about paying attention to, and understanding, different global styles.”

 

“That is very interesting”, I said. “So global listening seems to be a combination of active listening, and cultural or global acumen.  A working definition could be, combining listening skills with an understanding of other cultures.”

 

“Yes,” he said, “That is exactly right.  For example, I know that India has a very hierarchical culture.  And because of this, individuals from this culture may be hesitant to speak up in meetings.  I often make it a point to ask my stakeholders from India to weigh in on issues during meetings if they have not spoken, and  meet with them one on one to ensure they have an opportunity to share their input.  This sometimes makes virtual teaming a challenge; however, it is a challenge that can be overcome with a little understanding.  Germans on the other hand, speak in a very straight forward manner, and to the point.  They don’t hesitate to speak up.  I depend on my German stakeholders to discern the facts from the emotions when problem solving.  With a blend of employees from a variety of countries and cultures, listening from a global perspective, or global listening becomes very important to the communication process as a whole.” 

 

I commented, “With this focus, do you ever worry that you might be contributing to any negative stereotypes about different cultures?”

 

“That is an excellent question.” he said.  “We cannot deny that cultural differences exist.  In my group, we also work closely together to develop ways of working.  Ways of working are agreements regarding team behavior, and we focus on behavior that is geared toward supporting a team climate that is effective, inclusive, transparent, and innovative.  With our common ways of working in mind, we focus on appreciating and leveraging the differences between cultures instead of regarding them as negatives.  And we learn about these differences through the skill of global listening.” 

 

I thanked him for his definition and we proceeded with the meeting.

 

I remained curious about this term, and decided to do some research to see if I could find a competency called global listening from any reliable resources.   I started by Googling the term for fun, and came up with two interesting references. The first reference was from the ALMS website, http://www.helsinki.fi/kksc/alms/listen.html, and defined global listening as “listening for gist”.   In general, this could fit our working definition if you assume that “gist” can be defined as “cultural nuances”; however, this website expands the definition of global listening to include “listening for the general idea”, or “getting the main point of what you are listening to even if you are busy doing other things like driving or writing an email”.  This expanded definition does not seem to be in alignment with active listening.  Active listening is a skill that does not forego the details for the overall message.   Instead, active listening is the process of attuning to your listener, hearing the details AND the overall message, hearing what is not being said, and understanding the feelings behind the message.   Active listening is a comprehensive process which is typically impossible to achieve while driving or writing an email.  At least from my own experience!

 

The second reference to the term global listening was found on Liz Strauss’ website, www.lizstrauss.com.  She posted a blog entry entitled Social Media:  Google’s Global Listening Machine.  Her post outlined an initiative by Google to develop a translation center which connects people who need documents translated with resources to perform that function.  This translation center will have access to technology which houses a comprehensive translation memory that Google is creating.  Liz reports that Google is investing significant resources to develop statistical machine translation technology which works by comparing large numbers of parallel texts that have been translated between languages.  From these parallel texts, the program learns which words and phrases usually map to others.

 

The translation center development is interesting, but there is an even more interesting point here.  The point is that in order for the machine translation technology to be accurate, it has to begin by listening.  Liz begins the post by saying, “When we learn to speak, we start by listening.”  And she ends the post by saying, “Before we speak, we listen.  Are you ready to start speaking and listening?  Global is the new local.  Communication is relationship.”

 

I was beginning to understand that in order to develop global listening, you don’t necessarily need a comprehensive understanding of every other culture before you begin.  But you do need to practice listening actively (without judgment) which will allow you to learn the differences between communication styles.   What our manager was referring to as global styles.  I did search through my own organization development publications for a specific competency called global listening and I could not find any references.  I did find several definitions for global and cultural acumen.  By combining active listening with cultural acumen, we can expand our working definition to the following:

 

Global Listening

1)  Listens carefully to others’ ideas and suggestions while perceiving and thinking from the perspective of other cultures.

2)  Understands the cultural nuances of the message, and cultural differences which may impact the communication exchange.

3)  Demonstrates a willingness to listen and be open to input.  Learns other cultural perspectives through the process of listening actively.

4)  Demonstrates an appreciation of cultural differences through the process of active listening.  Makes people feel they are truly heard, regardless of cultural differences. 

This is my stab at both understanding and defining this new competency called global listening.  In fact, if global is the new local, then maybe we should re-evaluate all of our standard leadership competencies to determine how they may be impacted by global capabilities.  How might you define global listening? What are some other competencies which must be totally re-defined if we are to consider a global implication to leadership?

An Interesting Conversation about Global Leadership

I was recently on a flight from Raleigh, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington for a national Organization Development conference.  We had a short layover in Atlanta, Georgia where another passenger boarded and took the empty seat beside me.  He was the founding partner of a global consulting firm, and was headed to the Yukon to sign a two year contract to manage the future business relationships between 50 Indian tribal chiefs, and a conglomerate of Chinese business investors.  He explained that he specialized in both business development and Chinese culture.  His profession was to forge new business relationships for North American companies, and then teach his clients how to sustain those relationships.   I asked how hard it was for him to teach this to his clients.  He said, “Well honestly, it is either very easy, or almost impossible.”

This kicked off a lively conversation about what it takes to be a successful global leader, and I wanted to share some of his intriguing thoughts. 

He started by saying that there is a significant difference between effective leadership, and effective global leadership.   Many individuals have the ability to be a great leader in their own culture, but effective global leadership seems to require special personal attributes and character traits.   He shared that his most successful clients who serve as global leaders, have five things in common.   

First, they are connectors.  They create connections between specific people, the concepts that they have to offer, and the goals that they are striving to achieve.  These connections initiate longer term business relationships.  And through these connections and relationships, the opportunity for new growth and potential is presented.

Second, they demonstrate the highest levels of adaptability and learning agility.  Great global leaders must be able to adapt to unfamiliar circumstances, dynamics, environments, and roles.  And then they must learn how to become effective in unfamiliar environments. 

Third, they know how to nurture.   They nurture the new business relationships that are formed, conversations that occur, the culture that is different from their own, and the new systems in which they are working.  They know how to take care of the geographic boundaries.  They are patient when it comes to discovering opportunities, problem solving, and forging agreements.

Fourth, they are inspirational.  They have the ability to inspire individuals, groups, and organizations to achieve their greatest potential through innovation and creativity.  They are striving for a greater goal other than just the benefits to each specific party, and they have the ability to communicate that vision.  They know how to create the time, space, and opportunities for possibilities to emerge.

Finally, they always operate with integrity and strive to build trust, because these are the universal keys to all successful relationships.  Global business relationships can often become challenging; therefore, successful global leaders must demonstrate transparency, be confident and courageous when it comes to decision making, and always work towards building trust between all business partners. 

After an interesting, three hour, non-stop conversation our plane landed in Seattle and I had to say goodbye to my new friend.  I was convinced that he did know much about successful global leadership, and considering the fact that my husband had just been selected for a three year global assignment in London, I thought it might be beneficial for me to document our conversation and share this traveler’s wisdom! 

On my way back home from Seattle, I flew on the red eye.  I sat next to another traveler who was headed home to Texas.  Once again, I struck up a lively conversation with this passenger.  He had just killed a 12 foot grizzly while hunting in Bear Lake, Utah and shared his pictures with me.  His cell phone rang.  In a five minute conversation, he closed a $140 Million dollar deal with a Japanese colleague while we were preparing for take off.  Very interesting….I wondered what I could learn from this global business leader on my journey home!