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How to be a successful expatriate and global consultant |
| Date Added: February 19, 2010 08:30:56 AM |
| Author: Anonymous |
| Category: Business And Economy: Employment |
| Omar, what are the challenges of working in different countries, with different corporate cultures? First, it is to understand the market, the context for business there, and the drivers of success. Some of these are universal, others are more local. More than one corporate giant has foundered in China for example, by not understanding the diverse demand and buying patterns that operate across regions. Second, understand how to connect with the customers and consumers, and the emotional as well as rational drivers for them. What are their problems? What kinds of lives do they lead? How can you become a student of their 'hot buttons' (motivators) as well as 'red flags' (warning signals and turn-offs)? Third, understand your own team. They will have learned to deliver in a more or less global environment based on the type of company you have. But they will need to be recognized, stimulated, coached, and incentivized in ways that are meaningful to them. The fastest way to get respect from a new team is to ask them to teach you what has been working for them, before you fix it, change it, or enhance it. Learn first, make an impact next. Your job is ultimately to shape a corporate culture, not kow-tow to it. But you have to understand what you are seeking to change and why. Then you can pick your battles and make sure there is a compelling cause behind what you are seeking to accomplish and asking others to help you to do. What advice do you have for CEOs, managers and senior executives, so that they can adapt and succeed while working overseas in a different environment? We all want to retain the familiar, and that's fine. There has to be continuity through professional associations, family, hobbies, preferences, tastes. We are seeking 'evolution' not 'revolution' in our personal and professional lives. Equally be open to being surprised, pack a sense of wonder and exploration with you, have the humility to 'empty your cup' as the Zen Buddhists would say. Be prepared for a different tempo of life, different intuitions on what is 'normal', the role of emotion and more. People want your originality and innovation, as well as your respect and understanding. That's the quintessential balancing act for leaders and managers as they travel. Your job is not to either pander to everything you find, nor is it to put everything you encounter through your own paradigm so it passes through a proverbial meat grinder and all comes out the same. Finally, remember to crystallize what you distinctively bring to the party, and ask what you will leave as a legacy. How can you institutionalize some of your distinctive strengths and ideas, so the organization benefits from your leadership, not just your charisma, and so your successors have something tangible to build on? Set yourself 3 to 4 key breakthroughs that will make the biggest impact on the organization, its profits, its customers, its team, its brand and its positioning in that market over a 1 to 3 year period. Anyone can have list of 20, the real leadership challenge is to peg the top 4 or 5. Do that and execute accordingly, and you'll leave, whenever you do, with a sense of real satisfaction of having moved the goal posts significantly forward. How to be a successful expatriate and global consultant Mark Lim is a web editor/content writer of JobsDB.com Singapore. The article How to be a successful expatriate and global consultant is based on a conversation between JobsDB and Omar Khan. |
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