Prepared for the British Chamber of Commerce in South China June 12th 2014
Prepared for the British Chamber of Commerce in South China
June 12th 2014
Potential Without Boundaries
Framework and Cases
Empathy – As a developmental goal
Case 1 – Building credibility and trust
Case 2 – Leveraging facilitation to improve intercultural communication
Case 3 – Promoting diversity as a bridge to improve effectiveness
Potential Without Boundaries
When Worlds Collide
“People there don’t work very hard and always ask for a pay raise. What should we do?”
Potential Without Boundaries
Globalization was/is…
…the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole
Potential Without Boundaries
Challenge – We are the first truly global generation
For many of us that means learning skills that are very new.
Potential Without Boundaries
Multicultural Teams are Outliers
Highly Ineffective
Highly Effective
Average Effectiveness
Multicultural teamsMulticultural teams
Monocultural Teams
Potential Without Boundaries
Four Key Areas of HR
(Reduced from nearly 100!)
Business Partner – Find the best way to ensure top employee performance (creating strategy and growth)
Change Agent – plan and implements programs to ease and speed up adaptation (removing barriers)
Administrative Expert – legal, day-to-day, staffing, C&B, and so much more (sweating the details)
Employee Advocate – support an engaging environment (making it meaningful)
Potential Without Boundaries
Globalized Businesses in a Global-Minded World
Potential Without Boundaries
Framework for Empathy –
Developing an adaptable workforce
Denia
l
Defe
nse
Min
imiz
atio
n
Accepta
nce
Adapta
tion
Inte
gra
tion
Ethnocentric Stages
Low Empathy it’s all
about “My World”
Ethnorelative Stages
High Empathy I can see and
understand “Your World”
Milton Bennett’s Model
Potential Without Boundaries
Case 1: How Do We Build Credibility & Trust Here?
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Let’s do a small “experiment”
Step 1 – Individually write down the top 4 factors when establish trust & respect
Step 2 – Compare with 3 other people sitting near you. Discuss what is different and similar
Step 3 – Analyse the percentage of answers by task to relationship or long to short term orientations
Potential Without Boundaries
Case: E-Reader Manufacturing
E-Reader Manufacturing is a US based company with their sourcing and vendor management engineers in Shenzhen
HR brought to our attention that there was a high level of distrust between US and China based engineers
Chinese engineers reported that US engineers were distrustful and hard to please
US engineers reported that Chinese engineers were inexperienced and showed favoritism to the vendor partners
Potential Without Boundaries
The Root of the Problem
The Culture Tree
Task FocusedShort Term Orientation
Relationship FocusedLong Term Orientation
What are thebehaviors of this group?
What are thebehaviors of this group?
Potential Without Boundaries
So What’s the Change?
Panic Zone!
Challenge Zone
Comfort Zone
• What offends you and makes you upset?
• What can you not accept?
• What might feel rude to you?
• What makes you feel nervous?
• What feels safe?
• What is common sense?
Potential Without Boundaries
So What’s the Impact
Realistically even with this awareness it will take time rebuild trust that was already damaged
Both teams are aware of the style difference and able to accept that there is a different way of doing things
Many team members on both teams have been pushing their comfort zone and taking challenge zone steps to adapt
Potential Without Boundaries
Case 2:What got you here won’t get you there…
Facilitation skills for face-to-face meetings
Potential Without Boundaries
Adapting Styles –
Virtual Communication Study
Group A: North America and Western Europe
When asked why they had this rhythm ,participants said it showed RESPECT.
Group B: Japan and East Asia
When asked why they had this rhythm, participants said it showed RESPECT.
Group C: Brazil and Latin America
When asked why they had this rhythm, participants said it showed RESPECT.
Potential Without Boundaries
The Problem With Face to Face
and Global Teams
Potential Without Boundaries
Applying Culture Neutral Skills
Potential Without Boundaries
Impact: Do we remain the same or
do we change?
If HR is a “Change Agent” and “Employee Advocate” in a global age then HR needs adapting skill sets
Potential Without Boundaries
So What’s the Impact
In companies where HR takes a business partner approach to become a global facilitator among our contacts we see:
China HR taking a global role or APAC and taking on the role of “Best Practices Leader”
Greater confidence from global leadership teams in China HR capability and influence
Greater engagement and interaction at global staff levels
Potential Without Boundaries
Case 3: Promoting Diversity as a
Bridge to Team Performance
Potential Without Boundaries
Where Do You Belong?
Potential Without Boundaries
European Smart Phone: Diversity
and the Challenger Culture
Recently a European mobile phone company found itself in an unusual position… as a challenger
HR was tasked with promoting the new culture and aligning team members:
Europeans and Asians
New employees with other corporate culture backgrounds
Old employees (winners) and “new” employees (challengers)
Potential Without Boundaries
Actions to Leverage Diversity
At the heart of the Challenger culture was accepting and integrating different styles
Teams examined their foundations in the Tillman Forming and Storming stages to build onto future performance
Action items to strengthen localized and virtual communication were adapted across many teams
Impact of Leveraging Diversity
within the Challenger Culture
Teams reported deeper levels of engagement and trust
Virtual teams reported improved effectiveness
“Challenger” became a shared value among team members
Potential Without Boundaries
What Can You Do Now?
1. Identify your point-of-view when you encounter cultural diversity
1. Stop
2. Reflect (listen to your thinking)
3. Adapt!
2. Be the business partner, find ways to actively bring cross cultural understanding to your workplace
1. Be an advocate for global employees and support diverse team development strategies
Potential Without Boundaries
For Further Information
For more about how to improve intercultural effectiveness:
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