Building Success as a Cross-Cultural Leader

Leadership Coaching Notes August 2008

Building Success as a Cross-Cultural Leader

If you or a leader you coach is struggling to adapt to a new country, a new business unit or a new leader with an unfamiliar cultural style, A.J’s story may offer you new keys to success. A.J. was not yet a U.S. citizen. She had achieved strong success in her culture of origin and came to the U.S. to excel as a business leader. When I met her, she was struggling to achieve her dreams. Despite working very hard, she was faltering with her team, peer network and some key client relationships.

What Worked

Get Your Mojo Back: Accustomed to success and being the best in her culture of origin, A.J. hated to admit how unsure she felt about herself and her decisions. When we talked, she realized that, when she moved to an unfamiliar culture, less social support and so many new challenges, she lost some attitudes that made her great “at home.” By exploring how she formerly fueled her enthusiasm, enjoyed taking risks and loved learning, she started smiling. Recovering her positive attitudes and confidence was the first step of opening new doors and relationships.

What You Can Do: Identify attitudes and practices that built success in your former culture and that will help you build success in the new one. How did you build your confidence previously? How did you overcome big challenges? How did you stay resilient in the face of setbacks? Find existing attitudes and strategies for success and you can re-set the energy, optimism and confidence that will underpin new success. Transferring existing strategies is the fastest way to play successfully in your new environment.

Use Your Versatility: When she traveled, A.J. easily learned new money, languages, foods, and social practices, but she lost that same curiosity and versatility when she arrived in her new work situation. Under new stress, she relied too much on her past experience and assumed that her old, familiar way was the “right” way. Too often, she ended up very wrong. She learned that she had to choose between her outdated understanding of “right” and using her versatility to discover how to become “effective” instead.

As an example, A.J.’s home culture valued mutual support so highly that asking others for help would have been insulting to them. The critical skill of explicitly setting accountabilities across her team was new and felt very awkward. Once she identified the mismatch of her culturally familiar “right” approach and what was “effective” in U.S. business, she used her versatility and quickly adjusted her practices to build productive teamwork.

What You Can Do: When struggling, zoom out. Step away and check how you would have handled a tough challenge in your former culture. Appreciate that the approach worked, there. If you used a practice you’d like to introduce in your new culture, teach it explicitly. Otherwise, examine your situation and find practices that work in your new culture. Identify people and approaches that create the impact you want. Practice and master these approaches. Most of all, set up a trusted support team to give you guidance, feedback and encouragement during your learning curve.

Label or Learn?: When things didn’t work, A.J. often blamed herself. Occasionally, her impatience overflowed and she criticized others. She simply couldn’t imagine why others didn’t think as she did and show the levels of drive, determination and responsibility that were so engrained in her personal operating habits. Whether directed inwards or outwards, A.J. saw that labeling, blaming and anger narrowed her creativity and locked in ineffective habits.
A.J. learned to consistently choose between labeling (i.e. calling herself or others wrong, inadequate, clueless, insensitive, etc.) and learning (i.e., refocusing on her goals, getting creative and building more effective approaches to leading in her new role.)

What You Can Do: Give up any belief that others are responsible for how you feel and react. You are in charge of your mind, emotions and responses. Learn to suspend and delay anger with yourself or others for just 3 minutes. Use this neutral “space” to create other options that serve your long-term purpose. Drop any labels and shift to creating possibilities. Ask others for help finding more constructive ways to move forward. Find at least three options for handling the situation and implement the best one.

Business Impact

I have successfully coached leaders from India, China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, South America, Africa, Russia, the former Soviet Union and Europe. Because of their unique experiences and insights, they became outstanding contributors and leaders. They have mentored others struggling to succeed in our global and fast-changing business world. They also have coached U.S. business leaders on how to bring out the best from others in cross-cultural situations.

What’s Next

If you are leading high-potential leaders in an unfamiliar culture and they are struggling to fulfill their potential, goals and dreams (or you are one of these people) and you’d like to accelerate success, a coaching program can make a big difference. Please call me for a free conversation to explore ideas that can support new effectiveness. I always welcome your referrals.

Liked the article? Didn’t like it? Have any questions? Drop me a line mkimbell@corporateadventure.com. I’d love to hear from you!

All the best,

Meredith Kimbell
Executive Advisor,Strategy Consultant
Corporate Adventure

Leadership Coaching Notes uses real or composite client examples drawn from 25 years of coaching and consulting with leaders committed to solving their toughest personal, interpersonal and organizational issues.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is copyrighted by Meredith Kimbell © 2011. All rights reserved. You may reprint any or all of this material if you include the following:
“Leadership Coaching Notes © 2011 Meredith Kimbell, Corporate Adventure, Reston, VA. Used with permission.”