brit cham cc presentation

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


When Worlds Collide

“People there don’t work very hard and always ask for a pay raise. What should we do?”


Globalization was/is…

…the compression of the world and the intensification of the consciousness of the world as a whole


Challenge – We are the first truly global generation

For many of us that means learning skills that are very new.


Multicultural Teams are Outliers

Highly Ineffective

Highly Effective

Average Effectiveness

Multicultural teamsMulticultural teams

Monocultural Teams


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)


Globalized Businesses in a Global-Minded World


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


Case 1: How Do We Build Credibility & Trust Here?


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


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


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?


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?


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


Case 2:What got you here won’t get you there…

Facilitation skills for face-to-face meetings


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.


The Problem With Face to Face

and Global Teams


Applying Culture Neutral Skills


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


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


Case 3: Promoting Diversity as a

Bridge to Team Performance


Where Do You Belong?


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)


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


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


For Further Information

For more about how to improve intercultural effectiveness:

Email me at:

[email protected]

Or find me on wechat

mailto:[email protected]

brit cham cc presentation

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