Building International Competence

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Understanding and working with people from different cultures is not always easy or comfortable. The megaphone diplomacy currently being conducted between 'the West' and 'the Arab World' represents a real and dangerous breakdown of understanding and communication between different cultures.

At a business level, research shows that things can easily go wrong as well. In the rush to capitalise on the new opportunities offered by the global market, failure rates for overseas postings can be as high as 70% and typically run between 15 and 25%. (McKinsey Quarterly, 1999 Number 3, pp70 - 83.)

And expatriate employees are just the tip of the iceberg. The challenges of finding people who will succeed in an international setting and providing them with the preparation they need to become effective are considerable. What makes a successful international manager, and how can potential candidates be helped to transfer their skills into an international arena? Good managers operating in a familiar context combine a range of interpersonal and other skills with deep local knowledge in a way that enables them to reach their goals successfully. Outside of that familiar setting, however, these learnt behaviours simply may not work any more. So how can they regain control and become effective again in the new environment? Companies and other organisations often underestimate the investment required to make such transitions go smoothly.

Which approach works?

To address these issues, organisations have adopted a number of different approaches. For senior levels, organisations sometimes provide assistance at a more conceptual level by providing training and development that enhances understanding of how cultures differ from each other on a number of scales. These scales relate to how different cultures, perhaps for historical reasons, have found different solutions to key problems that all societies must resolve in one way or another. For example, are aspects of individualism, such as competition and self-reliance, highly valued or are communal values, such as cooperation and public service, regarded as the source of pride and progress? When the contact is more limited, perhaps with people from a specific country and for a specific purpose, then assistance is sometimes offered in the form of a country or business briefing. Language training is often provided by employers where deep immersion for a prolonged period in a culture which does not use English as a first language is in prospect.

Developing Personal Skills

All these approaches are useful in the right context, but individuals facing the prospect of working internationally often need additional support in areas of personal development. In this context, a competency-based tool is likely to be useful in helping people understand what personal skills and qualities they need to develop and what strategies they need to adopt.

One company, WorldWork Ltd - specialists in international management development - has identified a set of core competencies required for working in unfamiliar cultures. Such attributes as flexibility, resilience and openness are the key to dealing with the unpredictability and the ambiguity of what happens day-by-day and minute-by-minute in unfamiliar settings.

On-line Help

To help people assess for themselves where their development needs in this respect are, WorldWork has created an on-line questionnaire and feedback process - 'The International Profiler'. It helps an individual understand where their relative strengths and weaknesses are in relation to ten core international competencies and provides practical guidance, supported by coaching and training as necessary, in how to improve where any specific weaknesses are identified. The process helps people to gain an understanding of how they will cope when faced with challenges, for example, to their motivation, to their ability to communicate effectively and recover from setbacks or to drive their agenda in an unfamiliar setting.

who says what...

Nigel Ewington, course leader of the University of Cambridge's Diploma in Intercultural Management says, "Until now there has been very little in terms of a structured development process that can enable a manager to understand how the 'gap effect' of working across cultures might affect him or her at a personal level and how he or she can fill this gap in areas of need. The International Profiler performs this function very effectively."

Paul Flowers, Design Manager with Electrolux in Italy, says "The International Profiler is an excellent team building tool - both in identifying the competences you lack and in bringing out and building on the skills you have within your team. It is also ideal for putting your own skills into context and preparing for forthcoming assignments."

In an increasingly inter-connected world, these international competencies represent important life skills that we all need if we are to lessen the tensions and misunderstandings at all levels - from the individual to the international.