You’ve been given the task of preparing your team for deployment in a new foreign market. Do you have a checklist for preparing them to be aware of differences in cultural norms and protocols? Is knowing the language a necessity or not? How will the employee’s family adjust, and how do I measure success beyond the internal and administrative costs? The case for Cultural Intelligence Training and mobility is becoming a hot topic this year among global organizations, whether they deploy people for temporary or permanent positions.
Matching the right employee to the right assignment is just one of the elements of a successful optimization of your global mobility scheme. From the choice of the employee to the support once deployed, a cultural intelligence framework can enhance the employer’s ability to choose the right person and team for the assignment, and provide them with the proper support to reduce the risk of loss and retention. Employee benefits packages should take into consideration not only the economic incentives to a foreign assignment but the career development and personal growth that comes with a Cultural Intelligence skill-building plan.
Recently, we assisted a large Fortune 500 company with its deployment of a new CEO from Europe to the Middle East. They took great care in making sure that not only the employee received an induction about the cultural norms and protocols that can be expected in business, but helping his family get acquainted to the local culture through activities and educational information. Having the proper knowledge is key, but learning how your own cultural lens can affect your interacts within your new environment is just as important, and quite frankly where cultural intelligence is most critical.
Our advise when onboarding expats or deploying people and teams in new markets can be expressed in the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
- Choose the right employee for the right assignment, and that doesn’t always mean the best credentials or experience.
- Look for employees who are genuinely interested in the position beyond the compensation
- Measure people skills and openness with cultural intelligence
- Look at the whole picture, including family accompanying the candidate as well as if family will be left behind and how they will cope