Who Needs Cross-cultural Training ?

Scoop.it – Global Leaders

This article posted in  www.expatica.ru is giving a great overview about cross-cultural training

Expatriate failure is defined in literature in a variety of ways, with intentions to leave listed prominently

Anne Egros‘s insight:

Tailoring cross-cultural training programmes to the individual’s situation

Cross-cultural trainings should start by the selection of the best candidate for a specific international assignment. Succesful international leaders share some personality traits such as:

-Active listening skills

-Curiosity

-Emotional intellligence

-Global strategic thinking with understanding of local issues/market

-Influencer

-Life long learner

-Creative

-Diplomatic

Expectations and goals should be clearly defined as well as the key performance indicators including both contribution to local and global performance with in mind long-term impacts of the decisions taken during a short-term (2-3 years) mission. Including colleagues of the host country in the decision process is also a good idea.

Ideally, the family should be assessed too or at least get pre-departure cross-cultural trainings and transition coaching

See on www.expatica.ru

CONTACT US FOR A COMPLIMENTARY STRATEGIC CONSULTATION: Send Us Your Request

Related articles

• Researcher looks at cross-cultural issues in online communications (phys.org)

• Wanted: True Global Business Leaders ! (zestnzen.wordpress.com)

• Cross-cultural training is essential for expat spouses (iwasanexpatwife.com)

American Culture: The Non Vacation Nation

Who get the most paid vacation ? Check this list Minimum Employment Leave By Country

France is one extreme with minimum 5 weeks vacation up to 8 weeks when combined with various holidays and compensation time when you work more than 35 hours /week.

United States is the other extreme, being the only developed economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation or holidays. As a result, 1 in 4 U.S. workers do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays.

How does this translate in term of productivity ? You can see in this table compiled by the OECD on Labour productivity levels in the total economy  that France is very close to the US with GDP per hour worked as % of USA (USA=100) = 97.9

But does GDP a good indicator of well-being, quality of life and  happiness ?

What You Measure Affects What You Do-Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economics

The OECD has developed a tool called the Better Life Index using various parameters such as housing, jobs or health. They have designed an interesting interactive map that you can use to select the parameters that are important to you and compare how various countries perform: http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

So if you just take one parameter such as “life satisfaction” , the results are better for the U.S. than for France:

For the United States, the self-reported life satisfaction has been rising over the last decade. In recent polling, 70% were satisfied with their life and 80% believe that their life will be satisfying five years later. 76% of people in the United States reported having more positive experiences in an average day(feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc). This figure is higher than the OECD average of 72%.

For France, in recent polling, 51% were satisfied with their life and 64% believe that their life will be satisfying five years later. This is however a very low ranking when compared to other high-performing economies in the OECD. 73% of people in France reported having more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc). This figure is close to the OECD average of 72%.

The self-evaluation has some biases however as French are more critical and less prone to give positive feedback than the Americans.

You can also see the ranking of countries for work-life balance :  People in France people work 1554 hours a year, lower than the OECD average of 1739 hours. People in the United States work 1768 hours a year, higher than the OECD average of 1739 hours. In theory the less hours you work the better you can balance your life but this is not counting the fact that working more and getting paid more can help you buy some time and the United States has a great culture of services to individuals.

In Conclusion: Don’t rely on simple numbers to decide your next international assignment. There are so many cultural factors to include on top of economical data, that you better talk to people who have lived or are working in the country you are interested in to get some information. If your company does not provide pre-departure cultural training, you may need to hire an expat coach to help you make your decision. Here the link to the Expat Coaching Directory.

Personally I think the quality of life in the U.S. is better than France but lower than Japan

Real experience is what matters, can you tell your story about living abroad ?

Related Articles:

• “Do You Work Too Hard ? Some Cultural Perspectives” 
• Stiglitz: GDP Blinded Us to the Crisis
• OECD: France Needs More Austerity To Reach Deficit Targets (forexlive.com)

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Communication ?

This blog has been inspired by an article published  by Rana Sinha , How to understand cross-cultural analysis?. I have summarized Rana’s key ideas and added my own sources of information

Origins and Evolution of Cross-cultural Communication.

 Typically anthropologists and social scientists tend to study people and human behavior among exotic tribes and cultures living in far off places rather than do field work among white-collared literate adults in modern cities. Advances in communication and technology and socio-political changes started transforming the modern workplace yet there were no guidelines based on research to help people interact with other people from other cultures. To address this gap arose the discipline of cross-cultural analysis or cross-cultural communication. The main theories of cross-cultural communication draw from the fields of anthropology, sociology, communication and psychology and are based on value differences among cultures. Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Shalom Schwartz and Clifford Geertz are some of the major contributors in this field.

[The popular 'Iceberg model' of culture developed by Selfridge and Sokolik, 1975 and W.L. French and C.H. Bell in 1979, identifies a visible area consisting of behaviour or clothing or symbols and artifacts of some form and a level of values or an invisible level.]

What is culture ?

 A simpler definition is ‘the unwritten rules of the social game’.

Generally culture can be seen as consisting of three elements:

• Values - Values are ideas that tell what in life is considered important.
• Norms - Norms consists of expectations of how people should behave in different situations.
• Artefacts - Things or material culture – reflects the culture’s values and norms but are tangible and manufactured by man.

Most of people working with cross-cultural communication and intercultural training and coaching  have heard about the Five  Hofstede’s Intercultural Dimensions (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/).

Geert Hofstede defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another”. The “category” can refer to nations, regions within or across nations, ethnicities, religions, occupations, organizations, or the genders.

What Are The Five Hofstede’s Intercultural Dimensions ?

1. Power Distance : Measures inequality
2. Individualism: is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups
3. Uncertainty Avoidance : indicates to what extent people  feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations.
4. Masculinity/Feminity: Masculinity versus femininity, refers to the distribution of emotional roles between the genders
5. Long-Term Orientation: Long term oriented societies foster pragmatic virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular saving, persistence, and adapting to changing circumstances. Short-term oriented societies foster virtues related to the past and present such as national pride, respect for tradition, preservation of “face”,  and fulfilling social obligations.

What about the 5 Cultural Dimensions For the USA? 

If we explore the US culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of American culture relative to other world cultures.

Power distance: The United States score low on this dimension (40)  this translates the focus on equal rights in all aspects of American society and government. Within American organizations superiors are always accessible and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise.  Both managers and employees expect to be consulted and information is shared frequently.  At the same time, communication is informal, direct and participative.

Individualism: The United States, with a score of 91 on this dimension, is a highly individualistic culture.Individual freedom  is the most basic value that all Americans share. Individuals have control over their own destiny and they want to have free choices on every topics. Personal success is priority number one. Americans are expected to take initiative regarding education, employment, personal development or well-being. As a consequence, Americans are assertive and straightforward while interacting with others and sometimes labelled as arrogant by other cultures who value group interests over individual success. In the business world, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative.  Also, within the exchange-based world of work, hiring and promotion decisions are based on merit or evidence of what one has done or can do.

Masculinity/Feminity: The United States score 62 on this dimension and is considered a “masculine” society driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the “winner” or “best-in-the-field.” This value system starts in school and continues throughout one’s life – both in work and leisure pursuits.
There are strong shared values that people should “strive to be the best they can be” and that “the winner takes all”. As a result, Americans will tend to display and talk freely about their “successes” and achievements in life, here again, another basis for hiring and promotion decisions in the workplace. Typically, Americans “live to work” so that they can earn monetary rewards and obtain higher status based on how good one can be.  Conflicts are resolved at the individual level and the goal is to win.

Uncertainty avoidance: The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? The US scores 46 on this dimension and therefore, American society is what one would describe as “uncertainty accepting.” Consequently, there is a larger degree of acceptance for new ideas, innovative products and a willingness to try something new or different, whether it pertains to technology, business practices, or foodstuffs.  Americans tend to be more tolerant of ideas or opinions from anyone and allow the freedom of expression.  At the same time, Americans do not require a lot of rules and are less emotionally expressive than higher-scoring cultures.

Long-term orientation: The United States scores 29 on this dimension and is a short-term oriented culture.  American businesses measure their performance on a short-term basis, with profit and loss statements being issued on a quarterly basis.  This also drives individuals to strive for quick results within the work place.  There is also a need to have the “absolute truth” in all matters.

How France Compares with the US ?

Power distance: In France, hierarchy is needed the superiors may have privileges and are often inaccessible. The power is highly centralized in France. In management, the attitude towards managers is more formal, the information flow is hierarchical. The way information is controlled is even associated with power, therefore unequally distributed.  

Individualism: France scores high on the individualistic index but lower than the U.S.  This means that the French favor individual and private opinions, taking care of themselves and immediate family rather than belonging to a group. In the work environment, the relationship with work is contract based, the focus is on the task and autonomy is favored. The communication is direct  but much less than in the U.S.

Masculinity/Feminity With 43, France is a relatively Feminine country and so very different from the U.S.With its famous welfare system (securité sociale), their 35 working hours/week and 5 weeks holidays per year, France cares for its quality of life and focuses more on work in order to live than the reverse. Competition amongst work colleagues is usually not favored. Material signs of success, especially flashy ones, should not be too visible.

Uncertainty Avoidance: France has one the highest scores on the Uncertainty Avoidance Index. Certainty is reached through academic work and concepts. Teachings and trainings are more inductive. In management structure, rules and security are welcome and if lacking, it creates stress. Therefore planning is favored, some level of expertise welcome, when change policies on the other hand are considered stressful.

Long-term orientation: At 39 France is a short-term oriented society. This means a great respect for tradition as well as a need for norms and absolute truth as guidelines. In terms of business this short-term orientation focuses on quick results. Consumption is driven by immediate gratification, sensitivity to social trends and rituals.

Managing and organizational culture

Managing international business means handling both national and organization culture differences at the same time. Common organization cultures across borders are what holds multinationals together.The cultural differences between nations are especially found on the deepest level; i.e. on the level of values. In comparison, cultural differences among organisations are especially identified on the level of practices. Practices are more tangible than values. Organisational Culture can be defined as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one organisation from others”

Read more about building third culture teams: http://zestnzen.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/how-to-lead-highly-effective-third-culture-teams/

Aims of cross-cultural analysis

Cross-cultural communication or inter cultural communication looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds try to communicate. It also tries to produce some guidelines, which help people from different cultures to better communicate with each other. Culture has an interpretative function for the members of a group, which share that particular culture. Although all members of a group or society might share their culture, expressions of culture-resultant behavior are modified by the individuals’ personality, upbringing and life-experience to a considerable degree. Cross-cultural analysis aims at harnessing this utilitarian function of culture as a tool for increasing human adaptation and improving communication.

Cross-cultural management is seen as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters, which aims to discover tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miss-communication.

Beside Geert’s model, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) model expands the core level of the very basic two-layered model, rather than the outer level. In their view, culture is made up of basic assumptions at the core level. These ‘basic assumptions’ are somewhat similar to ‘values’ in the Hofstede model. Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner use seven dimensions for their model of culture:

• Universalism vs Particularism (what is more important – rules or relationships?)
• Individualism vs Communitarianism (do we function in a group or as an individual?)
• Neutral vs Emotional (do we display our emotions or keep them in check?)
• Specific vs Diffuse (how far do we get involved?)
• Achievement vs Ascription (do we have to prove ourselves to gain status or is it given to us just because we are a part of a structure?)
• Attitude to Time
  • Past- / present- / future-orientatedness
  • Sequential time vs Synchronic time(do we do things one at a time or several things at once?)

• Internal vs External Orientation (do we aim to control our environment or cooperate with it?)

Criticism of current models

One of the weaknesses of cross-cultural analysis has been the inability to transcend the tendency to equalize culture with the concept of the nation state. A nation state is a political unit consisting of an autonomous state inhabited predominantly by a people sharing a common culture, history, and language or languages. In real life, cultures do not have strict physical boundaries and borders like nation states. Its expression and even core beliefs can assume many permutations and combinations as we move across distances.

There is some criticism in the field that this approach is out of phase with global business today, with transnational companies facing the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using new communication technologies.

Some writers like Nigel Holden (2001) suggest an alternative approach, which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about org

Invent Your Future Job: Be Unique, Be Social, Be Global

The fast-paced changes of our societies have affected all industries and is changing the nature of work for the next 10 to 15 years. There are three major challenges for the workforce of the future increasing pressures on organizations to become innovation centered, highly productive and a magnet for global talent :

1-Shifting demographic patterns: Over the next 10 years, the world population is expected to rise from the current 6.83 billion to approximately 7.7 billion, with most of the growth in emerging markets generating  high economic growth. We already see an aging and declining population in developed countries with slow economic growth.  U.S. and European businesses are dealing with the challenges of a multi-generational workforce with three distinct generations Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Employers will need to develop highly individualized solutions to accommodate the career needs of each generation. We will not see long careers of 10 or more years in one company but maybe 6 years with either functional or geographic changes every 2 years. The youngest  generation  will probably have 15 to 20 jobs during their career and multiple jobs at the same time because that is what they want to do.

2-Rapid technology changes: From nanotechnologies to neuroscience discoveries, many new technologies will be developed and globalization will continue to drive the utilization of advanced mobile technologies reshaping the workforce with increased telecommuting,  virtual  teams and overall more work flexibility.

3-Economic globalization  In our information overloaded global work environment, knowledge is not a competitive advantage anymore as it goes out of date extremely fast and anybody on earth with an internet connection has access to it in real-time. The critical skills to be successful in the new working environment are vision and  foresight.to anticipate or respond to change very quickly, make wise decisions and take action now to create a better future.

More than a year ago,  I had the chance to listen to Seth Godin “live” in a promotional event in Antwerp about the launch of his book “Linchpin”. I collected about 10 very interesting new ideas from his speech that I posted on a blog : “TOP 10 Seth Godin’s Quotes Made in Antwerp, Belgium. April 1, 2010”

Seth Godin is the bestselling author of more than seven books. He writes about marketing, the spread of ideas and managing both customers and employees with respect. His idea about our current economy is that the current recession is a “forever recession” because it’s the end of the industrial age, which also means The end of the average worker (Read more : article )

Nobody will ever be the only one on the market AND people have an infinite ways to access information. Humans evolved from Hunters, Farmers, Workers and now they have to be Artists-Seth Godin

HOW DO YOU BECOME UNIQUE  ?

1-You don’t need to become somebody you are not. Your uniqueness has to be authentic, you need to know who you really are, what is your dominant character, talent, personality, skills, strengths, what motivates you, what’s your passions in life ? How is your  business acumen and leadership style ? Can you summarize all those information in a compelling story for potential employers or clients?

2-You need to remove blocks that prevent you to excel at being truly you: fears, unmet needs, negative self-talk, lack of training and anything that is holding you back.

3-You need a vision, a purpose and a road map: No matter how old you are, how life has treated you in the past, how much money you have or how many debts, you need to give permission to yourself to have dreams, explore your possibilities and identify your options. We all have choices but we need to use our imagination to see them. You need to let your right brain expresses emotional intelligence and free the artist in you. Once you know where you want to be, then put your strategic thinking at work to identify your goals strategy and action plan to get you there.

BE SOCIAL, BE GLOBAL !

You can’t stop globalization even if you close borders and build walls made with bricks and mortars ! The internet, and social media make the world smaller and smaller everyday. Maybe your company is based in the U.S. but  vendors might be in India, and customers in more than 40 countries. That’s why multinational companies need employees able to think globally but communicate locally with cultural sensitivity. I like to use the term “glocalization” to instill the idea that global products and services need to be designed in the early stages of research and development with cultural sensitivity too.

You cannot claim to be a global leader if you have visited many countries as a tourist. It is like learning swimming in a book, you need to get into the water and get wet .

If you are still in college, learn key languages maybe Mandarin, Spanish, Brazilian or Russian will be a good choice in today’s economy. Find an internship or a job abroad for minimum one year.

If you are already a manager employed in a multinational companies, become the first on the list to be picked-up for an international assignment by participating in global projects and working with multicultural teams.

Learning a new language should not depends on age, you don’t need to be fluent but it is important to understand how a language is structured to get some clues about cultural values and unspoken social rules or business etiquette. You can learn about the fundamental cultural dimensions from colleagues or local intercultural clubs and of course online through many specific forums and social media.

Continued learning in a large variety of topics every day will become mandatory.

Where do you see careers heading in 2012 and beyond ?

 Have you invented your future yet ?

Related articles:

• How Is Technology Impacting the Changes in the 21st Century Workplace?

• Can we find new love for an old job? (lisamtetzloff.wordpress.com)

The Grass On The Other Side Is Always Greener !

When you see how it can make things better, you get more interested in making the change happen.

(Spencer Johnson-Who Moved My Cheese?)

~~~~~~~

Five months ago we moved from Belgium to the U.S. because we decided to live in a place where we think  we will have more chances to be happy than in Europe where my husband and I were born. We do think the grass is definitively greener from this side of the Atlantic.  We think the education system in France is too rigid and focus on the negatives while we see the American culture more incline to do  praising and positive reinforcement at school or at work which make people more positive in life than focusing on the negative. In America people have an entrepreneurial spirit and we think just because the country is still the number one economy in the world that statistically  there are more opportunities here on several aspects of our life.

Some psychologists may perceive this attitude as not being able to be happy with what you have and  immature or even unhealthy,  but I challenge that idea because this thinking has also the power to make your life more extra-ordinary. This way of thinking is a strong motivator to change and it is a survival mode too when things turn bad. It is important to make choices without comparing what you have with what other people have in a negative way like being envious or jealous. You need to have an explorer mind to discover new ways of thinking or people who enrich your life.

I am an expatriate by choice because I do find more positive than negative to live abroad even after 12 moves, back and forth across the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. In a previous post, I explain that people who are overcoming obstacles in unknown environments like expatriates in new cultures develop more resilience .(See:  Are Expats More Resilient ? )

For sure you can make you own grass greener if you don’t take is for granted and continue to take care of it, putting water removing weeds. However, you won’t be able to bring the world diversity in your backyard easily. It is also hard to predict changes and adversity  like new bugs or weeds that will destroy your grass or the one on the other side of the fence,  but adapting to changes is about moving on and looking where the grass is greener.

Interestingly I hear very often  the same things from Americans thinking France and Western European countries are better in term of education, healthcare, employment and quality of life in general as opposed to what they think about their own country.

We all agree that our perception is our reality and thinking that you can start a new life in a new place and that sky has no limit, foster a great positive mindset and makes you do things other people think there are impossible.

Life IS change ! What do you think ?

Do you have a pioneer mind ?

Here a short movie about Spencer Johnson’s book  ”Who Moved My Cheese”

Is You Accent Ruining Your Career ?

An accent is a way of pronouncing a language in a certain group of people.. It is therefore impossible to speak without an accent. The influence of your accent on your career is not as important as it used to be before the era of globalization and internet where billions of people speak English as a non-native language. But do accents still matter? Absolutely, especially if it is interfering with you capability to communicate well with customers, peers or your boss.  Even a subtle accent can misrepresent you, and possibly even hurt your chances of getting hired.

TV , the internet and movies create stereotypes for both foreign and regional accents. There are many American accents, each with its own distinct stereotypes. Certain American accents carry the stereotypes of being “uneducated” or not suitable for a customer services or sales job. Some studies have shown that a south-east accent is the best one to get ahead in finance for example. Most people have negative attitudes toward Individuals with non-standard accents. Researchers consistently show that people with nonnative or foreign accents are judged as less intelligent, less competent and less educated.

In almost any business, it is an advantage to be a clear communicator, it doesn’t mean that you have to change your accent as long as people can listen to you effortlessly. Some result of experiments published in the ”Scientific American” Journal demonstrated that accent might reduce the credibility of non-native job seekers, court eyewitnesses, or college instructors for reasons that have nothing to do with xenophobia per se but instead related to “cognitive fluency” that means the brain preference for easy way to process information.

For people working in England for example:

Top 5 accents most likely to help your career:
1. Cambridge
2. Essex
3. Irish
4. London
5. Newcastle

Top 5 accents most likely to hinder your career
1. Glasgow
2. Birmingham
3. Manchester
4. Middlesbrough
5. London

For Foreigners living in North America certain accents are more “sexy” than others. In a new research study conducted jointly by the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, three thousand American men and women ranging in age from 18 to 54 were monitored to detect the attractiveness of different foreign accents. Here the results:

FOR MEN

1. Italian
2. French
3. Spanish
4. Southern
5. Greek

FOR WOMEN

1. Italian
2. Spanish
3. French
4. Greek
5. Irish

The impact of an accent is subjective, it depends on the context but you must be careful to express empathy with the person you talk to. For a job interview, you have to pay extra attention to your pronunciation the same way you should do about your body language and your clothes. In a previous article I spoke about the different meanings of colors in different cultures .The Power of Color In Doing Business Across Cultures, In another one I give some example of Facial Expressions Of Emotion Across Cultures  on how mimicking facial expressions helps you better communicate.

If people ask you too often to repeat what you are saying it might be a good idea to try to acquire the local pronunciation to be better understood. However accent is only one aspect of intercultural communication and its negative impact can be compensated by learning cultural traits and non-verbal gestures,

Here some tips for foreign people living in America to improve their communication skills in English without spending a fortune in accent reduction programs:

1.  Self-training by listening to recorded materials or podcasts
2. Listen to local radio and watch local news on TV
3. Join your local toastmaster group (usually the meetings are free) http://www.toastmasters.org/
4. Find networking groups with people sharing you interests (you can check Meetup groups for example)

Related resources:

• North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns
• Human Accents, the website about the science behind the way we speak 

What Skills To Look For Hiring Global Executives ?

The most difficult challenge for an expat executive like a country general manager is to be able to find congruence between various opposite interests in a highly complex environment (see picture above).

The expat executive must be able to deal with local issues such  as specific regulations and laws then explain clearly the specificity of local markets and “sell” his decisions vertically and horizontally. Be able to dismantle silos in a matrix-type organization, managing up with board members, making internal alliances with peers and encouraging bottom up initiatives from multicultural cross-functional teams.

As an expat and multicultural team leader who lived and worked for 20 years in more than 10 countries for various industries and different management functions, I have seen many successful expat executives sharing same characteristics that for me are key skills to look for when considering sending people to international assignments or hiring locals at senior management level :

1- Attitude: Look for people who are leading by influence, able to federate people across cultures, able to lead trans-functional and virtual teams worldwide. Suitable personalities have high EQ and are pragmatic, open, curious, learners, risk-takers, negotiators, diplomats.

2-Cultural Intelligence: Knowledge about local customs,cultural traits,norms,social and business etiquette. Basic “survival” language skill is enough in most cases as business is often conducted in English. Don’t make the mistake to hire a local manager because he can speak English, check his leadership and technical skills.

3-Mentoring and Coaching Skills Usually an expat is sent from the HQs to share some technical knowledge or implement global processes such as performance evaluation. In each case make sure the person is  able to “glocalize”  or adapt locally  the company’s global vision, mission, values and principles, One very good example of “glocalization” of corporate culture is Starbucks

The challenge for global companies is to be able to have the right process to assess people globally both for internal succession planning, talent management or hiring new managers. Three components should be considered:

1. Technical skills: operations, finance, markets, regulations, innovation, HR etc.
2.  Leadership style: Top-down, bottom-up, influence, networking, lobbying, foster creativity
3. Cultural intelligence: Group or individualistic cultures, knowledge of cultural dimensions, able to create a third culture team

10 Tips For Expat Executives and Their Families Returning Home

 

It is not a secret, It is very hard for expatriates, especially successful ones, to go back “home”.  I already described the emotional phases and grieving process most expat families experience when they return to their home country: Expat Life: Returning Home and the Grief Cycle

Here 10 tips on how to make your transition process as smooth as possible for you , your spouse and your children:

1. Reinforce that family core beliefs, values and principles are not built on geographic location and will be the same even if you your family members feel they became different persons after their experience abroad.

2. Don’t deny the pain of leaving and acknowledge emotions, understand that your spouse or your children might not have the same feelings than you about the move: they left friends behind, unfinished business, a mix of excitement and sadness, loss of routines and support systems, loss of self-esteem. Communicate often and give time to mourn.

3. Once back “home”, avoid speaking about your overseas experience : nobody cares and you can even get hostile responses to what is perceived  as “showing off” and bragging. This is true for adults and children when they meet with extended family members, people at work and other kids at school.

4. Meet other ex-expats families not only for you and your spouse but often third culture kids need to meet other children who share same expat experience regardless in which countries they lived.

5. Expatriation changed the way you think and behave, expect others to have changed too. Be open-minded and curious about their experiences.

6. Recognize that you need new routines and a new support network.

7. Balance family time, work time and respect individual needs. Each family member copes with transition at their own pace and need some space and time alone too.

8. Make an effort to reconnect with people in your organisation. You may have extended your international professional network while living abroad but try to meet more people locally, ask questions, look for people who share same interests. Network as if it would be a new country, especially if you have been expatriated for a long time.

9. Recognize that your interests and professional career changed  and will not necessarily evolve in the direction you thought before the expatriation. Find a good mentor or an executive coach to help you redefine your new career vision and goals and a solid action plan to reach your objectives. With a coach it is much easier to get motivated, keep looking forward, move on, be accountable and open your vision to new possibilities.

10. Focus more on the present, accept your new role, enjoy the positive of your new situation. Stop longing for the past.

How Cultures Impact The Brain and Expat Lives?

Image via Wikipedia

1-Basic concepts of cultural neurosciences

There is a lot of new research going on in the field of cultural neurosciences, looking at the relations existing between cultural dimensions and the brain’s activity referred by some scientists as  brain’s plasticity.

Tufts University psychologist  Dr Nalini Ambad conducted several studies suggesting that culture influences brain development.  In one of her article: Culture and the Brain,  she introduces the concept of culture mapping.:

Culture mapping can show how the same environment is processed differently by individuals from different cultures.

On the perception of self for example,  American and  Japanese people  have a totally different view. Americans tend to be assertive and put the individual first while Japanese put the harmony of the group at their first priority resulting in activation of different parts of the brain in social interactions.

There are at least three sources of cultural universals and differences: genetic commonality or difference, cultural learning mediated by brain plasticity, and the degree of similarity between cultural environments.

You can also listen to Dr Nalini Ambad podcast on “The Neuroscience of Culture.”

2-What are the implications for expatriates ?

• Selecting the right people for international assignments:  Global companies should start to look how to use that knowledge to select individuals who have the right cultural mindset and “wires” acquired through experiences abroad.

• What are the best ways  of teaching cross-cultural communication?

• Is there universal leadership skills ?

• Raising global citizens: The question that all expat parents should ask themselves is what is the true impact on the development of their children exposed to various cultures and languages  when the brain is at different stages of development ?

There is a lot more  unanswered questions regarding the future for our children (the TCKs) ? The long-term psychological impact for serial expats like me ? The role of social media and mobile technologies in the dissemination of universal values ?

Related Articles

• The What Why and How of Cultural Neuroscience – Part 1: What is Cultural Neuroscience? (culturalneuroscience.wordpress.com)

• Big in China Zeroes In on Expat Life (blogs.forbes.com)

How To Select A School Before Moving Abroad ?

In my previous article “How To Meet People You Don’t Know” I was talking how to overcome your  fears about networking with strangers and strategies to meet new friends in general.

In this article, I would like to be more specific and give some tips on meeting people before you move abroad focusing on getting information about schools . In many cases expats don’t have time to visit the schools physically, so my message to new expats is:  educate yourself as much as possible before putting your destiny in the hands of relocation companies or real estate agents who do not necessarily understand what is best for you as a foreigner.

If you Google : Living in or  moving to your “destination” you will get tons of general information from history, population, climate, visas, school systems, real estate, studying  and so on which is great but easily overwhelming and sometimes very subjective.

I know the feeling : you have everything you need right in front of you on the internet but you don’t know what fits YOUR NEEDS !  So you want to talk to real people and make personal contacts living in the places of your choice.

How To Choose A Place To Live  With Children? Searching criteria about schools and neighborhoods that match your needs  is the first thing you will need.

Here  some questions you may ask yourself:

• Do you want a public or a private school ?
• Looking for International Baccalaureate programs PYP, MYP or IB  ?Those programs are recognized around the world and ensure adaptability and mobility for IB students.
• Are you looking for a competitive or caring environment?
• Do you have kids with learning disability or ADHD ?
• Is the ratio student teacher important for you? for example in France 30 kids for 1 teacher is the norm
• What about the languages ?
• Do you want a religious school ?
• Do you need extended day care if you work ?
• Can you find your  children’s favorite sports and  after-school activities nearby ?
• Do you need school bus?
• What is the maximum time you want to spend on commute ?
• Do you need public transportation?
• How close is the nearest International airport?
• How long do you plan to stay ?
• Do you want to buy or rent a house or apartment?
• What is the  average home sale prices ? Even if you don’t buy you will pay local taxes and living in a $1 million  average sale district will cost you more than a 400,00 but may have better schools.
• How much are the local taxes ?

Before contacting anybody I suggest you put everything that you want and  that you don’t want  as well as an “I don’t know” in specific  lists.

Even if you want your children in private international schools, learn about the public school systems as in most cases your address will determine which schools you can go . This is the case in France and US for example. It is wise to live in a sector that has best rating public schools in case you need to become locals and cannot afford the high fee of an international school. On top of that, you want your kids to play with local kids and make sure you have a nice environment that suits your lifestyle

Once you have located the school districts look at homes that you can afford and are available for rent or to buy so you have your list ready to contact people living in the towns you think are a good fit for you.

You can get information directly from people living in your destination by posting questions on expat forums. I suggest you visit “expat expert” , Robin Pascoe’s website and look at her list of Links : http://www.expatexpert.com/ . Do not hesitate to engage  in personal conversations from people living in your target area who write a blog, post on Twitter, Facebook ,  Linkedin, Viadeo or Internations.org.

Here some information about school systems I have experimented with my son now in 3rd grade (CE2):

Schools In France: http://www.french-school-expat-guide.com

Schools In  Japan: Since most people who are first moving with family do not speak the local language, putting your child in a local Japanese school might not be possible. For young children however, if you cannot afford international schools and if you are working, I know a lot of  foreigners who put their children in local Japanese public daycare/preschools called  Hoikuen.  If you are students with kids, some universities have on campus nursery schools. You also need to check the enrollment procedures in your district(Ward). For older kids starting elementary schools and above,  you might check with your embassy resources about education.

• http://www.realestate-tokyo.com/info/school/
• http://www.tokyowithkids.com/fyi/international_schools.html

Schools and neighborhoods in the USA: It is amazing how much information is available as free public statistics: you can compare schools and towns based on People, Cost of Living, Economy, Ethnicity, Housing, Health, Crime, Climate,
Education, Transportation, Religion, Voting etc.

• http://www.greatschools.org/
• http://www.schooldigger.com/

Compare places to live:

• http://www.bestplaces.net/find/
• http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/

Related Articles

• 3 Steps To Reduce Relocation Stress (zestnzen.wordpress.com)
• Liz Perelstein, president of School Choice International wrote an article on how to find a school in New York