June 19, 2024 โข 19 mins
Expecting a "red carpet" welcome when relocating abroad? Think again. Join us on "Two Chaps Many Cultures" as we dismantle the common myths that expats face and highlight the importance of cultural intelligence in ensuring seamless integration. We'll share our personal experiences and insights into how organizations can either support or obstruct this process, depending on their cultural training strategies. Learn about the different leadership styles and how to manage expectations to minimize friction and foster a harmonious work environment. Together, we'll explore how mutual cultural learning is key to successful transitions and effective teamwork.
In this episode, we also challenge the misconception that all team members in a host location share the same cultural behavior. Dive into the rich tapestry of global workplace dynamics with us as we stress the importance of cultural training for both expats and home country nationals.ย Whether you're an expat, an HR professional, or involved in global mobility, this episode offers invaluable insights into managing expectations and responsibilities for host country nationals
๐๐ฌ๐ค ๐พ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ โ ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฎ ๐พ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐๐จ is the worldโs #1 show on the business of culture and the culture of business. Christian Hรถferle and Brett Parry ponder culture in short bursts and deep dives, featuring your questions and comments related to culture, business, and personal growth.
Be sure to check out and subscribe to our YouTube channel for even more great content: https://www.youtube.com/@TwoChapsManyCultures
Visit https://theculturemastery.com/ for more information about the skills for working in a global context.
The music on this episode is provided courtesy of Sepalot.
โDuum Diipโ - Artist: Sepalot - Label: Eskapaden - Copyright control
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello globally mobile professionals, hey HR people,
hey global mobility people, allof you who are dealing with
professionals who go around theworld.
You know us because we talkabout the expat world quite a
bit.
So as you go abroad, what doyou expect?
The red carpet treatment.
(00:20):
Think again.
That might not happen.
Maybe it does, but don't counton it, because just because
you're special and going abroaddoesn't mean that the people
you're going to work with on theground at the location you're
going to will be just waitingfor you to arrive.
(00:40):
There might be some myths youhave been told that we're ready
to poke a hole into.
Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Welcome to 2Chaps Many Cultures.
In an increasingly globallyconnected world, it is vital to
possess the essential skills ofcultural intelligence.
Listen along as we present thetopics, tips and strategies you
can use to develop the power ofcultural understanding in your
personal and professional life.
(01:10):
Here are your hosts ChristianHuffala and Brett Parry.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Welcome back everybody to Two Chaps.
Many Cultures, the only show,the number one show on the globe
for I don't know where.
Too much culture is barelyenough.
And that's us, and we'rerolling out the red carpet for
you, but that may not always bethe case.
Mate, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Bloody fantastic Red carpets.
They're only red because somany people who walked it before
you have been slain on theshores of expat.
Conquest Doesn't work like that, people, and we've seen this in
our work for many, many timesand in many different scenarios
(01:57):
with the clients that we workwith.
There is this expectation I'mgoing abroad.
It will be fantastic.
My company is supporting ourmove.
There's all this logisticalhelp.
Hey, we're getting culturallyprepared, because Brett and
Christian talked to us about thechanges in behavior we are
about to experience.
(02:18):
When we get there, fantasticGood on you, as Brett might say,
and much success to you in yournew location.
That's what we're here now.
There's one factor you may havenot considered as much as you
probably should, and which wouldthat be?
(02:38):
Brett?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
well, of course, if you're, the basic thing was that
, as Christian, we might provideyou, others might provide you
with cultural training, culturalawareness, but, of course, the
assumption that you're justcoming to a new country and that
another part is that you mightassume that your host country
nationals are going to open upthe red carpet.
(03:03):
As we said, they're not goingto slay you hopefully, no,
that's not the case at all.
They're certainly going to bewelcoming and they're going to
be enjoying your company.
But there are certain mythsthat we think that might apply
here, and that might be thatthey're just waiting for you.
Nothing has been done beforeyou turn up.
(03:23):
It might be that they areexpected to give you support,
drop everything they do and andjust be at your beck and call,
at least for the first fewmonths, so that they can support
you.
You may also just assume thatthey've also got enough cultural
knowledge and understandingalready about you as a person,
and that's what we're talkingabout, I guess the opportunity
to not only learn yourself butunderstand what learning what
already about you as a person,and that's what we're talking
(03:44):
about, I guess.
Uh, the opportunity to not onlylearn yourself but understand
what learning, what culturallearning has been done for the
host people that you're about tostart engaging with, and they
deserve they are deserving ofjust as much support as anybody
else too yeah, and I've workedwith corporations that fall on
(04:07):
both ends of this spectrum as wetalk about this.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I've worked for organizations where only the
expat population receivedcultural preparation for their
workplace adjustment workplaceadjustment and I think it showed
in the results of the teamsthat this mobility, talent
mobility created in thatorganization.
(04:32):
And I've worked for otherorganizations where not only did
the company provide trainingfor the expats who went on
assignment, it also prepared thereceiving locals in the host
location for the arrival oftheir new colleagues from abroad
.
And that preparation can takeon various forms and we can
(04:58):
argue about which might be thebest form for doing that.
I think the most importantfactor is that the organization,
that the company, took sometime to think about this and
realize that it's not only theexpats and their household
members that will go throughchanges.
It's also the receiving teamwho will have to incorporate a
(05:21):
new team member and it's just adifferent game than hiring
somebody locally to augment theteam.
No, there's somebody comingfrom abroad who comes with a set
of expectations, and maybe thehost country nationals also have
a set of expectations in thatexpat.
That may or may not pan outright.
(05:42):
It's very often a mismatch ofexpectations in the first couple
of weeks and months that leadto friction, both for expats and
the teams that they enter.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, we think about styles.
Just for example, if you'recoming as a leader, as somebody
who's going to be influential ina team, then you want to
understand what they expect asor from a leader.
Because you may come from anenvironment where you're more
hierarchical and used to thattop-down decision-making and
having people kind of directlyreport to you without any
(06:21):
lateral move at all, and youmight then be coming into an
environment where it's very flatand you're expected to engage
with all kinds of people atdifferent levels of the
organization and some peoplemight just bypass you at certain
stages.
So, being comfortable with thatand understanding that, if you
bring your style withoutknowledge, without understanding
(06:41):
what your style is, they'regoing to be very lost pretty
quick and you cause friction,you cause unease.
You also, if it's a risk-averseculture, you also might
absolutely be implying orapplying more risk than they're
comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And I mean obviously, if you're listening to this and
you are an expat yourself and Imean obviously if you're
listening to this and you are anexpat yourself, most likely
you're not the type of teammember that I'm about to
describe now.
But maybe you've experiencedthese characters who think that
(07:28):
because they are on an expatassignment, that means that they
are very good at something thatvery few other people can do
the same way.
So they have a sense ofself-importance as they go
abroad and that shines throughtheir behavior as they enter
their new team.
That is exactly what the hostcountry nationals are.
Well, how do I say thispolitely?
(07:50):
Not waiting for right.
They've been doing stuff beforeyou came right.
They were hired for a reason.
They were not just sitting idlywaiting for you to arrive to
show them how it's really done,and I think it's a fallacy that,
(08:11):
or it's.
It's also a trap.
It's a convenient misconceptiontrap that, as an expat, you
enter a location thinking, well,my team members on the ground
in my host location, they're allfrom that same culture, so
they're all kind of like thesame.
They're all all the Italiansare, all the Americans are like
(08:33):
and I'm going to be working witheverybody that's very similar
in their behavior and the truthcouldn't be much different than
that.
Right, because you will workwith people who may be repats.
Your home country nationals mayhave been on an expat assignment
ten years ago to your countryperhaps, and now they're back in
(08:55):
their home country location andthey're probably going to be
your best ally.
If you only took time torealize there might be people
who speak multiple languages atyour host location, they might
be your best interpreters, yourbest team members to relay
information out to the greaterteam.
(09:16):
You may have people who havenever dealt with a foreign
national and will need to beworked with in a different
manner, and it's up to you torecognize that.
And it's up to you, to theemployer, to the multinational
organization, to provide notonly the expat with the
(09:36):
preparation of behavioral change, but the entire global team.
And we've seen the best resultsin our work with companies who
apply this information that weshare with our clients on
multiple ends of the team, notjust the ones that they're
sending abroad.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
So what can we do about this?
Well, obviously, the culturaltraining that we might provide
you before you leave certainlyis one aspect of it.
But then understand, as you'reentering, you may actually have
to be that promoter of culturaltraining or cultural
understanding for your hostcountry nationals, because you
can then become a transmitter, atranslator of cultural
(10:20):
awareness and encouraging that,if it's not provided
automatically by the company orthe local location you're in,
you could be the one to startthat.
Do come with humility to yourhost country and already, with
the expectation that I am hereto learn as much as I am here to
(10:43):
teach, and we can both, as ateam, as a global group, work
together to understand whatcultural differences and
dynamics are at work in the team, right at work in the team.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Right.
I in fact had the pleasure ofworking with a client actually
with a couple of clients in mycareer of doing so.
That made it a priority toprovide the cultural
intelligence education for theheadquarter team that never left
headquarters.
So these team members neverbecame expats, they never
(11:19):
received expats.
They never received expats.
They were the headquarterworkers or team members and they
did have Zoom, microsoft Teams,email, phone call, interaction
with the multiple locationsaround the world and they, to
benefit a whole, benefited awhole lot from learning about
(11:41):
different work styles, not onlytheir expat colleagues.
And the reason why we're talkingabout this is because we came
across an article published inHarvard Business Review not too
long ago, written by aresearcher from New Zealand
whose name I might probablymispronounce, so forgive me for
(12:02):
doing that.
I think her name is ZnajinaMichailova and she is a
professor at Auckland BusinessSchool in New Zealand, and in
her article, in which she buststhose common myths about expats
and their home country nationalcolleagues, she points out that
(12:24):
for 50 studies done about workstyles abroad, expat life,
cultural adjustment in theglobal workplace for every 50
studies around the expat world,only one study is available for
how home country nationals areadjusting in a global work world
(12:47):
.
There's a, let's say, a blindspot in research about this and
she's, I think, on the thecutting edge of shedding light
or putting a spotlight into thatblind spot.
And so are we, because thatstudy basically sings our song,
both Brett and I.
We've seen this happen so manytimes in global organizations,
(13:10):
that if the company is toomyopic and focuses only on the
expat services and the expatcomfort and success rate and
neglects the part that is thereceiving part, in whatever host
country location, that is amissed opportunity and a
(13:30):
stumbling block that you putthere by design, by ignoring
these myths.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
That's an astounding statistic really.
It really is.
It's not a blind spot, it's atripwire.
It's like how do you expectpeople to receive an expat?
And I mean it's unfair to bothsides.
It really is because you'rejust not giving or setting an
equal balance of power.
There's power involved here,especially different leadership
(14:01):
styles, power distance and powerdynamics, and you're setting a
completely unbalancedexpectation.
So I think it's.
You know there should be morestudies about that but the great
why do we need to wait forstudies?
We're certainly empowered asprofessionals in our
organizations to take theinitiative and tell people about
(14:23):
the importance, whether it bein the talent development part
of your business, whether it bein the global mobility part of
your business, just organicallyin the operation of the team
that you're working in.
Surely it's got to be a betterjob done of that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And I think it's a natural progression from the
image of the global worker.
Right, the expat 30, 40 yearsago was the superstar in any
multinational corporation.
It was the overachiever.
It was the overachiever.
Now, in the 2020s, being on anexpat assignment has become a
(15:03):
regular career building block.
You're nothing special anymorejust because you're going abroad
.
In fact, employees incompetitive labor markets are
looking for exactly those jobsthat will allow them to go on an
international assignment.
So the expat is not, per se,the special superstar any longer
(15:28):
.
Right, and as we progress, or asour global work world has
evolved to this, as there are somany moving pieces, moving
parts, moving goods and services, it's only natural to recognize
that the host country locationis no longer the developing
(15:48):
market.
And I think this is where thatblind spot originally came from,
because we sent expats intodeveloping markets Very often.
Now what used to be developingmarkets are the exact markets
that keep the home countryheadquarter afloat, because
maybe the domestic market isn'tdoing all that well and the what
used to be the quote unquotedeveloping market is now very
(16:09):
much developed and is carryingmore than its own weight and, as
such, home country nationalsare very well established, very
well educated, trained and in ahighly competitive market
themselves.
Thanks for that study, thankyou for bringing that to our
attention and prompting us to doa whole episode around this.
(16:29):
And if you work in a globalmultinational organization, let
that be your warning call.
It's not just the ones you sendaway, it's the whole global
team that you want to haveculture, savvy, culture, ready
to form efficient and effectivemultinational, multicultural,
(16:51):
global teams.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yep, it's a whole hill of beans, as they say, and
we certainly look forward tohearing your comments.
If you're in a team and you'vebeen in that position where
you've turned up and had certainexpectations of the local
nationals and some of thoseexpectations have been
challenged, we'd love to hearyour experience there to share
it with the community that we'rebuilding here.
(17:14):
This is Two Chaps, manyCultures, and we are the number
one show on the planet when itcomes to this stuff, the show
where too much culture is barelyenough.
Don't forget, hit the subscribebutton.
I mean, it doesn't preclude youfrom commenting, but we'd
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And listen to the podcast version right?
Did we mention the podcast?
We have a podcast of this, soyou don't have to look at us.
You can torture only your ears,not your eyes.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
and torture only your ears, not your eyes, absolutely
Podcasts on all of the bestplatforms, wherever best
podcasts can be found.
And yeah, so you know we'rejust in the summer months here.
I know we'd like to do thisevergreen wherever you're
listening to us.
We're in the summer months.
Here I happen to be, you mightnotice, in an undisclosed
(18:05):
location.
Let this be a little bit of ahint it may or may not be a
place where you buy baguettes.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Where's the fromage?
I only believe you've justfromaged.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
You're giving it away .
We should have a competition,actually, Maybe.
Where in the hell is Christianand Brett today?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Well, let's play that game All right.
You enjoy, wherever you are,undisclosed locations and make
sure you train your people right.
Global mobility, people, allright.
Any global organization.
Give your employees what theyneed to succeed and with this,
two chaps, many cultures.
(18:48):
We're out for now.
See you next week.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
See you guys.
Bye.
Hello globally mobile professionals, hey HR people,
hey global mobility people, allof you who are dealing with
professionals who go around theworld.
You know us because we talkabout the expat world quite a
bit.
So as you go abroad, what doyou expect?
The red carpet treatment.
(00:20):
Think again.
That might not happen.
Maybe it does, but don't counton it, because just because
you're special and going abroaddoesn't mean that the people
you're going to work with on theground at the location you're
going to will be just waitingfor you to arrive.
(00:40):
There might be some myths youhave been told that we're ready
to poke a hole into.
Let's do that.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Welcome to 2Chaps Many Cultures.
In an increasingly globallyconnected world, it is vital to
possess the essential skills ofcultural intelligence.
Listen along as we present thetopics, tips and strategies you
can use to develop the power ofcultural understanding in your
personal and professional life.
(01:10):
Here are your hosts ChristianHuffala and Brett Parry.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Welcome back everybody to Two Chaps.
Many Cultures, the only show,the number one show on the globe
for I don't know where.
Too much culture is barelyenough.
And that's us, and we'rerolling out the red carpet for
you, but that may not always bethe case.
Mate, how are you today?
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Bloody fantastic Red carpets.
They're only red because somany people who walked it before
you have been slain on theshores of expat.
Conquest Doesn't work like that, people, and we've seen this in
our work for many, many timesand in many different scenarios
(01:57):
with the clients that we workwith.
There is this expectation I'mgoing abroad.
It will be fantastic.
My company is supporting ourmove.
There's all this logisticalhelp.
Hey, we're getting culturallyprepared, because Brett and
Christian talked to us about thechanges in behavior we are
about to experience.
(02:18):
When we get there, fantasticGood on you, as Brett might say,
and much success to you in yournew location.
That's what we're here now.
There's one factor you may havenot considered as much as you
probably should, and which wouldthat be?
(02:38):
Brett?
Speaker 3 (02:40):
well, of course, if you're, the basic thing was that
, as Christian, we might provideyou, others might provide you
with cultural training, culturalawareness, but, of course, the
assumption that you're justcoming to a new country and that
another part is that you mightassume that your host country
nationals are going to open upthe red carpet.
(03:03):
As we said, they're not goingto slay you hopefully, no,
that's not the case at all.
They're certainly going to bewelcoming and they're going to
be enjoying your company.
But there are certain mythsthat we think that might apply
here, and that might be thatthey're just waiting for you.
Nothing has been done beforeyou turn up.
(03:23):
It might be that they areexpected to give you support,
drop everything they do and andjust be at your beck and call,
at least for the first fewmonths, so that they can support
you.
You may also just assume thatthey've also got enough cultural
knowledge and understandingalready about you as a person,
and that's what we're talkingabout, I guess the opportunity
to not only learn yourself butunderstand what learning what
already about you as a person,and that's what we're talking
(03:44):
about, I guess.
Uh, the opportunity to not onlylearn yourself but understand
what learning, what culturallearning has been done for the
host people that you're about tostart engaging with, and they
deserve they are deserving ofjust as much support as anybody
else too yeah, and I've workedwith corporations that fall on
(04:07):
both ends of this spectrum as wetalk about this.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I've worked for organizations where only the
expat population receivedcultural preparation for their
workplace adjustment workplaceadjustment and I think it showed
in the results of the teamsthat this mobility, talent
mobility created in thatorganization.
(04:32):
And I've worked for otherorganizations where not only did
the company provide trainingfor the expats who went on
assignment, it also prepared thereceiving locals in the host
location for the arrival oftheir new colleagues from abroad
.
And that preparation can takeon various forms and we can
(04:58):
argue about which might be thebest form for doing that.
I think the most importantfactor is that the organization,
that the company, took sometime to think about this and
realize that it's not only theexpats and their household
members that will go throughchanges.
It's also the receiving teamwho will have to incorporate a
(05:21):
new team member and it's just adifferent game than hiring
somebody locally to augment theteam.
No, there's somebody comingfrom abroad who comes with a set
of expectations, and maybe thehost country nationals also have
a set of expectations in thatexpat.
That may or may not pan outright.
(05:42):
It's very often a mismatch ofexpectations in the first couple
of weeks and months that leadto friction, both for expats and
the teams that they enter.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Yeah, we think about styles.
Just for example, if you'recoming as a leader, as somebody
who's going to be influential ina team, then you want to
understand what they expect asor from a leader.
Because you may come from anenvironment where you're more
hierarchical and used to thattop-down decision-making and
having people kind of directlyreport to you without any
(06:21):
lateral move at all, and youmight then be coming into an
environment where it's very flatand you're expected to engage
with all kinds of people atdifferent levels of the
organization and some peoplemight just bypass you at certain
stages.
So, being comfortable with thatand understanding that, if you
bring your style withoutknowledge, without understanding
(06:41):
what your style is, they'regoing to be very lost pretty
quick and you cause friction,you cause unease.
You also, if it's a risk-averseculture, you also might
absolutely be implying orapplying more risk than they're
comfortable with.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
And I mean obviously, if you're listening to this and
you are an expat yourself and Imean obviously if you're
listening to this and you are anexpat yourself, most likely
you're not the type of teammember that I'm about to
describe now.
But maybe you've experiencedthese characters who think that
(07:28):
because they are on an expatassignment, that means that they
are very good at something thatvery few other people can do
the same way.
So they have a sense ofself-importance as they go
abroad and that shines throughtheir behavior as they enter
their new team.
That is exactly what the hostcountry nationals are.
Well, how do I say thispolitely?
(07:50):
Not waiting for right.
They've been doing stuff beforeyou came right.
They were hired for a reason.
They were not just sitting idlywaiting for you to arrive to
show them how it's really done,and I think it's a fallacy that,
(08:11):
or it's.
It's also a trap.
It's a convenient misconceptiontrap that, as an expat, you
enter a location thinking, well,my team members on the ground
in my host location, they're allfrom that same culture, so
they're all kind of like thesame.
They're all all the Italiansare, all the Americans are like
(08:33):
and I'm going to be working witheverybody that's very similar
in their behavior and the truthcouldn't be much different than
that.
Right, because you will workwith people who may be repats.
Your home country nationals mayhave been on an expat assignment
ten years ago to your countryperhaps, and now they're back in
(08:55):
their home country location andthey're probably going to be
your best ally.
If you only took time torealize there might be people
who speak multiple languages atyour host location, they might
be your best interpreters, yourbest team members to relay
information out to the greaterteam.
(09:16):
You may have people who havenever dealt with a foreign
national and will need to beworked with in a different
manner, and it's up to you torecognize that.
And it's up to you, to theemployer, to the multinational
organization, to provide notonly the expat with the
(09:36):
preparation of behavioral change, but the entire global team.
And we've seen the best resultsin our work with companies who
apply this information that weshare with our clients on
multiple ends of the team, notjust the ones that they're
sending abroad.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
So what can we do about this?
Well, obviously, the culturaltraining that we might provide
you before you leave certainlyis one aspect of it.
But then understand, as you'reentering, you may actually have
to be that promoter of culturaltraining or cultural
understanding for your hostcountry nationals, because you
can then become a transmitter, atranslator of cultural
(10:20):
awareness and encouraging that,if it's not provided
automatically by the company orthe local location you're in,
you could be the one to startthat.
Do come with humility to yourhost country and already, with
the expectation that I am hereto learn as much as I am here to
(10:43):
teach, and we can both, as ateam, as a global group, work
together to understand whatcultural differences and
dynamics are at work in the team, right at work in the team.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Right.
I in fact had the pleasure ofworking with a client actually
with a couple of clients in mycareer of doing so.
That made it a priority toprovide the cultural
intelligence education for theheadquarter team that never left
headquarters.
So these team members neverbecame expats, they never
(11:19):
received expats.
They never received expats.
They were the headquarterworkers or team members and they
did have Zoom, microsoft Teams,email, phone call, interaction
with the multiple locationsaround the world and they, to
benefit a whole, benefited awhole lot from learning about
(11:41):
different work styles, not onlytheir expat colleagues.
And the reason why we're talkingabout this is because we came
across an article published inHarvard Business Review not too
long ago, written by aresearcher from New Zealand
whose name I might probablymispronounce, so forgive me for
(12:02):
doing that.
I think her name is ZnajinaMichailova and she is a
professor at Auckland BusinessSchool in New Zealand, and in
her article, in which she buststhose common myths about expats
and their home country nationalcolleagues, she points out that
(12:24):
for 50 studies done about workstyles abroad, expat life,
cultural adjustment in theglobal workplace for every 50
studies around the expat world,only one study is available for
how home country nationals areadjusting in a global work world
(12:47):
.
There's a, let's say, a blindspot in research about this and
she's, I think, on the thecutting edge of shedding light
or putting a spotlight into thatblind spot.
And so are we, because thatstudy basically sings our song,
both Brett and I.
We've seen this happen so manytimes in global organizations,
(13:10):
that if the company is toomyopic and focuses only on the
expat services and the expatcomfort and success rate and
neglects the part that is thereceiving part, in whatever host
country location, that is amissed opportunity and a
(13:30):
stumbling block that you putthere by design, by ignoring
these myths.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
That's an astounding statistic really.
It really is.
It's not a blind spot, it's atripwire.
It's like how do you expectpeople to receive an expat?
And I mean it's unfair to bothsides.
It really is because you'rejust not giving or setting an
equal balance of power.
There's power involved here,especially different leadership
(14:01):
styles, power distance and powerdynamics, and you're setting a
completely unbalancedexpectation.
So I think it's.
You know there should be morestudies about that but the great
why do we need to wait forstudies?
We're certainly empowered asprofessionals in our
organizations to take theinitiative and tell people about
(14:23):
the importance, whether it bein the talent development part
of your business, whether it bein the global mobility part of
your business, just organicallyin the operation of the team
that you're working in.
Surely it's got to be a betterjob done of that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And I think it's a natural progression from the
image of the global worker.
Right, the expat 30, 40 yearsago was the superstar in any
multinational corporation.
It was the overachiever.
It was the overachiever.
Now, in the 2020s, being on anexpat assignment has become a
(15:03):
regular career building block.
You're nothing special anymorejust because you're going abroad
.
In fact, employees incompetitive labor markets are
looking for exactly those jobsthat will allow them to go on an
international assignment.
So the expat is not, per se,the special superstar any longer
(15:28):
.
Right, and as we progress, or asour global work world has
evolved to this, as there are somany moving pieces, moving
parts, moving goods and services, it's only natural to recognize
that the host country locationis no longer the developing
(15:48):
market.
And I think this is where thatblind spot originally came from,
because we sent expats intodeveloping markets Very often.
Now what used to be developingmarkets are the exact markets
that keep the home countryheadquarter afloat, because
maybe the domestic market isn'tdoing all that well and the what
used to be the quote unquotedeveloping market is now very
(16:09):
much developed and is carryingmore than its own weight and, as
such, home country nationalsare very well established, very
well educated, trained and in ahighly competitive market
themselves.
Thanks for that study, thankyou for bringing that to our
attention and prompting us to doa whole episode around this.
(16:29):
And if you work in a globalmultinational organization, let
that be your warning call.
It's not just the ones you sendaway, it's the whole global
team that you want to haveculture, savvy, culture, ready
to form efficient and effectivemultinational, multicultural,
(16:51):
global teams.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Yep, it's a whole hill of beans, as they say, and
we certainly look forward tohearing your comments.
If you're in a team and you'vebeen in that position where
you've turned up and had certainexpectations of the local
nationals and some of thoseexpectations have been
challenged, we'd love to hearyour experience there to share
it with the community that we'rebuilding here.
(17:14):
This is Two Chaps, manyCultures, and we are the number
one show on the planet when itcomes to this stuff, the show
where too much culture is barelyenough.
Don't forget, hit the subscribebutton.
I mean, it doesn't preclude youfrom commenting, but we'd
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And listen to the podcast version right?
Did we mention the podcast?
We have a podcast of this, soyou don't have to look at us.
You can torture only your ears,not your eyes.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
and torture only your ears, not your eyes, absolutely
Podcasts on all of the bestplatforms, wherever best
podcasts can be found.
And yeah, so you know we'rejust in the summer months here.
I know we'd like to do thisevergreen wherever you're
listening to us.
We're in the summer months.
Here I happen to be, you mightnotice, in an undisclosed
(18:05):
location.
Let this be a little bit of ahint it may or may not be a
place where you buy baguettes.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Where's the fromage?
I only believe you've justfromaged.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
You're giving it away .
We should have a competition,actually, Maybe.
Where in the hell is Christianand Brett today?
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Well, let's play that game All right.
You enjoy, wherever you are,undisclosed locations and make
sure you train your people right.
Global mobility, people, allright.
Any global organization.
Give your employees what theyneed to succeed and with this,
two chaps, many cultures.
(18:48):
We're out for now.
See you next week.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
See you guys.
Bye.
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