Blending your personal traits, science and our experience to create a bullet proof plan forward
The fun of any journey is determining where you will go. The harder part is pinpointing exactly from where you are starting. For expat executives, this is particularly true. When you’re in the middle of a new/different culture, you’re not sure what’s being miscommunicated, misinterpreted, or misunderstood. Being uncertain of where you stand makes it easy to get stuck.
That’s why the Cranberry Leadership coaching journey begins with research-based assessment tools. These assessments are based on the works of scientists across the last 50 years who have studied how our behaviors, preferences, and values are created and shaped by intercultural interactions and activities. These assessments shine light on areas where pain points, sub-par results, and hurdles may occur.
The pressures that hinder success
In a normal executive position immense pressure comes from many different directions. The most obvious pressures are in work life and family life. Within work, you feel pressure from your colleagues above, your peers and the teams you manage. . Within your family, there are pressures in caring for your significant other, your children, and other family members you care for. …. Oh yeah, and yourself. Funny how it’s easy to forget about that last one.
For an expat executive, the pressures multiply. In addition to multi-faceted work pressures and family pressures, cultural differences create complexities that cloud decision making and create (often unseen) barriers to success. Addressing these complexities early is the key to staying on course, building credibility with teams and ensuring success.
Using the science of intercultural communications and behavior we examine your specific pressure points and find the solutions by understanding:
- Your own cultural preferences and motivators: how these influence your actions, guide your decision making and possibly conflict with your new environment
- Your host country cultural norms and preferences: the impact of your host country culture on how you communicate, organize and interact.
- Your company’s culture: This is a tricky one. Where your company is headquartered creates added complexity. Your company could be based in your home culture, your host culture, or even a third country all together. These cultural impacts must be taken into consideration as well. It is a tricky maze.
- The ambiguity that comes with an overseas assignment: we look for hidden hurdles, pain points and potential biases that will interfere with your success. This includes, but is not limited to things like: specific team members, company objectives, family life, communication structures and habits, etc.
Managing these pressures makes a huge difference in the rate and scope of your success. Understanding they exist is the first step. The next step is to seek help. An outside perspective is often exactly what you need when you feel like the outsider. And this couldn’t be more true than for expat executives. Especially when it’s an expert perspective. If you have any questions about how Cranberry Leadership can help you navigate the many pressures of being an expat executive and help you reach success by avoiding the often assignment-killing mistakes of intercultural pressures, please feel free to fill out this short form and we’ll be happy to answer your questions.
Email here for a free consultation with Cranberry Leadership.
