Out of America

Sometimes I feel out of place at the grocery store, and I've been known to get lost less than a mile from my home (I got turned in the wrong direction, though not lost, on a nearby street just this afternoon), so I can't imagine the challenge of taking a job in a foreign country--and working there in person. Come to think of it, even if you worked remotely from Kansas it would still be hard working for a company based in China. Chances are some of what's charming in Kansas isn't nearly so endearing in Beijing. Are they put off by my feedback?  Is it perceived as a little too forward to be respectful?  As an American worker, cultivated to accept (if not always truly welcome) feedback, the thought that some cultures find it abrasive is startling. And yet that's what I'm told.

So, if your company fancies itself global, and really wants to make the leap into the business world and marketplace beyond U.S. borders, how do you prepare employees?  First, how do you recruit to relocate, or go on extended stays, overseas?  I imagine if you're based in an urban environment with a multitude of young, single workers eager for a new development opportunity, that's not so hard. But what if your workforce skews older, more suburban, and family-based? I imagine many employees with families and a large, comfortable house in safe, predictable Main Street USA might not be so open to the idea. In addition to a salary raise to ease the discomfort of the move, I suggest extras like a service to help them find a new house and schools for the children, and a benefits package that includes ample vacation time and financial assistance for at least one trip home a year.

On top of those niceties, there are the necessities. One of those musts is providing a cross-cultural education. If you're already a global company, that isn't as difficult because you have employees native to the country you're sending your worker to who can act as special helpers, giving them inside cultural tips before they arrive, and acting as their work "buddy" after they start their new position. But If you're not yet globally-extended, what do you do?  I know so little about how to prepare a worker for an overseas job I might simply call the country's embassy in Washington and ask for some cultural workplace tips. In the age of the global consultant, is that very naive and old school of me?  What would/do you do?

I lack knowledge of where to find the information you need to prepare your workforce for cross-cultural adventures, but what I can tell you is what I'd like to know:

First off, I need to know whether this is one of those countries where nodding means "no," and head shaking means "yes" because heaven knows I don't want to accidentally sign myself up for any projects involving an undue amount of work.

Second, I want to know about greetings. Is this a country where even in the business world you're expected to kiss the cheek of people after seeing them just a few times in your life?  That tradition, unfortunately, as crept into "urbane" U.S. circles, so I thought I better ask.

Third, how much chit-chat is okay in the professional world? Here in the U.S, after you've been with a company for as little as a few weeks, you may find yourself comfortably explaining your father's obsessive compulsive/kleptomaniac problem to your manager, while he regales you with tales of his failed face lift. Is that not the culture of the place I'm going?  I can be offhand and aloof if I really try so just let me know how unfriendly I'm expected to be.

Fourth, how honest can I be with co-workers?  Do they really want to hear my opinion about their input on projects? In America, the culture is to at least pretend you want to hear the input, smile, scowl inwardly, and then die early of a heart attack. I need to know if the whole I-love-feedback-mantra isn't necessary in this new, exotic place.

Fifth, is this a collaborative or a competitive culture?  I can't make up my mind which would define U.S. workplaces. We're not traditionally a collective, communal society (given all that talk about American self-reliance), so I've never been convinced we're naturally all that collaborative here, but maybe wherever I'm going is worse. If I'm heading to an impoverished region that's lived and worked under the regimes of controlling dictators, maybe my co-workers will be much more predisposed to seeing me as foe rather than friend. If a battle for scarce resources is a part of everyday life, it probably spills over into the workplace.

Sixth, how much workplace self-promotion is okay?  In our entrepreneurial U.S. culture, it's seen as a great thing to have the courage to push yourself forward and ask for promotions and raises, pointing out all of one's stellar qualities. Is that tactic going to work against me with my foreign-based supervisor?  Let me know if I have to pretend to hate myself.

Anyway, as you can see, a bevy of questions. With no answers prior to your workers' foreign deployment, your U.S. home office or headquarters might experience a few embarrassments, and your traumatized overseas employees won't perform their jobs as well as they might have if only they knew how off-putting it is to say "hello" if they haven't been introduced to co-workers yet, or how awful it is to ask how the family is doing. Is it okay to talk about pets?  I have a feeling your relocated workers might need an icebreaker or two.

What do you do to prepare employees for long term overseas assignments?  Is it sink or swim, or do you provide enough preparatory cultural education to keep them from drowning in inter-cultural stress?

Comments

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