Maya Hu-Chan's Blog, page 4

Lost in translation? Sidestep the perils of presenting to a global audience

5 Ways to sidestep the perils of presenting to a global audience

A well-known American speaker once spoke at a conference in Japan and he opened with a joke. There was an interpreter in the room translating his words into Japanese simultaneously and she quickly realized that his joke wouldn’t translate, either logically or with any kind of humor, so she simply told the audience: “Laugh, laugh now! The speaker just told a joke!”

That probably tells you all you need to know about the perils of presenting to a global audience. Every culture is different and so it’s critical to get the content right for the audience in front of you.

It wasn’t so much about the language difference, although the translator was clearly seeking to spare his blushes had his joke been met with stony silence. She was also seeking to help her Japanese audience save face by appearing to understand what their guest was saying.

That’s because Japanese culture is what is known as high-context culture, where saving face is paramount. In high-context cultures the nonverbal can be more important than the actual message as the context of their communication is packed with layers of hidden meaning. For example, the tone of voice, gestures, social status, and setting can all affect the meaning of a message. Information is indirect and implied and the responsibility is on the listener to interpret it accurately. Along with Japan, other Asian and Middle Eastern countries are characterized in this way, although with Japan it is perhaps the most pronounced.

I have a Dutch colleague who is a highly successful trainer. Last year, he was working with a group of Chinese delegates in Shanghai and upset them in the workshop through the simple and common act (in western society at least) of pointing out bluntly that they misunderstood the concept and need to “pay attention” to the process he was teaching. He was unaware that, in China, giving direct feedback in public appears to question the other person’s capability, authority, and social status and cause the person to “lose face”. It is a real cultural taboo!

On the other hand, I had the opposite experience in Germany! I was teaching a leadership program to a group of senior executives from Europe, Asia, and North America. On the last day of the program, a German senior manager made a request in front of the group, “Maya, you have given us lots of useful information and positive reinforcement. However, I have not heard any ‘negative’ feedback. That’s what we need.”

Most of my clients are successful leaders in their organizations. They have strong technical skills and extensive business experience, and more often than not, they are good communicators. However, when they have to make a presentation to a global audience they run into all sorts of problems! Why is this?

I often tell the story of an Indian client of mine who works for a major global telecommunications company headquartered in the US. He is a newly promoted director of Technical Support, based in India, and his American boss and other senior leaders were flying in to hear about the progress of an important customer initiative. My client explained in some detail what he had achieved, his strategic thinking, and the success it had created. Already at risk of losing a western audience (more comfortable with shorter, sharper presentations with less background), he was so keen to impress his seniors and reassure them he was doing a good job for them that he forgot to mention his team.

To an American team-oriented audience his presentation, therefore, sounded all “me, me, me.” In his efforts to please, he had forgotten to incorporate the absolutely pivotal US value of teamwork into his presentation.

This is typical of a high-context style presentation: going at length through the background, the history, and the reasoning to eventually arrive at the solution that has been achieved.

Unfortunately, this generally loses western audiences who like their presentations to get quickly to the point. But for high context culture-based presenters, such as those in China, India, and Japan, they will be left wondering “how do they know how I came to the right conclusion if they don’t know the background?’ They believe the background to be a necessary part of the presentation.

Low-context cultures on the other hand provide their information almost entirely through their words, tending to screen out non-verbal cues. The message is direct and explicit and the responsibility for understanding lies firmly with the speaker. Low-context countries are typically westernized ones – the UK, Germany, and the US – with the Swiss and Dutch perhaps amongst the most extreme nations in this regard.

Sometimes this culture clash can be found working against members of the audience in a presentation. How you respond to speakers from different cultures can be equally as fraught with potential for offense!

Let me give you an example. Another client of mine is the VP of Supply Chain at a global IT company from the US. He leads a global team including a high proportion of employees based in China and Latin America. He is an excellent leader; well-liked and well-respected by them all.

However, when we recently reviewed his 360 feedback it was found that his team find him highly intimidating, impatient, and not approachable. I know him well and although he is fast, sharp-witted, and often funny, I would never have described him as intimidating. So we decided to delve a little deeper.

It transpired that when his team presented to him he would sit there nodding, saying “Yep…got it…got it, got it,” which was his way of actively listening to them and acknowledging each point. However, his Chinese team, who speak English as a second language, are from a high-context culture, and were thinking, “You’ve got it? But I haven’t finished! Do I speak poor English? Do you not need to hear more?” As a consequence, they felt uncomfortable and shut down.

Many of you will be working at a very senior level and the global audiences you present to may well include senior executives, even board directors. There is an additional complexity when presenting to senior global leaders; as a group, they also have typical traits which will run alongside their country-specific cultural norms.

Of course, it’s hard to generalize about global senior executives, given the dramatic differences that we know to exist in high and low-context cultures. However, senior executives, of all backgrounds, tend to be assertive. They are also paid to be paranoid – to ask tricky and tough questions and expect well-thought-through but snappy answers, and they generally don’t like wasting time or effort. They can’t afford to waste time so they’re really only interested in the main points that underpin major decisions.

Given these dramatic differences, when I prepare my clients for presenting to senior leaders or clients from other cultures I take them through a five-step process, to help them adapt their natural style and pitch their presentation effectively to each audience.

1. Know your audience. Do your homework on them. Find out as much as you can about their business, cultural background, interests, and, if possible, the key individuals in the room. Read up on the cultural norms of the particular country you are visiting and check that your intended content won’t cause an unintended slight with them.

2. Prepare and practice. This is definitely not a time to ‘wing’ it! Write your presentation or speech well in advance and check or rehearse it with someone familiar with the audience if you can. This would also be a good moment to double-check that your content does not include culture-specific references in your humor!

3. Use more images in your presentation. Always paint pictures of the outcome of a project, not only the process, and use visuals to support your ideas. These work in all cultures.

4. Tell compelling stories. People rarely remember numbers, statistics, and charts, but they often remember a good story. Indeed, if you are making an important point, wrapping that point around a compelling story is far more memorable than just stating the importance of that point.

5. Project strength, confidence, and warmth. This is easiest to do if you’re well-prepared and confident in your abilities. However, my advice is: fake it if you have to, by learning techniques to convey these qualities even if you are having an off day. Being a strong, warm speaker will allow your audience to relax and enjoy your presentation.

For me, this last point is particularly important as an engaged, relaxed audience is more likely to forgive slight cultural errors in your style and content and be carried along with you. As Amy J.C. Cuddy, Matthew Kohut, and John Neffinger suggest in their excellent Harvard Business Review article ‘Connect, then Lead’: “Before people decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you.”

If you do your homework on your topic and audience; focus on your personal power and warmth as a presenter and stay clear of cultural ‘cul-de-sacs’ you will find it easy to overcome the common perils of presenting to a global audience and ensure that, no matter what their language or cultural background, your audience believes that you are speaking their language.

3 Steps to Becoming a Clear Speaker

Even the most accomplished leaders can struggle with clear communication. These strategies can help.

I recently asked several of my coaching clients to complete a self-assessment of their executive presence, based on the three-by-three model of executive presence developed by Joel A. Garfinkle. In his book, Executive Presence: Step Into Your Power, Convey Confidence, and Lead With Conviction, Garfinkle uses this model to break executive presence down into three areas: gravitas, authority, and expression. Each area contains three attributes. “Expression,” for example, includes the attributes “vocal,” “insightful,” and “clear.”

To my surprise, the results were almost unanimous. While my clients rated themselves highly in the areas of gravitas and authority, almost all rated expression–and particularly the attribute of clearness–lowest.

Successful professionals can be experts in their field and passionate leaders yet still face challenges with communicating their ideas clearly.

In fact, expertise and passion sometimes get in the way of clear, simple, and powerful communication. The following strategies for clear public speaking can help you overcome these challenges.

1. Collect, prepare, and rehearse
One of my clients, Mariana, is an outgoing, passionate, and charismatic leader. She has recently been promoted to a role that requires her to regularly present ideas to the highest-level executives in her company. A natural extrovert, Mariana isn’t shy about public speaking, but she often “thinks out loud,” expressing her thoughts as they come, without editing. She comes across as passionate but scattered, which undercuts her authority.

Leaders like Mariana can get carried away with their enthusiasm, losing focus of their message. Instead of speaking off the cuff, collect your thoughts in advance. Write down the key points you want to communicate–not a full script–and practice presenting them to a trusted colleague who can give you honest feedback. This process can help you refine your message and focus your enthusiasm. Ask yourself, can I say this in 30 seconds instead of three minutes? Does the listener walk away with a clear idea of the main message?

If you find yourself having trouble staying on track, try providing numerical guideposts. For example, “I have three recommendations to make,” or “we have two options going forward.” These guideposts ground both you and your audience. Finishing with a summary can help close the loop and provide even more clarity.

2. Know your audience
When Mariana is speaking, she doesn’t tune into her audience. If she did, she’d discover that she’s often lost them. Sometimes she gives too much context, providing details that might be important to her, but irrelevant to the listener. Or she uses technical jargon that confuses and alienates her audience.

Before preparing to speak to any audience, be clear on their needs, their current knowledge, and their reference points. High-level executives often don’t need minute details to make decisions, and they may be unfamiliar with technical jargon.

While you’re speaking, keep your eyes and ears open. What is your audience’s body language telling you–are they engaged and focused on you? Or, have they disengaged? If so, are they confused, distracted, or losing interest? Adjust at the moment, clarifying anything that might be confusing, or cutting to the main point of your message.

3. Favor stories over data
My client George works for a government agency that serves an underresourced population. He often appears before Congress to ask for funding, but can’t seem to clearly communicate the urgency of his agency’s needs, despite the mountains of data and details he presents. I asked him if he knows any stories of the individuals his agency serves. “Hundreds,” he replied, proceeding to tell me several emotional stories of the lives his agency has changed. These stories–not data–are what can inspire people to take action.

Numbers and data can obscure what’s important, while a simple story can provide a clear “why.”

Find a story that can hook your audience, and only include data that supports the “why.”

Once you’ve mastered clear communication, others take note. They trust that when you speak, you are going to deliver a message with a clear purpose. Prepare and rehearse your message, know your audience, and help them connect to your message with stories, not just data. These three strategies will help ensure your message lands with clarity and impact.

This article was originally posted on Inc.com

3 Proven Steps to Fix Your Relationships at Work

The PC executive liked to say no – and never explain himself. He eventually saw the light with the help of an executive coach and some martial arts philosophy.

As an executive coach who works with leaders all over the world, I believe it is important to be aware of my client’s cultural traditions.

On a recent trip to China, I worked with a man named Li, an avid reader of wuxia, or kung-fu novels, which usually feature an ancient Chinese warrior with almost supernatural martial arts ability. Once I understood who Li’s heroes were, I could help him find the courage, humility, and discipline to fix a trail of broken relationships at work.

Li was a senior executive at a PC company. A procurement specialist, he was known for his skillful negotiations with vendors, which had saved the company millions over the years. At the same time, his colleagues found him difficult.

I began by putting him through 360-degree feedback. He was very quiet after I delivered the news: while his peers respected him, they said he often responded to their ideas with an abrupt “no.” He was coming off as negative and arrogant.

1. Face your feedback

“To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.”–Bruce Lee

Li resisted their suggestions at first, arguing that he knew the job so well it was a waste of time to explain himself. In his mind, he was a martial arts hero who felled his enemies in a single stroke, no explanation needed.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “Are your co-workers your enemies?”

“Well, they’re annoying,” was his answer.

Over the next few coaching sessions, I worked hard to convince Li that his colleagues were allies, not enemies and that he should accept their feedback. It would take courage to face his failures, but he would be better for it in the end, I told him.

He eventually began to see the damage he’d done by treating the people around him as opponents. Extending the kung fu analogy, he realized that his ruthless efficiency was actually creating more enemies – a strategic error.

He didn’t need to change his inner beliefs about the value of hard work and loyalty to the company. He did need to change his communication style.

2. Admit your mistakes

“Mistakes are always forgivable if one has the courage to admit them.” –Bruce Lee

The next step in the coaching process was for Li to meet with the people who gave him feedback. He was reluctant to admit his shortcomings in front of his peers, but he did. He thanked his critics for their honesty and told them he had the plan to improve.

“I’m not going to say no immediately from now on,” he promised. “I’m going to ask questions, listen and come up with win-win solutions with you.”

3. Pick a new habit and practice it constantly

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”–Bruce Lee

Changing behavior is a hard, daily practice. You have to keep your goal in mind all the time, through every interaction, so that your new habit will take root.

Despite his initial reluctance, Li proved a good student. The people around him began to notice him becoming kinder and gentler. His new attitude spread to his team, too.

He faced a big test in a high-level meeting when a manager asked him to do something he felt was unreasonable and nearly impossible. Instead of immediately saying no, he took a breath.

“Let me explain why it can’t be done,” he said, and then offered an alternative solution. He made a point to smile and even cracked a joke. His co-workers were surprised and pleased – and happy to accept his alternate plan.

I have seen many clients use these principles with great success. Having the courage to know yourself, the humility to accept your shortcomings and the discipline to work toward positive change can help you, too, wherever in the world you happen to live.

This article was originally posted on Inc.com

Are you a global castaway?

Here’s the bad news: it’s no longer enough to simply be great at your job.

Here’s the good news: there’s a whole world waiting out there to help you shine.

English poet John Donne coined the phrase ‘No man is an island’ – and, over the centuries, it has become a byword for a need to connect with other people in all areas of life and avoid becoming isolated, like a castaway on an island.

Nowhere is this truer than in the complex world of global business where leaders must inspire, influence, and engage through the relationships they build both internally and externally. Leaders need networks to get things done.

It used to be said that, as a leader, it was what and who you knew that made you great. That’s no longer enough to build a career in a complex global organization and global market. It is also a question of what other people know about you.

If you are not known, or not connected, then your outstanding skills and experience remain undiscovered and unused. You need a network of people, at all levels, that listen to you, are willing to act and advocate for you…and who believe in you. This doesn’t just benefit your current job either. Your network will be the ones that think of you when promotion opportunities arise too.

Building strategic networks are particularly important in businesses with matrix management systems where individuals need to be able to influence others without necessarily having management authority over them.

I have a client, Ron, who is a regional president, based in Shanghai. Although he has a high-performing team, he was finding that they were struggling to deliver results when they needed to engage with other functions. After a while, he decided to stop putting pressure on his team to solve this problem and instead proactively built stronger relationships with his own peers at a senior level in other functions.

“I invited all the functional heads to a ‘Strategy Day’ where each of them shared their goals, priorities, and challenges openly. During the session, we developed a common scorecard that enables us to share the glories and the challenges of achieving results. This has transformed working relationships further down the ranks of the business. Cross-functional teams are now motivated to collaborate and support each other.” Ron told me. “We have created interdependency among cross-functional teams and a more balanced eco-system in the organization.”

How well are you doing in building your strategic network? Ask yourself.What are the unique attributes or skills that make me a valuable member of someone’s global network?If there were one thing I would like leadership to know better about me, what would it be?Have I connected in a meaningful way with leaders outside of my immediate functional area? If so, how am I building and leveraging these connections? If not, what can I do about it?Do you feel secure in your connections with the internal and external contacts that will help you to grow, deliver and thrive in your role…or are you standing alone on the shores of your island, looking to the horizon?

In the latest of my 100 top tips for Global Leaders are my five tips for assessing and developing your global network.

Get it down on paper: Take a sheet of paper and list all of your key working relationships. Anyone who is critical to your professional success both in the long term and on a daily basis. This could include senior management, customers, key suppliers, managers and directors, peers, direct reports, and team members a couple of levels down the organization.

Be honest with yourself: Using a big picture, ‘helicopter-view’ approach, ask yourself honestly what the quality of each of those relationships is like. Rate them on a 1-5 scale where one is a negative relationship, three is neutral and five is a positive, trusted relationship. This process of self-reflection can be challenging but it is important to do it honestly.Build a plan: For each person, note down a plan to improve or nurture the relationship. For internal networks this might include inviting a colleague to lunch once every two months, getting involved with cross-functional projects and committees, etc. To build your external network, why not ask a mutual contact to introduce you to the person you want to meet? Always follow up with new acquaintances and look for opportunities to turn an introduction into a meaningful connection that is beneficial on both sides. You could also get more involved in global and cross-functional projects, or join professional industry associations.Give of yourself and your skills: To flourish, relationships must offer genuine, mutual benefit and enrichment. However when you’re going out to build a new relationship, try to make the first move. Offer information, assistance, or other help to your new contact so that they view you as someone who will be a positive new contact in their working life. Over time this should become reciprocal if it is to be a relationship that is valuable to you.Find a mentor: Secure a mentor from within your organization, someone who has experiences, skills, or contacts that can help you grow. A great mentor will not only be a trusted advisor they will be an advocate, someone who believes in your ability. Many global businesses have specific mentoring programs that you can tap into but, even if there isn’t one where you are, think about the leaders in your business. Who could you learn from spending time with? If you are known to them ask them if they would be your mentor – or ask a mutual colleague to introduce you.

As in any aspect of life, new business relationships are always fragile at the start, but if you nurture them, something wonderful may grow. So if you feel isolated in your leadership position, as we all do from time to time, the moment has come to reach out and make some important connections.

In other words – build your raft and get paddling!

How to Create Your Own Virtual Water Cooler Chat

How to harness technology to build global team spirit.

How often have you leaned across your desk or paused in an office doorway to ask a colleague a question? Or raised your eyebrows at a team member, during a meeting with a tricky client, in silent, supportive communication?

Along with water cooler conversations, these small confidences and day-to-day interactions are the building blocks of great working relationships. But what happens if those you work closest with are spread across oceans, borders, and time zones? Can you still build the same quality of relationship with a virtual teammate?

Not too long ago it would have been almost impossible. Sitting many thousands of miles apart from your colleagues, the constraints of different time zones, traditional communications technology, languages, and cultural norms would have created a tangible block to great relationship building.

Indeed in my last blog, ‘Bagels: The Secret to Building a High-Performing Virtual Team’, I talked about the importance of building trust and rapport in teams. Central to this is the ability to absorb body language cues, participate in the informal chat and pay attention to the tone of voice – all of which are tough to convey remotely.

So how do you overcome these challenges and build a strong virtual team?

Technology can certainly play an important role. With the rapid advancement of social media platforms, web-based video conferencing, and real-time chat capability, technology has transformed the accessibility of disparate global teams and the ability to bring them closer together.

Numerous web-based services offer free or low-cost video conferencing; messaging facilities; file sharing and other resources which can enable even the most dispersed of teams to feel more closely connected. In fact, I often find that many of these resources are already built into the information management system used by my corporate clients. However, only a fraction of the capability is generally used. So why not explore what may already be at your fingertips and make it work for you!

As with many aspects of business, you’ve got to get the basics right. In the busy world of work, a basic courtesy often gets left behind and that’s no less true of virtual teams as it is with those who sit together in an office. I often find there can be a tendency for global team members to fire off emails to each other as their day ends, leaving colleagues on other continents to arrive in the office to a full inbox of demands.

Treat global colleagues as you would those sitting next to you – with courtesy and friendliness. When in doubt, pick up the phone and talk to your colleagues at a mutually convenient time, or use instant messenger for a quick chat. Then you can follow up by email once both parties are ‘on the same page’.

Of course, a ‘mutually-convenient time’ can be a challenge for some global teams! I would argue that on most global conference calls you will find at least one person who would rather be in bed. One of my Japanese clients, for example, is almost permanently exhausted by his bi-weekly 2 am team call. Everyone else on the team didn’t think it was a problem because he has never complained about it whereas in reality, he was simply being polite – as is the cultural norm in Japan.

It’s common sense. Think about something fun you like doing with a friend, like swimming. Now consider the only time your friend invites you to swim is at 2:00 am after they get off their night shift. Would you look forward to a 2:00 am swim? Probably not, and that’s for something you like doing! It’s even worse when it’s a business meeting that’s keeping you from a good night’s sleep!

When working across multiple time zones, it’s important to choose meeting times that work for everyone – not just your own schedule. At the very least, schedule meetings at different times so everyone shares the pain!

Another key tip in creating great communication across the globe is to choose the right mode of communication channels for the audience you’re working with.

One of my clients is a large global pharmaceutical company doing business in over 100 countries. They have quickly learned how critical it is to choose the right communication technology to communicate with local doctors and hospital staff when conducting time-sensitive clinical trials. “Taiwanese and Malaysian doctors prefer to be contacted by phone and not email, but Singapore doctors don’t like phone calls. They prefer emails or going through a third-party coordinator,” a senior clinical research associate told me. “If we use the wrong mode of communication, we may not get any responses at all!”

Finally, try to create an opportunity to replicate those small interactions that happen all the time between colleagues who sit in the same office. They are the glue that bonds individuals and turns them into teams.

A client of mine works for a Chinese/US firm, with teams from both countries supporting the same major Korean customer. On conference calls with the customer, the US team frequently finds it hard to understand the business terms used and points made by the Korean customer.

The team uses a private chat facility, during the call, to quickly discuss or explain points to each other and compare notes. This enables them to acknowledge shared challenges and present a more effective and united position to their shared customer.

In the latest of my series of 100 Success Factors for Global Leaders, below are five tips for using technology to build a productive and cohesive virtual team:

1. Take advantage of what’s out there: Good communications technology no longer comes with a high price tag. In fact, there’s a lot of it out there for free. Talk to your systems team and find out what facilities your company has already that could assist your global team. If not – try Google.

2. Be flexible and considerate: As a good colleague of mine – who is based in Houston and has team members in Dubai and Afghanistan – puts it: “I start my day as my team ends theirs!” As a global team leader, it’s not possible to create effective team communication without a little give or take on time management.

3. Encourage different modes of communication: Choose the right ones for each job. People have a variety of preferences in terms of how they receive and share information. A sound principle for all communication, not just in relation to global teams, is to use different methods to get your point across encompassing text, video, and voice options.

4. Create an informal mode of communication to encourage ‘chat’: Instant messenger is widely available and a standard feature on most information management applications. In fact, it is actively encouraged by many firms as a fast and easy way of swapping messages between colleagues.

5. Make sharing part of the culture: There are a host of file-sharing tools out there such as Lotus Notes, Google Docs, Dropbox, etc. which allow teams to document technical processes and procedures, and share resources and information. These tools also enable global companies to maintain consistency, reduce duplicated efforts, and ensure quality control across their various countries of operation.

Building a strong virtual team is one of those occasions when businesses can learn much from social media.

Building communities, sharing files, and bridging geography and time zones are what the likes of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook do best. Yet global business has been relatively slow to adopt and adapt social media for its own uses, even when the technology has been available.

By activating some simple and cost-effective to use tools I have seen how easy it can be to create a ‘virtual’ water cooler, replicating the important moments that we take for granted in face-to-face communication and, in doing so, building rapport and understanding between people who live and work in opposite corners of the world.

How Partnering is Changing Global Business

Are you an equal partner with your customers, planning for long-term growth together…or are the battle lines still drawn in every commercial negotiation as you try to hit sales figures and preserve your margins?

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

In recent years there has been a noticeable shift amongst large client organizations from buying standalone products and services to buying integrated solutions. Global companies have seen supplier rosters shrink from hundreds strong to just a handful. Those suppliers that make it onto the new buyers’ lists are the ones that offer the customer something different, something compelling. And that something is, increasingly, a strategic partnership.

What does partnering really mean?

For the most successful firms, long gone are the traditional adversarial lines between customer and supplier, and instead, there is a more inclusive approach – where both sides work towards shared goals and treat each other with respect and trust – where suppliers seek long-term partnerships with customers rather than chasing short term sales.

A coaching client of mine, David, is a regional VP for a large IT solutions provider. Originally engaged by his client to bring in a new salesforce system, he found his progress hampered by the client’s procurement and finance processes which were cumbersome, and repetitive, and relied heavily on manual updating of spreadsheets. The resulting delays were eating heavily into David’s profit margin from the contract.

He said to me, “Their finance systems are so outdated! They could turn things around at twice the speed and hit their growth targets in half the time with a few simple changes.” Motivated by both a desire to remove this stumbling block but also to help his client – whom he respected and admired – he made time to get to know their wider commercial objectives and understand how the whole business functioned.

Eventually, he sought a meeting with his client, the Chief Executive, to share his thinking on simple, cost-effective steps the client could take which would make a dramatic shift in their performance. There was no immediate financial benefit for David’s own firm from this offer, but the client was so struck by David’s commitment to supporting their goals that it has led to the two firms working much more closely – to mutual benefit.

So what has changed between clients and suppliers?

For me, it is a shift towards encouraging business leaders to see beyond the immediate impact of their business and to look at the big picture for the business over the longer term. There are, of course, practical benefits such as benefitting from economies of scale and reducing the number of suppliers that companies need to work with, but mostly it is because there is a tangible commercial benefit from this closer and more collaborative approach.

Building a strategic partnership means more than simply delivering what your customer needs on time and at a price that bests the competition. It means understanding your customer’s business, their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges, and identifying ways to help them achieve their objectives. It also means being committed to forging long-term relationships and working on a shared risk and reward basis.

One of my clients, Lucy, is currently going through this transition from supplier to partner and having to completely redefine what success means for her. Gone is the monthly challenge of securing the best price possible from her main customer’s often unpredictable orders and the constant fear of being undercut by a few dollars per unit. Now she has a framework agreement in place with them and finds herself invited into their strategy meetings, working towards shared growth objectives that are five, or six years into the future. They are even thinking about building a new plant together.

Creating a partnership with customers will help your organization to maintain the focus you need to make good decisions, giving you a much better understanding of what success looks like for them and enabling you to anticipate what your customers need even before they know they need it – ensuring your own long term success as a valuable ally for your client.

However, the relationship has to be built on both sides. It’s not just about the supplier making all the changes and offering to make all the sacrifices. Client companies must recognize opportunities as well. It’s no longer a case of getting the supplier down to the lowest possible price to increase margins of profitability, it’s more about the recognition that their success is closely linked to yours and they should be treated as equals, not as subservient to your needs. As my client Robert, VP of Procurement of a global IT company, puts it, “I always treat my large suppliers with mutual respect and strive for a win-win outcome. They are critical partners in our success. We need them just as much as they need us.”

Think like a partner – not just a provider

Today suppliers are increasingly seen as key partners. Global leaders must be able to transcend traditional client-supplier differences and focus on common goals, sharing more about the company’s long-term strategies and objectives with suppliers than would have been done previously. Treating suppliers like partners also means avoiding viewing a supplier as a scapegoat when something goes wrong or imposing unreasonable demands for the client’s benefit alone.

Here’s a great example. My client George is the Country President of a global engineering firm in China. He described a situation where he turned a potential disaster into a business opportunity with a major Chinese client.

A problem had arisen with his firm’s equipment which had affected production. The CEO of his client’s company was upset and angry and threatened to sue in front of members of both teams. He was flexing his authority in front of their own subordinates and asserting his dominance over suppliers.

George’s approach was to try and take the heat out of the situation by inviting the CEO out to dinner to discuss the situation 1-1. Over dinner, he made sure that he listened more than he spoke. Once the CEO had calmed down a little, George was honest with him about the frailties in the current machinery and proposed a strategic solution whereby the CEO would actually invest money in new equipment in order that they could actually step up production to an even higher level. George also offered the client to trade in their old equipment with an attractive discount to purchase the new equipment. As a result, both companies would benefit from this valuable business opportunity.

By taking a more strategic, big-picture approach to finding a solution, not only did George smooth over the immediate crisis that had resulted from the production problems, he actually secured a significant investment deal that ensures a long-term client relationship. Moreover, he enabled the CEO to save face (an important facet in Chinese culture) in front of his team and also with their ultimate client by increasing the pace of production and improving performance, which more than made up for any lost time.

In the latest of my 100 top tips for global leaders, here is my guide to reshaping the way you think about your relationships with your suppliers and customers.

Act like a partner. Develop a much deeper understanding of your client/supplier’s business at both a granular and strategic level. Build collaboration between your team and theirs through team building days, shared projects, and smart use of technology.Look at the big picture. It’s about how you can work together to build a long-term partnership and both gain as a result. Potentially that may mean making small sacrifices in the short term, on either side, to achieve a larger gain in the longer term.Create joint business plans. Act like a single organization. You don’t have to actually set up a business together, but if acting like it will secure both parties significant opportunity and growth then why not bring them together in all but name?Share the risk and responsibility. Share the financial implications of the partnership such as investment in production machinery, or human resources, and the acceptance of risk.Value each other equally. It’s no longer “I win-you lose” in business deals. Clients shouldn’t be trying to screw suppliers for the best deal and suppliers should not be trying to artificially mark up deals to protect their margins. Recognize the value both parties bring to the deal and treat each other with respect. Share your numbers, share your strategy, and work out how best to ensure you both get a good deal now – and years of growth into the future too.

Do you stand out as a leader?

One of my clients (We’ll call her Nancy) missed out on an important promotion recently. She sought feedback from the interview panel and was told the same thing several times. She had a ‘lack of executive presence’.

This is tough feedback to deal with because executive presence is such an abstract and subjective concept. However, as tricky as it is to define, let’s face it – we all know when we are in the room with someone who has executive presence…and also when we’re with someone who definitely doesn’t. There’s a certain quality in some leaders who can effortlessly command a room that gives them the Pied-Piper effect. Where they go, others will follow.

For aspiring global leaders, executive presence is increasingly the illusive x-factor that can win them a hard-fought promotion or, in the case of Nancy, leave it languishing on the table. Indeed a respected study by the Center for Talent Innovation, a non-profit research organization based in New York, suggests that, in today’s global marketplace, executive presence counts for 26% of what it takes to get ahead.

So, if you’re doing a great job but not getting promoted it might be that a lack of executive presence is to blame. You might not even be aware of it. It’s often a blind spot for people as they are not always aware of how they are perceived by others.

It’s a style thing

So, what is executive presence? Can it be defined in a way that allows it to be learned even if it’s not a natural asset?

Put simply, executive presence is a credibility issue. It’s about having the answer to the question ‘will people follow you?’ be a resounding ‘yes’. Those who have executive presence are commonly described as having the ability to project gravitas, exhibiting confidence, poise under pressure, and decisiveness.

Photo by Sean Benesh

In Nancy’s case, it wasn’t about her ability to do her job – as is so often the case. You can be a high achiever and well-respected for your performance and still find yourself bumping up against a seemingly immovable glass ceiling. No, for Nancy, it was a style thing. Her colleagues and those in senior positions simply didn’t see her in a leadership role.

Given how intangible the concept of executive presence can be, I wanted to dig deeper into the feedback Nancy received to find out exactly what her stakeholders were seeing – or, more likely, not seeing. The resulting feedback was that she was too ‘emotional’, ‘lacking in confidence’, and ‘too tactical’.

For example, when she spoke in meetings, she sounded unsure and asked at the end of her presentation ‘Is that okay with everyone?’ Her peers said her contributions to discussions were always about granular detail rather than the kind of big-picture thinking you would expect from a leader. She also giggled too much which they found childlike – charming perhaps in a friend, but not awe-inspiring in a potential Vice President.

If you’re wondering if this is a problem experienced more by women than men, you’d be right. Despite all of the amazing progress made in terms of equality, the modern workplace still often defaults to traditional male qualities and role models when it comes to assessing leaders. This is changing, slowly, and it’s up to the next generation of leaders now emerging to find a model of leadership that draws equally upon male and female character traits. However, men do experience this problem too. Another client of mine (we’ll call him Walter) was also criticized for nervous laughter in meetings when the going got tough. Colleagues felt it made him sound out of his depth. Turns out it was his way of dealing with the tension, but it served to undermine people’s perceptions of him. A tiny, unconscious character trait that had become a career-limiting problem without him even realizing it.

Does your first impression count?

Self-confidence is a common thread in those who display executive presence. However so are other qualities such as appearance, body language, and speaking patterns.

There’s a reason for the expression ‘dress for the job you want, not the job you have’. That doesn’t mean going out and blowing your budget on a designer wardrobe. However, it does mean that, in a world where first impressions count, if your preferred dress code is out of step with the company culture your impact will be lessened. Unless you’re working for Google or Facebook, a hoodie simply isn’t going to get you that promotion!

Those with executive presence often speak up, use strong and clear language and communicate with passion and energy. They use positive body language by standing tall, making eye contact, offering a firm handshake, and using an authoritative tone of voice.

This is all good news because it is behavior that can be learned. So if like my clients, you had feedback that you’re not viewed as having an executive presence, the good news is that all is not lost. While some people have these attributes naturally, it’s possible that nurture can be as powerful as nature in this instance and executive presence is a skill that you can adopt on a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ basis.

In the latest of my 100 top tips for global leaders, here is my guide to developing your executive presence:

Get feedback. Understand the behaviors that are giving out the wrong perceptions by seeking honest, formal, or informal feedback. Can you command the room? Do people stop and listen when you speak? It’s quite possible that you simply don’t know so get people who you trust to tell you how it really is.Think about how you show up. Speak slowly and articulate clearly. Avoid giving away your leadership power by undermining your authority. This can be as simple as brushing off a compliment about your abilities as a leader or cracking jokes at the wrong time. If you’re feeling uncertain, stay quiet and think through the situation until you’re ready to respond with authority. If your tendency is to seek approval then reframe how you end your presentations from a ‘do you agree?’ approach to ‘This is what I think we should do’.Get your voice heard in meetings. Forget etiquette, speak up! Make sure you get one or two good points in so that your face and voice are on the map. Make sure your comments are on strategy points rather than on tactical execution.Be their kind of leader. Fit in with the company or country culture. Whether that’s making sure your workwear matches those in the leadership levels of the business or watching for clues as to what body language means to people. For example, in Eastern cultures standing with your legs close together or folding your arms tightly across your chest shows respect. In western cultures, these stances suggest you’re uptight, defensive, or unsure.Fake it ‘til you make it. At the heart of executive presence is a confidence issue so behave as if you are confident until you find that you actually are!

This is a situation where becoming a people-watcher can really benefit you. Observe how others do it. Who around you has leadership presence and what is it about them that makes you feel they are in control?

I am not suggesting for a moment that you copy them. That would be inauthentic and immediately apparent to those around you. It simply means watching what they do and finding your own version of it that feels natural to you. Developing your executive presence is about style switching not changing the fundamentals of who you are.

Bagels! The secret to building a high-performing virtual team

With more and more companies working seamlessly across cultures and time zones I am often asked by clients what the secret is to building an effective virtual team.

The answer is simple: fresh bagels.

OK, it’s really building trust, but we’ll get to the bagels in a minute.

The challenge of course is that it is much tougher to build trust when your team is split across time zones and continents than it is when you’re able to have a friendly chat across the water cooler every day.

So perhaps a second step needs to be added to help trust develop: getting together.

I appreciate that there may be logistical and financial challenges for some organizations in getting together, but it is almost certainly a cost less painful than the missing financial targets due to a poorly functioning global team.

Here’s a perfect example. A client of mine, a team leader in a global IT company, asked me to help improve the performance of his project team. He told me: “My team members are all respected experts in their fields and perform to an outstanding level individually, but I don’t understand why they miss their targets as a team by some 75%?”

My client was British and based in Singapore; his team members were based in China, South Korea, South Africa, Japan, and Holland. We talked about team-building and he added: “But that’s a lot of culture and time zones to navigate just to build a team!”

We went back to basics. I interviewed every member of his team. It quickly became apparent that they didn’t trust each other and, as a result, were holding back from sharing information and collaborating with each other.

What I found was that, right from the beginning, a few cultural miscues and misunderstandings had spiraled out of control and resulted in a very fractured and dysfunctional team.

At the first few team conference calls, the Dutch and South African members had led most of the discussions. Hearing no questions or objections from the rest of the group, it was assumed that everyone was in agreement with their proposed plan.

As time went on, it became painfully apparent that not everyone was on the same page. Deadlines were missed, tasks weren’t completed and, seemingly, much of the inaction came from the team members from Asia who hadn’t spoken up at the group meetings.

The South African and Dutch team members were frustrated and told me: “I thought we all agreed on the plan! But some team members didn’t keep their commitments. They seemed incompetent. I am not sure I can trust them again.”

On the other hand, Asian team members were equally frustrated: “We never agreed with the decision. They dominated the meeting and didn’t ask us for our input. We need more time to process the information and reach our own conclusions. We felt excluded!”

Photo by Justus Menke

Over the next year, as the project continued, they communicated less and less with each other and worked in silos. What communication they did by emails and conference calls often led to finger pointing on both sides as the divide between the various groups grew wider and wider.

Hardly any effort was made to establish positive relationships among the team members, to better understand the various cultures at play within the group, or to resolve the conflicts in a constructive way. For example, if the South African and Dutch team members had spent some time understanding Asian culture, they would have recognized that the fact that their Asian colleagues were quiet during the meeting was not necessarily acquiescence or tacit approval. It was much more likely that the Asian team members were taking the time to process the information due to language barriers or they simply disagreed with the decision but were too polite to challenge it.

On the other hand, if the Asian members had realized that many from western cultures are more direct and require more active involvement, they could have asked more questions and made more of an effort to make their feelings known.

In the absence of any genuine bonding, along with misunderstandings due to cultural differences and language barriers, the group had each built up assumptions about other members of the team and were jumping to conclusions about each other’s motives. It was like a cancer growing within the team that my client simply couldn’t stem.

I worked with my client to bring them together for three days – not only to work on their challenges but also to rebuild the trust.

On the first day we talked openly about what each of them needed from the others in order to build better teamwork and the responsibilities each of them had to the others.

What was striking was that their needs were really quite straightforward. They all consistently asked of each other: be respectful; don’t interrupt; listen; say ‘thank you’; and apologize if you’re wrong. In other words, act with consideration and kindness, the basic human building blocks of trust. Somehow these ideals had gotten lost along the way because there was no rapport among the group.

They worked out what their top 5 behavioral rules would be for future team interactions to ensure their new-found team spirit didn’t evaporate again. The team leader turned this into a slide which would always appear at the start of every meeting to remind them of their commitment to each other.

They rounded off the three days with a memorable night out eating Singapore’s famous Black Pepper Crab, drinking ice cold Tiger beer and returned to their countries reinvigorated. One year on the team leader called me with the news that his team had just hit 89% of their targets.

The importance of not forgetting the basics can be seen in other ways too. I heard recently of a global virtual team which takes turns, once a quarter, to send local food from their country to other team members around the globe so that they can all share breakfast or snacks together during their regular conference calls. At a recent team video conference, the U.S. colleagues sent a box of fresh bagels and ground coffee to introduce team members in the Philippines to an all-American breakfast. This simple idea has transformed their calls into something that is the highlight of their meeting and the call is now a vibrant and effective communications forum.

Another US-based client was struggling to connect with a member of his new team, based in Mexico City, who seemed very slow to respond to email requests.

Hiding his growing irritation he asked other colleagues, “What’s she like?”

It transpired that the lady had recently had a baby and was balancing work and new motherhood, which explained the sporadic responses. He immediately emailed her, congratulating her on her new arrival and sharing the news that he had become a grandparent around the same time. He even attached a photo of his grandson. Within minutes she responded with a picture of her daughter, starting a dialogue that helped them to quickly build an effective working relationship.

In the latest in my series of 100 success factors for global leaders, here are my five top tips for building a virtual team that trusts each other and works as well together thousands of miles apart as if they say in the same room:

1. Keep your commitments. Do what you say you are going to do. Keep your promises. This may sound obvious, but keeping your word is absolutely essential to earn trust with other team members.

2. Share information equally, transparently, and timely. Make sure everyone, particularly team members in remote locations, are not left out in the communication loop.

3. Give feedback in a culturally appropriate way. Give positive feedback in public and negative feedback in private. Be culturally sensitive when delivering feedback so you don’t damage relationships and trust.

4. Don’t jump to conclusions. Check your assumptions first. Make sure your understanding is in tune with other team members’ cultural tendencies. Listen to everyone’s opinion. Check back to confirm that you understand their point of view. Ask open-ended questions to make sure you are all on the same page. Always take a step back to understand the other person’s perspective and pressures and give them benefit of the doubt.

5. Help other team members without being asked. Maybe you’ve heard of the Pay it Forward principle? Doing something kind and helpful, without being asked, is both a simple act of kindness and powerful way to build trust and rapport. It will also probably make their day!

These are the first five of 100 success factors for leaders and they are unarguably the most important, as they provide a mindset that underpins everything that is required of the modern global business leader and encourages a style of leadership that is honest, compelling, and inspiring. You can find more about the development of these essential steps to thinking globally in my book, Global Leadership – The Next Generation.

From Chaos to Calm: How Leaders Affect a Team’s Climate

Leaders are the weather makers for an organization. Here’s how to create calm, even in a storm.

Leaders are weather makers. They create the climate on their teams. They can turn up the heat, or cool things down. They can make it rain, or shine a light on the organization. Sometimes, though, the weather they create is not what’s needed or what they intended.
Two of my clients are facing similar challenges. Vanessa and Bill are both senior executives in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of public service. Both are new to their roles and say they often feel as if they are “in the dark” — pulled in different directions and scrutinized by leaders and media alike, with no guidance from predecessors on how to navigate the challenges of the job.

Vanessa and Bill navigate this darkness differently, impacting the “weather” on their teams in starkly contrasting ways.

Bill is a well-liked leader. He is intelligent, open to others’ ideas, technically proficient, and invested in the mission of his work. But, he has several blind spots that cause him to be unaware of the stress he inflicts on his team.

Because he is so passionate and intelligent, Bill is often a few steps ahead of others. He doesn’t provide enough context around his decisions or requests, leaving his team members confused and frustrated. He likes to work fast and multitask, and assumes everyone else does, too, setting expectations that feel insurmountable. Because he is so well-liked and respected, his team tries to meet those expectations, but they fear the pace is unsustainable. When conditions are stressful, he can be harsh or short. His team forgives this, too, because they know he has good intentions. But, the sting remains.

Vanessa works in an environment similar to Bill’s, but she is aware of her behaviors and how they affect her team. She chooses to, in her words, “be the light in the darkness.” She shields her team from the stormy conditions on the outside, creating a calm environment they can thrive in.

Here is how I coached Bill on how to set calmer, clearer weather conditions for his team.

1. Regulate your actions

I encouraged Bill to stop and think before acting or speaking. Taking a pause would give him the space to check in with himself and the people on his team, increasing his self-awareness and awareness of the needs of others. During a pause, he can ask himself, “Do they understand what I’m saying? Is my team overloaded? Have I given enough context?” Bill can’t be intentional in his actions or words if he’s operating at a constant 100-mile-per-hour pace.

2. Create clarity, not chaos

Bill’s actions would often cause unintentional chaos. He would call last-minute meetings, imparting a sense of urgency even when the situation didn’t warrant it. When invigorated by high-impact projects, he acts on impulse, which sometimes resulted in micromanaging. He also had trouble delegating, and tackling tasks others can handle just as well.

I encouraged Bill to be a force of stability instead of chaos. Consider the facts of a situation before acting: Is the situation actually urgent? Who are the key stakeholders that need to be involved (does everyone need to be at this meeting?)? Are there set processes or systems that need to be followed? Do I need to handle the task at hand, or can I empower someone on my team by delegating it to them?

3. Consider tone and temperament when communicating

Bill’s intensity and passion can often cause him to have tunnel vision, making him unaware of how the tone and temperament of his communication affect others. Sometimes, in high-pressure situations, he is abrupt and harsh. Other times, his creativity kicks in and he speaks his thoughts in a free-flowing, unstructured manner, leaving his team confused. The lack of clear direction would force his team members to draw their own conclusions, adding to the chaos. I encouraged Bill to seek feedback from others to help him assess how he communicates. These objective eyes and ears can help him balance his passion, intensity, and excitement with calmness and steadiness.

Vanessa and Bill share much in common. They are both passionate leaders invested in working for the betterment of others. By creating a climate of calm and clarity, Bill, like Vanessa, can also be a light in the darkness.

This article was originally posted on Inc.com

Silence: Listening With Ten Eyes

Do you want to learn all about the role that silence plays in cross-cultural negotiations and how important it is to reach positive outcomes?

In this video, I discuss how silence can take you to greater heights of success.