A couple weeks ago I flew to London and facilitated a 3-day workshop with a large global client. This highly interactive event included participants from Dubai, Australia, India, Brazil, Venezuela, the US, UK and half a dozen other countries. The workshop agenda included a mix of large group discussions, smaller breakouts, pre-work, homework and lively focused dialogue. By the end of the third day we were all tired, excited about what we had accomplished, and also a little sad to be saying goodbye. However, we closed the session with a focused and clear list of next steps as well as a great sense of pride for how quickly and effectively this global team came together to achieve some tremendous outcomes.

The only catch – we didn’t actually come together in the same physical space. Instead, this workshop was virtual, relying on cutting-edge technology, creativity and flexibility of the participants, and a strong desire to work real-time with colleagues across geographic and cultural boundaries.

Anyone who has worked as part of a global organization or team can appreciate the difficulty when members are separated by time zones and geographic space. If you work for a US-based organization but live in Asia, you are probably all too familiar with late-night conference calls. People in the UK have a somewhat easier task because certain times of their workday overlap with colleagues in the Americas and Asia. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Asia and the Americas where conference calls between the two means that someone will be dialing in very late or very early.

So until scientists are actually able to produce a working transporter of the sort that Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise used to jet across solar systems, what are global organizations to do?  What can they do to bring people together from across the globe for a longer period of time than a typical conference? The answer is that there is no transporter (yet) and no simple answer. Working globally is hard but also critical. Making connections across regions, cultures and time zones is necessary, but travel budgets can limit the opportunity for face-to-face interaction.

Enter the virtual workshop – While most of us prefer face-to-face meetings with colleagues, technology and a creative agenda made this workshop effective, engaging, and highly productive. First, it was important for everyone to see their colleagues and for that we utilized a mix of Telepresence and Skype video. Second, it was important for everyone to be able to brainstorm and capture thoughts together on virtual flipcharts. For that, we used RealtimeBoard. This virtual whiteboard allowed participants, regardless of geographic location, to record their ideas for everyone to see, as well as attach virtual post-it notes, upload videos and embed images, edit and build upon each others’ contributions.  Throughout the three days, individuals also worked together in virtual breakout sessions, utilizing video and teleconference, instant messaging and “old fashioned” email technology as well as the same RealtimeBoard. Upon completion of individual breakout sessions, these smaller groups rejoined the larger group and reported out, referencing the boards as easily and seamlessly as if they were all in the same conference room.

Finally – and this is the creative piece - we utilized a rotating schedule with London serving as a common denominator. Day 1 for Asia started at 8:00 a.m. UK time. On the line were individuals in London, Australia, Dubai, India, and several other countries. Day 1 for the West started at 1:00 p.m. UK time. On the line was the London team as well as individuals in the US, Canada, Brazil, Venezuela, and others. And from noon to 1 p.m. UK time, everyone joined together across the globe. During this one-hour of overlap, the team in Asia would brief the West team on their accomplishments and effectively hand a virtual and proverbial baton to their colleagues on the other side of the globe. Individuals in Asia would then sign off while their colleagues in the West got down to work, then passed the virtual baton back to Asia at the end of their day. By passing work from East to West and back again, we were highly efficient and leveraged the talent of everyone across the globe. Moreover, the one-hour we spent together allowed participants to share their thoughts, debrief, challenge one-another, and agree to next steps. All of this contributed to a highly collaborative, effective, and engaging workshop.

Is this perfect? Not quite. Most of us would agree that face-to-face interaction, particularly when working with colleagues from different countries and cultures, is the preferred mode of communication. There were also a few technical hiccups. For example, a temperature of 120-degrees Fahrenheit in India one day contributed to intermittent power outages. However, when logistics and budgets make this unrealistic, technology and creative scheduling can help bring people together virtually across the globe. It will not replace the occasional late-night conference calls but as organizations continue to expand globally, it makes sense to explore creative options to facilitate global collaboration.

In our last blog, we shared results from the first annual Cultural Agility Climate Survey. You may recall that the survey was administered to employees across thirty countries and many different industries. Responses came from employees of such well-known global brands as Eli Lily, HSBC, P&G, China Construction Bank, BASF, Sony, and Siemens.

We found some positive results but also some troubling ones. For example, results indicated that:

• Many employees do not feel adequately prepared to work in a global environment.
• Many senior leaders do not feel that their organizations are positioned to succeed globally and hence may be sending the wrong messages to employees. 
  

In addition to collecting opinions of employees from these organizations, we also cross-referenced results against objective financial and customer data. Specifically, we linked the Cultural Agility Climate data to return on assets (ROA) for the publicly traded firms and to customer satisfaction (based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index [ACSI]) for US firms. Together, these two metrics (ROA & ACSI) can be used to provide an objective indication of how well organizations are performing in the eyes of Wall Street and main-street.

So what did we find?  The results suggest that cultural agility at the senior leadership level has a significant association with ROA. Specifically, when employees view their senior leaders as open to diverse ways of thinking, when they are viewed as culturally agile, and when employees are confident their leaders can succeed globally, ROA is stronger. Moreover, ROA and customer satisfaction (ACSI) show significantly stronger results in organizations where senior leaders have clearly articulated the importance of being global. However, ROA is not solely tied to senior leaders. Firms where immediate managers were rated as being culturally agile have significantly stronger financials than those where managers are not culturally agile, and the same is true for training to work with global colleagues. Specifically, firms where employees reported having received training to facilitate work with colleagues across the globe were also found to have significantly stronger ROA scores.

So what does this all mean for global organizations? First and foremost, these results suggest that cultural agility is important for the effectiveness of global organizations. While there is substantial evidence that international assignees (expatriates) are more likely to succeed if they are culturally agile, this is the first evidence that shows a link between organizational effectiveness and the cultural agility of senior leaders and managers. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship but one hypothesis is that the messages that leaders communicate are critical to setting a tone and creating the right organizational climate to foster global work. If leaders emphasize the importance and demonstrate through actions that being global is key to long-term success, employees are likely to follow. Another key finding is that training to help employees work with their global colleagues (and presumably clients/customers) is also important. Technology most certainly helps employees bridge the distance between global locations but technology alone cannot bridge the cultural differences and we believe that this is where training can help. 

One recipe for success – While these findings need further study, they seem to suggest that there is a tangible benefit for global organizations to select leaders who are culturally agile and to develop the ability in those who are not.  

As any current or former expatriate can attest, the opportunity to live and work in a new country is exciting, extremely rewarding and often extremely challenging. In this blog, I thought I would explore the latter point further. As an expatriate living in Asia, some of my difficulties had to do with understanding cultural and communication differences (the latter being rooted in culture, of course), as well as basic logistics, such as figuring out how to get from point A to point B. However, as an employee of a US-based organization with its headquarters over 7,000 miles (12,000 kilometers) and multiple time zones away, my greatest difficulties often had more to do with communicating and collaborating with my coworkers in other parts of the world. As a result, I became acutely aware of how challenging it can be for employees of global firms to work effectively across cultural, geographic and timezone differences. This sentiment has also been echoed by many leaders of MNCs with whom I work in my consulting practice. While they all value the opportunity and personal satisfaction that comes with working globally, they share similar stories about working odd hours, sometimes stumbling clumsily through conversations and other challenges that leave them thinking that “there just has to be a better way.”

So it is with that backdrop that I am keenly interested in what multinational organizations can do to help their employees work more effectively, efficiently and collaboratively in a global environment. And though there is no simple answer – no magic bullet – we can gain some insight into the challenges and potential solutions by turning to data that were recently collected from MNC employees across the globe. As part of a joint effort, Global Aspect Human Capital Advisors and Caligiuri & Associates teamed with Universum to administer our first annual Cultural Agility Climate Survey to employees across the globe in many industries and from such well known brands as Eli Lily, P&G, China Construction Bank, BASF, Sony, and Siemens. Respondents were asked to rate the cultural agility of their senior leaders, immediate managers and coworkers, as well as the degree to which global expansion is valued and whether they have the tools and training to work effectively with their global colleagues and clients.  Personal and organizational demographics (generational group, geographic location, job level, function, etc.) were collected as well as open-ended opinions as to what their organization could do to perform more effectively in a global environment.  

Results
Overall, an initial review of the results suggests several areas where there is room for improvement. 

Employees do not feel adequately equipped to work across regions and cultures. For example:

• Although a majority of employees feel that international growth is critical to their future success, fewer than half say they have been given training to build their cross-cultural competencies. 
  
• A majority of respondents do not feel that their organizations make it easy to work with colleagues in other countries or from different cultural backgrounds.
  

Conclusion – If this is the future for many organizations, these results suggest that employee stakeholders are not adequately prepared.

Senior leaders have lower confidence in their global capabilities than employees. For example:

• While supervisors and individual contributors believe that their organization has what it takes to be successful globally, senior leaders (directors and above) rate this area significantly lower.  
  

Conclusion – If employees look upward to their leaders for direction and confidence, senior leaders may not be sending the right messages to foster success. 

Confidence and capabilities vary across regions, generational groups and job levels.  For example:

• Employees in North America express greater confidence in their senior leaders’ ability to deliver global success than do employees in Asia or Europe.  However, employees in Europe are significantly more likely than in other regions to say that they possess the tools to communicate with colleagues in other countries.
  
• Older employees (those in the “boomer” generation) are significantly more likely than Generation-X and Generation-Y employees to see global growth as necessary for their organizations. 
  

Conclusion – If employees have notably different perceptions, capabilities and expectations across segments, it can be very difficult for global organizations to operate in a coordinated and effective manner. 

So what can organizations do to work more effectively in a global environment? Tune in to the next blog where we will share results of key driver analyses for hints about what factors in the environment contribute most (i.e., have the greatest impact) to effective global work. We will also delve into written comments from the employees themselves to see what they recommend leaders do to improve their organization’s global competence.

I was having coffee with a friend recently and talking about the history of their global mobility program. As a Fortune 500 global pharmaceutical, her organization is well accustomed to sending leaders abroad on 3-5 year expatriate assignments so that they can interact with their colleagues and customers around the world on a face-to-face and long-term basis. More recently, however, the global financial crisis and rising cost of expatriate packages has prompted senior leaders in her firm to explore alternative, more cost-effective ways of working globally. A challenge, she noted, is that while fewer leaders are being sent abroad for multiyear international postings, the need for those leaders to be culturally agile and cognizant of global issues is more important than ever. And it is not just the domain of leaders anymore – she noted that all of their employees must be culturally sensitive, globally aware, and able to work collaboratively with diverse individuals, whether those individuals are across the desk or across the ocean.

It makes sense, too. When my father and his father were still in the labor force, it was a rare occasion when they would come in contact with a foreign national, let alone communicate real-time with clients, colleagues or customers in other parts of the world. Today the workplace is very different. Technology and globalization have brought many more employees together with colleagues and customers in other corners of the world. And given the greater proportion of individual contributors, versus the number of organizational leaders, it is important for global organizations to ensure that all of their employees (or at least the increasing number who interact with diverse constituents) to possess the ability to do so effectively.

So assuming that organizations are not prepared to send every employee abroad for an expatriate assignment, what can they do to prepare their workforce? While every situation is different, I believe there are several options:

1. Select and develop culturally agile and globally-minded talent – Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D., and others have demonstrated that it is possible to select individuals who possess certain attributes – a mix of immutable traits and personal experience (e.g., international travel) - that predispose them to be more culturally agile and globally minded. Thus, organizations should seek out individuals who have these traits and life experiences (as well as the critical KSAs). Once hired, organizations can also develop these skills through formal training, mentoring opportunities, and provide on-the-job and off-the-job experience.  
   
2. Provide the right tools and create the right environment – In order to communicate and collaborate across cultures, time zones and geographic regions, leaders must also provide employees with the tools and technology to do that effectively.  For example, Skype (with or without video) is a cost-effective and simple way to stay connected when face-to-face interaction is not possible. However, in addition to tools and technology that facilitate communication, employees who must interact with colleagues and customers in very different time-zones (e.g., the United States and China) should also be given the flexibility to adapt their approach as needed to get the job done in a respectful manner. For example, when I lived in Hong Kong, I frequently participated in evening conference calls with colleagues and customers back in the US and in Europe. I understood that this was a necessary part of working globally and my job provided the flexibility to accomplish my tasks on a schedule that deviated from the traditional 9-5.  Similarly, my colleagues back in the U.S. could adjust their hours so that the inconvenience of late-night conference calls was not my burden 100% of the time. 
   
3. Demonstrate commitment at the top – Senior leaders must also emphasize the importance of working effectively across geographic regions and cultures. If employees do not feel that leaders are walking the talk with regard to cultural agility and cross-cultural competence, they are less likely to view it as a real priority.  Worse still, talented employees who value it personally but do not see it as a priority for leaders or their section of the organization may disengage and depart. 
   
4. Leverage local managers to promote a climate of agility – Beginning with Ben Schneider and the work of his colleagues in the 1980s, research on work-group climate has consistently shown that managers play a critical role in setting the tone for what is valued at the work-group level. Research on service climate, for example, taught us that managers in retail organizations who emphasize the importance of service in their daily communication, who reward employees who deliver high quality care, and who support their employees with the tools and training to deliver high quality service, report significantly stronger outcomes (customer loyalty and satisfaction, financial success) than those who do not. In the same way, managers can promote a climate of cultural agility by engaging in such behavior as emphasizing the benefits of a multicultural work environment, by demonstrating agility and curiosity in their own interaction with multicultural and global constituents, by rewarding employees for exhibiting the same behavior, and by empowering employees to adapt within reason (e.g., flexible schedules, alternative methods of working) to carry out their global responsibilities. 
   

While an organization of culturally agile and globally minded leaders and employees will not guarantee success (it cannot compensate for poorly designed or unwanted products, for example), they are a critical component in the increasingly global and interconnected economy. 

In subsequent posts, I will be sharing highlights from a global benchmarking study of employee opinions. Among other things, the Cultural Agility Climate SurveyTM  asks employees to evaluate organizational leaders on their cultural agility and global competence, as well as the tools and training that employees have received to operate in a multicultural and global environment. Results will also be segmented by region, generation (X, Y, etc.), industry and other key demographics.

As I sit here on an overnight flight to Europe for a week-long developmental assessment center with a group of high-potential executives in a global manufacturing firm, it only seems fitting to reflect upon a series of webinars that I co-hosted last week with Paula Caligiuiri. In those sessions, Paula shared some key nuggets of wisdom from her new book - Cultural Agility:  Building a Pipeline of Successful Global Professionals.

So what does it mean to be culturally agile? In a nutshell, cultural agility is a leader’s capacity to work quickly, comfortably, and effectively in different cultures and with people from different cultures. In unfamiliar situations, these individuals are able to scan the environment, pick up important cues, and then act in a manner that is appropriate for that environment. And, in general, “appropriate” will be one of three possible behavioral responses - Cultural Adaptation (the leader adapts his/her behavior to local culture), Cultural Minimization (leader does not adapt to local culture), or Cultural Integration (a little of both). What is important about the culturally agile leader is that he or she not only senses which behavioral approach is appropriate, but can easily toggle between the three. For example, a culturally agile executive visiting work colleagues in Hong Kong may use an integrated behavioral approach during a strategy session with peers, then adapt to local cultural norms over a dim-sum lunch, but adopt more of a minimization approach when lecturing to an MBA audience at Hong Kong University in the evening. 

However, cultural agility is not just about knowing which behavioral response suits the situation. Culturally agile leaders also possess a set of characteristics – some innate (i.e., personality) and some acquired through experience – that comfort and help them perform effectively in global situations. For example, tolerance of ambiguity, adaptability, appropriate self-efficacy, and global experience/knowledge (e.g., a history of global travel, learning multiple languages) are all important components that mix and match and blend together in different quantities to create the culturally agile leader. 

So if culturally agile leaders are what global organizations want, how do they find them? Caligiuri argues that there are three ways that organizations should go about building that pipeline of culturally agile talent:

• Recruitment – Organizations routinely use brand positioning as a way to attract individuals whose personal values align with the organization’s value proposition. Global organizations should review their recruitment strategy and communications, with an eye toward maximizing the messages that will attract culturally agile or those who are predisposed to seek global positions.  HSBC, the global financial services giant, does an excellent job of communicating its global brand to customers and potential job applicants. Open just about any tab on HSBC’s website and you will find references to being a global provider and the value that its multicultural workforce brings to HSBC.

• Selection – Organizations can select individuals who are more likely to be culturally agile by screening for personality characteristics (as measured by the Big-5, for example) and by looking at work and personal history. My spouse, for example, epitomizes culture agility, having been wired for it from birth onward. Born in South Africa to a Scottish mother and South African father, she soon moved along with her family to Australia, then on the United States. Eventually she made her way to Mexico, New Zealand, back to Australia, and then Asia. For her, global travel is as natural as breathing. Global organizations can also look for individuals that have studied or been exposed to multiple languages, particularly at a young age. Research, for example, shows that those individuals tend to be more flexible, more creative in their thinking, and therefore more likely to be culturally agile as leaders. 

• Development – Finally, global organizations can promote agility by providing individuals with developmental activities (international travel, managing diverse teams, etc.) that are designed to promote awareness and build a repertoire of meaningful multicultural/global experience. Mentors and coaches (particularly when equipped with 360-degree feedback data) can also play a critical role in helping leaders hone their cultural agility.  The development of cultural agility does not happen over night. For example, a friend of mine with a US consumer packaged goods company recently completed a five-year rotation in which she headed up operations on four different continents. In her opinion, developing culturally agile global leaders requires more than just learning new languages. It requires sustained time on the ground, frequent interaction with locals, and a deep dive into the culture and customs.   

As I am nearing my destination and must power down, it is time for you, the reader, to reflect on your own experience and your organization. Do you have the characteristics that predispose you to be an effective and culturally agile leader? Is your organization doing what it can to attract, select and develop its future global leaders? 

Have you ever had one of those friends who could walk into a room of complete strangers and leave as fast-friend to everyone an hour later? Or, maybe you had the opportunity to travel internationally with a work colleague - perhaps an older or more experienced one - and always found that person to be at ease in unfamiliar situations, confident in his or her ability to figure out how to get from point A to point B, as well as how to interact with clients, prospects or work colleagues who may speak different languages and represent different cultural backgrounds.

These are the types of personal qualities that tend to define culturally agile leaders. I say “tend to” because no two are exactly alike but, in general, culturally agile are flexible, adaptable, and comfortable in novel situations. They are curious about others and confident that while they may not know everything about a situation, they can figure out enough to get by, and do so in a culturally sensitive and appropriate way.

For global organizations or those that aspire to be global organizations, the implications are fairly clear. Whether seeking leaders to relocate and manage high-profile international expansions or simply to remain in their home country while managing a team of geographically and culturally diverse colleagues, organizations would do well to place culturally agile leaders in those important positions.  

However, leaders do not act alone. The really good ones are effective because they empower, inspire, and support employees in order to deliver upon the organization’s value proposition.  Moreover, they do all of that within the context of the larger organization, leveraging its systems, processes, technology, and other functional areas. 

So taking a step back for a moment and thinking more holistically about global (or aspiring to be global) organizations, I would suggest that culturally agile leaders are an important component but that we should also think about the employee stakeholders and the extent to which they display cultural agility and a global perspective, as well as the overall organization (the enterprise) and whether it has the systems and processes in place to support effective and efficient global work. In other words, to improve an organization’s global effectiveness, we should address three levels:

• Leaders - In addition to having the basic KSA’s to do their job (wherever that takes place) globally, organizations need leaders that are culturally agile, possessing the characteristics that I described above and in a previous post. Interested readers can also refer to the recent publication by Paula Caligiuri – Cultural Agility:  Building a Pipeline of Successful Global Professionals.

• Employees - Not only should organizations select and develop culturally agile and globally minded leaders, they can do the same for their employees. This is important because employees are often the “face” of your organization. They interact more with external customers and are typically responsible for creating the very important first impression of your organization. So how do you create culturally agile and globally minded employees? I would suggest that the same characteristics that can be assessed and developed in organizational leaders can also be assessed and developed in employees. We also know from organizational climate research that leaders play an important part in shaping employees’ behavior through rewards, recognition, and by simply “walking the talk” with regard to what is important and valued.   

• Enterprise – Given that vision, strategy, and objectives start at the top, C-suite executives can also play a critical role in creating the right organizational culture, structure, and processes to achieve the firm’s global objectives in an efficient and effective manner. Employees and leaders at all levels look upward for important cues as to what is valued so communication that talks about globalization and emphasizes the value of a multicultural workforce, and so forth, can help set the right tone. In addition to talking about what is valued, however, C-suite executives can reinforce the importance of globalization by putting in place systems, policies, and structures that facilitate global work. Finally, they can solidify that position by putting feedback mechanisms in place and creating an environment where local experts (country-leaders, for example), have an opportunity to influence those systems, policies, and structures so that a one-size-fits-all approach does not rule the day.  
  

So it is worth it for organizations to think about global effectiveness at multiple levels. In subsequent posts, I will zero in on each level and talk about ways to assess and develop cultural agility and global effectiveness among leaders, employees, and across the enterprise.

When I lived in Asia, I saw many examples of outstanding and culturally agile leaders, those who were growing their businesses in the region through their ability to select the right local talent and then lead effectively in a dynamic and cross-cultural context.  Unfortunately, there were also many ineffective leaders, those who were probably doing greater harm than good.  I documented many of these challenges in Going Global (http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470525339.html) and in the process, came to appreciate the critical role that these global leaders play – especially the cross-culturally effective ones – in helping global organizations succeed. 

A new book entitled “Cultural Agility:  Building a Pipeline of Successful Global Professionals” by Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D. (http://www.culturalagility.com/books/cultural-agility-building-pipeline-successful-global-professionals) identifies many of these same challenges and argues that successful global leaders must possess a healthy dose of cultural agility.  In practical terms, cultural agility is the ability to adapt and flex one’s approach as he or she crosses geographic and cultural boundaries. Culturally agile leaders are comfortable in their own skin, humble, naturally curious and interested in meeting others, and a few other characteristics. Drop one of these individuals into an unfamiliar environment, and they are likely to figure out where to go and what to do. They may stumble initially like anyone, but they learn from mistakes, adapt, and actually embrace the challenge.

How do you create culturally agile leaders?

The answer is not so simple, as there is no single recipe for creating culturally agile leaders. Individuals who have traveled extensively, for example, tend to develop the characteristics that enable them to survive in unfamiliar environments but this alone will not guarantee cultural agility.  For example, having traveled extensively, I know that there are some people who are just more wiling to step outside of their comfort zone, to stay in off-the-beaten-track locations, to try new foods, or challenge themselves to learn new languages. By contrast, other travelers choose to stay in familiar (major brand) hotels, eat the same food that they would back home, and interact only with those that are similar or with whom they must interact. In short, travel helps - but it is no guarantee. 

Culturally agile leaders tend to possess certain personality characteristics – openness, extroversion, agreeableness (from the Big-5 Personality Characteristics) – that are largely hard-wired.  But once again, having these traits does not guarantee success in a global environment. There are many extraverts, for example, that would shrink at the thought of travelling abroad to work with people in unfamiliar cultures. And of course, there is the stereotypical loud and pushy “American” that charges forward without first reading the situation and adjusting behavior as needed.  While there are times when this behavior may be needed, culturally agile professionals take a read of the situation first and then move forward with the correct approach.

Humility is also a characteristic that is evident in the culturally agile leader and one that I found to be particularly important while living and working in Asia. Leaders who display humility are thoughtful, respectful, and willing to take time to learn. They scan the environment for important cues, learn from their local colleagues, and adopt an approach and attitude that is culturally sensitive and appropriate. 

So it is worth it for organizations to develop culturally agile leaders. In subsequent posts, I will talk about some of the ways to assess and develop cultural agility among leaders, employees, and at the enterprise level.