‘Leaving one’s country and adapting to a completely new lifestyle can prove to be a difficult task.’
Following our cross-cultural coaching article, we received feedback from a member of our network illustrating the importance of cross-cultural coaching. He examined the issue from both a commercial and personal perspective and he shared his experience as an expatriate for more than 30 years, living in another culture, with RMC.
Personal Experience
All the points are very valid and apply to both individuals and companies as well. When I worked for [company name], they made some very arrogant assumptions and decisions in deciding to start operations in Canada. Plans were being made without input from those involved in executing them, which was a bad business decision in its own rite, but the big failure was that they did not research the Canadian culture from a business perspective as well as that of the local workforce and potential shoppers. Within a short time frame, this cost the company many millions of dollars, loss of jobs and very bad public relations.
On a personal note, I have also found that within [country name] (and I have travelled to most parts of the country) that just merely having an accent that is foreign, invokes curiosity and sometimes judgement. The interest could be innocent about one’s background, but there have been instances where the assumption is that I lack education or some other condescending comments are made or tones noted in relation to being lower in status. On the other hand, quite a few of the expats that I have worked with in the oil fields or construction projects in Trinidad, have assumed that they are superior to the locals.
To me, the trick to being successful in a move anywhere is knowledge, training in the culture (like you mentioned in your article), humility, being aware of one’s surroundings, observing your hosts and making every effort to blend in regardless of one’s particular status.
Having read about this very real experience of an expatriate who lived and worked in a foreign culture for over 30 years, we can see that failure to invest in intercultural coaching as part of a larger business investment, ignorance of a culture or unwillingness to adapt can result in losses to the tune of millions of dollars and cause great damage to a company’s reputation.
Please share your thoughts with us. We would love to hear about your experience.