Asia Competence

 by Lawrence

The Expat Cycle in Six Short Podcasts

I did a series of podcasts last year discussing the different phases of the expatriation cycle.  Give them a listen on Limitless Laowai with Ally Mona at:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/limitless-laowai-expat-life/id946367163?mt=2

Episode #248 – Why go international:  Understanding the perks of living abroad

There are expats in every country around the world.  But why?  What’s the real draw?  In this podcast, I talk about four benefits:

  • A global mindset is a necessary skill
  • An international assignment will set you apart
  • Immeasurable personal growth
  • Lifestyle and financial benefits

 

Episode #249 – Future expat beware: Four things you need to consider before taking that assignment

Living abroad … there’s nothing quite like it!  And yet, not every expat is effective overseas.  What if there was a roadmap that you could use ahead of your assignment that could help predict your chances of a successful, enjoyable and fulfilling expatriate experience?  Think about these four considerations:

  • Money should never be a driving force behind taking an international assignment
  • Predict your probability of professional and personal success
  • Your level of cultural dexterity
  • Family commitments

 

Episode #250 – Think before you sign: How to assess an expat job offer and negotiate a package

So you’ve got an international assignment offer on the table.  Congrats!  Now what?  Assessing the offer can be a tough process of discernment to wade through from your home country – especially if you don’t know the right questions to ask.  You only get one chance to negotiate a contract, so consider:

  • Clear understanding of the role
  • Company due diligence
  • Matching your individual style with the host culture
  • Consider these contract terms

 

Episode #251 – Get noticed: Marketing yourself for an international assignment

How can you successfully market yourself for an international role?  Where should you start?

  • Targeting markets with specific needs
  • Make yourself searchable globally
  • Leveraging personal and professional networks
  • Key points in an ideal profile

 

Episode #252 – Get your mind right: Four mindsets that set successful expats apart

There is a mindset that sets successful expats apart from those who fail – those who just don’t get into a good rhythm in life and work during their time abroad.  What are the top four characteristics?

  • Curiosity
  • Humility
  • Agility
  • High EQ

 

Episode #253 – Repatriating well

Let’s just say it:  Repatriation is hard than expatriation.  You can’t rely on your organization to repatriate you well, so tune in to hear four tips for easing back home and making the repatriation process go as smoothly as possible, including:

  • View repatriation as a new international assignment
  • Change your frame of mind
  • Seek an empathetic ear
  • Work to the plan, not the timetable

 

Lawrence Chi is a coach for expatriates and cross-cultural consultant.  His mission is to grow expatriates professionally and personally and to make organizations more international.  Visit his website www.TheExpatCompass.com.

in Coaching / Expat Coaching / Podcasts / Resources 0 comments
 by Lawrence

The Successful Expatriate has a High EQ

The fourth commonality among successful expatriates is a high EQ.  There is indeed a connection with humility and agility, but a high EQ reflects an individual’s level of self-awareness and general ability to recognize and manage their own behaviour and deliberately affect others’.

Humility allows an individual to be reflective and identify genuine strengths as well as blind spots.  The ability to pivot enables leaders to change their behaviour during an interaction in order to evoke a desired response.

A key distinction that separates EQ from the other success factors is that it can be developed; someone who either has low self or social awareness, the inability to regulate their responses or effectively influence others can work towards improving one or all of these areas.  Humility, curiosity and the ability to pivot are ingrained mindsets and more difficult to develop.  There are many effective ways to improve one’s EQ, including partnering with an effective coach.

We have seen in previous cases that behaviours such as an admission that a newly transplanted leader “has as much to learn from his new team and it does from him” (http://www.theexpatcompass.com/the-humble-expatriate-is-the-successful-expatriate/) and changing a pure metric-based management style to one focused on relationship-building (http://www.theexpatcompass.com/the-successful-expat-is-agile/) have resulted in garnering team support in a cross-cultural environment and success as an international leader.  Conversely, John’s inability to change his maverick management style ultimately led to his failure as an expatriate manager (http://www.theexpatcompass.com/the-successful-expat-is-agile/).

You would also rightly conclude that humility, agility and a high EQ are hallmarks of an effective leader … expat or not.  This is an important point for it also underlines the importance of having a meticulous and thoughtful selection process to identify candidates with the highest probability of effectiveness and success as an expatriate.

Organizations know the importance of an effective selection process – to realize their return on an international assignment, commercial success, and effectively manage talent.  Yet how many organizations truly have the rigor and objectivity to screen for expatriate success?  I suspect a very low number –

The four characteristics: humility; agility; high EQ and curiosity are vital starting points to determining expatriate effectiveness at the workplace.  The selection of expatriate leaders and the importance of a rigorous process will be the subject of future articles.

Lawrence Chi is a coach for expatriates and cross-cultural consultant.  His mission is to grow expatriates professionally and personally and to make organizations more international.  Visit his website www.TheExpatCompass.com.

in Expat Coaching 0 comments
 by Lawrence

Hope is Not a Strategy

Hearing that Premier McNeil had announced a strategy to build stronger ties between Nova Scotia and China was encouraging … not having any goals or accountability in it, is not.

Canadian government and business have demonstrated half-hearted engagement strategies with China and Asia in general: hoping something will happen won’t make it so.  Recognition that China is an important market to engage with is tremendous, but if Nova Scotia (and other Canadian institutions) are serious and committed to increase its Asia Competence (Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada term), the effort has to go beyond setting vision … there has to be measurable actions aligned to it.

I genuinely hope Premier McNeil’s vision materializes, let’s see what gains materialize in the near future.

Lawrence Chi is a coach for expatriates and cross-cultural consultant.  His mission is to grow expatriates professionally and personally and to make organizations more international.  Visit his website www.TheExpatCompass.com.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/china-strategy-trade-economy-ambassador-1.3557489

 

in Engagement with Asia 0 comments
 by Lawrence

After the Fanfare of an Asia Trade Mission … now what?

The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada has always touted that Canada needs to be more Asia Competent as it rightly states, “a number of Canada’s friendly competitors have taken important steps to improve their own strategic and economic positioning within the region”.  So it was with great interest that I followed Toronto Mayor John Tory’s recent trip to China and Japan.  A delegation of 35 spent went to Shanghai, Hong Kong, ChongQing, Tokyo and Sagamihara to drum up business, heighten awareness of Toronto and generally build relationships … an understated but essential means to successfully do business in North Asia.  Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s recent China mission and India mission netted $1.7B and $250 million in signed deals respectively.

 

Asia has to be top of mind for Canadians beyond trade missions.  This “out of sight, out of mind” approach has repeated itself far too often and is one of the reasons why Canada falls behind the United States, Germany, Australia and New Zealand in its Asia Engagement.  There was great enthusiasm with every trade, government and media delegate I met during my 20 years in Asia and every time, I had hope that the momentum would continue after the mission; that there would be additional questions, discussion, queries, requests for information and networking.  The words I heard afterwards were “there are other priorities right now”, “we’re continuing our due diligence”, “we’ll reach out if we have additional questions” … but the messages I heard were “Asia’s too far away”, “we don’t get it”, “engaging sounds really hard”.  I grew to be unsurprised by such responses … no one would argue that Canada has and continues to rely on traditional economic and political partners in the United States and to a certain extent, Europe, because they’re not far away, its’ cultures are relatively similar and engaging them isn’t as hard.

 

Two calls to action come to mind.  First, the Canadian media and other information outlets need to do a better job of heightening the attention of these trade missions and its results.  A Google search of Mayor Tory’s recent mission resulted in an article about the cost of the trip, a $3.5mill deal but nothing about the Mayor’s mission debrief on 27 April (a search on Premier Wynne’s missions netted better results).  Heightening the importance and awareness of these trade missions and deals is a first step towards building Asia Competence.

 

All participants on the trade mission should be held accountable for follow up.  What actions need to be taken to realize the return on the investment of time, effort and money of the trip?  How do we keep the conversation going? If we were to measure the progress, constructive engagement and goodwill gained on these trips a year from now, what would result?

 

I applaud the government and business officials who have taken the important step of proactively engaging with Asia, but now what?  After the fanfare of an Asia trade mission … we all have a responsibility to keep the momentum moving, keep Asia top of mind and build our Asia Competence.

 

Lawrence Chi is a coach for expatriates and cross-cultural consultant.  His mission is to grow expatriates professionally and personally and to make organizations more international.  Visit his website www.TheExpatCompass.com.

in Engagement with Asia 0 comments