The Hindu Business Line : A compass, an anchor and a telescope

I am writing this week’s column from the Cape of Good Hope. This is on the South Western tip of the African continent and the place where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. As I remember from high school geography lessons, this is the place that Vasco da Gama and Bartholomew circumnavigated to discover the brave new world! What tools did they use to keep their vessel on track to reach the desired goal? A compass, a telescope and an anchor, for sure.

New managers who travel the flattened world would also need:

A culture compass

A values anchor and

A planning telescope

Whip out that culture compass

When we interact with someone, it is not with a person exactly like ourselves. In virtual teams, on conference calls and in long-distance strategic partnerships, the players are increasingly from different backgrounds and with a different upbringing. So a culture compass is needed to keep checking the direction we are taking and the personalities we are dealing with. Are they used to direct communication? Should we make our communication more blunt to be understood, as in the case of say, a North American? Are they, au contraire, used to more indirect and roundabout ways of talking and should we be interpreting their body language and unsaid words as in the case of say, the Japanese.

At our Global Adjustments training workshops, I prescribe that we whip out this compass and keep an eye on it, and adapt and adjust our behaviour to be successful based on what we know of the other person’s ways of interacting. And the most important thing to keep in mind is that no culture is superior to another — the minor overt differences just need adapting to, according to the situation.

Drop that values anchor

It is equally essential to anchor ourselves firmly in the values we believe in. Adapting has to go hand in hand with rooting ourselves in our values. Dropping anchor whenever the wind is too strong to continue sailing is a perfect metaphor for our cross-border behaviour in business.

If our value system is relationship-oriented and we find that in the more fact-oriented countries too direct an approach ends up in people being tossed about recklessly, we can say, “I need to stop here. This current is too strong and may take me the wrong way, a way that I am not comfortable taking.” Then, anchoring ourselves in our belief, we must communicate our needs to the other side and find a via media sooner rather than later.

At a recent ‘global emerging leaders’ workshop, a young Indian participant, Rajesh, told me how he felt insulted when his Western colleague bluntly told him off for interrupting, in front of his team mates. He sulked a bit, felt hurt and then realised the Westerner had no clue he had hurt him because he had treated him just as he would a person from his own country.

He took the Westerner aside and explained: “I will try to hold back my interruptions. But since it is a habit that is not frowned on as much in our country as in yours, if I do it again, the next time, please call me aside and mention it. Don’t tell me so bluntly in front of my team, as I lose face with them.”

It took a lot of courage to say this, but now they have worked out a code — the Westerner raises a Victory sign when Rajesh falls back into his habit of interrupting and immediately, Rajesh says, “Oops sorry” and they carry on using humour, respect and self-direction.

None of this would have happened if they hadn’t taken the anchor time to assess each other’s values and needs. The one of saving face, the other of not interrupting.

Eyes on the horizon

This third aspect is so important, but so subtle that it could get lost. We feel like we are dealing with planning but can’t seem to look beyond the all-encompassing things going on now. There are piles of e-mails to answer, calls and text messages to return, meetings to attend and to-do lists to complete.

Our inbox is never going to be empty. So it is wise to have a structure in our days and weeks to plan for the long-term. What balance do I need in areas such as money management, health and fitness, recreation, personal and professional mastery, business and career, primary relationships (spouse and children), family (extended siblings, parents), social networks (contacts), income now and quantum income (one-time income like a book royalty).

These are all areas to set goals in, assess where you are in each and where you want to be in each. Then set goals; clear measurable goals and actions to be taken, so the wheel of life turns smoothly.

In the global village, we need this far-sightedness to be effective today, while we work with a plan for tomorrow. I always remember Zig Ziglar, the master coach, who asks, “Are you a wandering generality or a meaningful specific and how can you hit a target you cannot see?”

(The writer is CEO of Global Adjustments, a relocation and cross-cultural services company, and is also the author of Doing Business in India for Dummies. She can be contacted at globalindian@globaladjustments.com)