Coaching for expat managers - A new, innovative service of Develor

3rd of December, 2009

 

„Get to know and respect the distinct culture in Hungary.

Forcing to adapt western methods won’t yield good results.”

Herbert Kempe, Ford Hungária Ltd.

The same opinion is represented by Jean-Claude Fedou, senior consultant of Develor, who has gained similar experiences many times during his 11-year career in Hungary, as a top manager. The notion of globalization and the standardization initiatives of multinational companies suggesting that there are minimal cultural differences between the various countries entail major traps. Globalization does not mean uniformization, and it would be a failure to underestimate communication and attitude-related problems caused by the differences. Managers having arrived in Hungary, beyond the everyday managerial and professional tasks, also have to cope with a different way of thinking, specific attitude and language barriers.

 

• "I don’t feel that my Hungarian colleagues are really committed and motivated for the company."
• "Why is it so difficult to send their reports in time?"
• "Why are they are so pessimistic, even about their own capacities to change things?"

 

This process may involve a lot of conflicts, misunderstanding and stress and success is not guaranteed at the end. As is well-known, a manager, alone can not be successful, only together with his colleagues. Therefore, it is important for the managers to get acquainted with and accept the customs of the local country and fine-tune their managerial style by creatively adapting to and drawing upon these rules. The key is to build proper attitude and openness that will enable the managers, who otherwise apply successful, proven practice and methods in their home countries, to consider and understand the differences and lead their staff in a relevant, clear and in a really motivating way.

Without this the manager will only notice that he does not understand why, but experiences odd passive resistance. Strictness, consistency does not help; he is not accepted and not regarded as an authentic leader and no trustful atmosphere is grown around him. Nevertheless, with broad-minded attitude, establishing and maintaining genuine partnerships and using the differences as tools for development, he can become an accepted and respected team member and a successful leader.

The process of integration and the emerging cultural differences can be supported by the new Peer-to-Peer Coaching service of Develor; that entails the help of our specialist, a former expat manager with multinational experiences, who already knows the Hungarian circumstances very well.