Ever since I accepted a position working with the Supply Chain Organization for a Major Aerospace Company I have been faced with challenges that related to learning how to become a better leader in a position that required me to provide leadership (Both formal and informal) to fellow businessmen and women. Up until that period of time I believe I had been rather ethnocentric in my leadership views, those views were not so much limited to just my own ethnic background but included the ethnicity’s of those that I had past business relations with.
Once I transitioned into the new role I mentioned above and learned that I would be charged with providing support and leadership to suppliers that were located in area of the world known to have different business cultures I immediately began to research what I could to address what I thought were known deficiencies in my current leadership perspectives. With support from other company employees that had previous experience in the global business market I was able to locate several resources that provided a great deal of what I viewed to be “insider information” of sorts. This information which included but was not limited to the findings of the GLOBE research organization provided me with a foundation from which I could make adjustments to my leadership in preparation for my new responsibilities.
What I learned from that research oddly enough aligned with what was presented in the Cultural leadership section of the lesson on leadership and diversity. That early research that I charged myself with completing helped me to have an understanding of what leadership attributes and business values were desired in each of the cultures that I would have to work with. Those lessons centered around the universally desirable leadership attributes presented in table 16.2 on page 448 of Northouse’s work on the theory and practice of leadership. That valuable information made me feel a little at ease as I found out that although I was uninformed and unexposed to the leadership styles of these other countries, I could and did in fact possess a foundation of leadership attributes I could rely on during the “early days” of my career that would allow me to be effective while building relationships and further my cross cultural knowledge. Although I can confess that in those early days I did not do everything right with regards to being a leader in those cultures I can comfortably say having an understanding of the basic culturally accepted attributes helped me to build relationships that lead to me becoming a better global leader.
Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
What a wonderful opportunity you have with your new position! Not only in the work do you but also with the opportunity to look within yourself and consider new and innovative ways to approach your work. Working within a global economy and with everyday interactions with people of different cultures and expectations, it must have been a huge adjustment both personally and professionally.
Communication therefore would be what I consider the most important aspect in working abroad. Understanding the culture in which you now find yourself, it is imperative that you communicate even more effectively than maybe you did in the past. Not only must you show sensitivity toward the people you are working with but that empathy must be communicated in an effective manner that does not come off as condescending or arrogant. (Northouse, 2016)
Another key aspect of working with a diverse population is to always be willing to evolve and recognize changes in the climate of the industry and the people in which you work with. (Clawson, 2014) I find it very admirable that your first thought upon accepting this position was an awareness that you may need to change your style of leadership based on the fact that you will be working with more diverse people than you had in the past. This self-awareness makes me think that you will always be looking for different ways of looking at situations and how to deal with them in a way that is both respectful of the people you are charged with leading as well as doing what is best for the company you work for.
I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.
Lisa
Clawson, James G. (2014) 11 Key Characteristics of a Global Business Leader. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2016, from https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/2014/01/11-key-characteristics-of-a-global-business-leader/
Northouse, P. G. Leadership: Theory and practice. 2016