You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure
Most of you have probably heard this axiom before. It is attributed to leadership and management thought leader Peter Drucker who argues that without collecting and analyzing data we have no way of tracking whether and how we are reaching our goals. If your goal this year (notice that we’re not talking about New Year’s resolutions, which tend to get abandoned during the first quarter) is to improve how you do business in a global context, then you may want to look into applying cultural assessments. In order to develop cultural competency you want to be able to define what your own behavioral preferences are and how they compare to people from other cultures. Both of the assessment tools we offer – GlobeSmart Profile and Country Navigator – do exactly that (and much more). They help professionals measure how they themselves make decisions, communicate, lead, and manage – and how their counterparts from other parts of the world or different cultural backgrounds do business. Once you measure these behavioral preferences you’l be able to improve how you operate in light of cultural differences.
What Is Your Cultural Profile?
In our ever more global world of work, it has become an almost overused truism that to be successful in business it is necessary to work together with people from cultures which are sometimes distinctly different from our won. Yet, too often even experienced, global executives have notions of how representatives from foreign cultures act, react, and behave which are too simplistic or based only on anecdotal evidence. This oversimplification is usually a result of focusing on only one or two specific dimension of behavior – for example how people respond to uncertainty, how they negotiate, or what their attitude towards hierarchies is. Culture, however, is a bit more complex than this narrow and limiting focus. Smart global professionals who want to get a more comprehensive picture of behavior patterns – their own and those of foreign business partners – take culture assessments seriously. They provide us with a powerful tool to measure and compare cultures, based on sociological, behavioral research.
Significantly increase your global effectiveness
Country Navigator is an online and mobile platform that prepares executives and assignees on how to work and adapt culturally in over 100 countries. It combines assessments, country content and a range of e-learning modules. This assessment tool complements training and coaching programs, delivering an intuitive and engaging interface for users to assess and manage their individual cultural tendencies and behaviors. Its blended approach puts people in complete control of their continuous learning experience. Country Navigator is an ideal instrument for global managers, teams, and assignees. As a comparison instrument it allows users and corporate account owners to compare culture profiles and tendencies with countries, teams and colleagues on nine dimension and to receive instant guidance on how to collaborate more effectively. Country Navigator ensures all global leaders are well prepared and effective when managing diverse teams. The system follows a well-proven methodology which focuses on operational realities and practical application, enabling learners to transfer new skills and knowledge to their workplace. The cultural assessment tool and feedback information is available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
Minimize misunderstandings. Maximize success.
The GlobeSmart Profile is an effective, statistically validated online cultural inventory tool to discover and compare your own preferred work style across five dimensions of culture, and how you compare with other cultures, countries, colleagues, and teams. Available in 13 languages, the GlobeSmart Profile cultural intelligence software provides specific, dynamically generated advice on how to bridge differences and leverage similarities. The true value of this instrument is in its simplicity. It provides insight about cultural differences and their implications for business interactions. It is not a classical assessment or a diagnostic tool; like with any cultural measurement instrument there is no right or wrong profile. Instead, it is a statistically valid and reliable tool for helping you increase your awareness of potential gaps between your preferred way of operating and those of your colleagues, and for developing strategies for effectively bridging those differences. Users can also watch short vignettes that depict people from various ends of the work preference continuum interacting with one another, enabling them to more fully understand the meaning of their profiles and how those profiles might look in the real world.
Are you ready to measure and improve your culture competence?
If your goal this year is to really improve how you operate in a global business, then let’s help you make 2018 the year expand your cultural competency. Get in touch with us to learn more about how you can implement our assessments in your growth and development journey.
If you are interested in learning more about cultural competence and foreign language skills, we invite you to sign up for our newsletter, The Culture Reflections. As a token of our appreciation you will receive a series of complimentary white papers on cultural competence from us!
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