Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/316485
[ 43 ] MAY 2014 | www.hrotoday.com Developing Leaders It might seem that the reason is international assignments aren't for everyone. After all, managing a team is difficult; managing a team through language and cultural barriers is exponentially more difficult. But these usually aren't the reason expatriate managers fail; most fail because they lack basic leadership skills. Organizations tend to promote individuals for one of two reasons. Some promote individuals based on their apparent leader-like behavior, i.e., for being willing to take charge. Others promote individuals based on performance. However, willingness to take charge indicates ambition, not leadership; meanwhile, research shows that only 30 percent of high performers are potential leaders. Not only that, when you promote a talented performer without leadership potential, you end up losing a good technical person and gaining a bad manager. At its essence, effective leadership is the ability to build and maintain a high-performing group. People universally look for four characteristics in a leader: 1. Integrity. Integrity is the most important characteristic of good leaders. We want to know that the people in charge won't take advantage of their positions: They won't lie, steal, play favorites, or betray their subordinates. 2. Judgment. The success or failure of organizations depends on decision-making. Judgment has two parts: pre- and post-decision. Most business failures are the result of bad decisions that are compounded by an unwillingness to evaluate the decisions and change direction. 3. Competence. Good leaders are perceived as knowing what they are talking about, as being competent in the team's business. Subordinates see leaders who lack business acumen as empty suits, and are unwilling to follow them. 4. Vision. Good leaders explain to their team the significance of their mission and how it fits into the larger scheme of things. This vision clarifies roles, goals, and the way forward, thereby facilitating team performance. By using these four basic characteristics as a framework for judging leadership potential, organizations can drastically reduce their failure rate among their managers. But is that enough? Compared to their domestic peers, expatriate managers face an additional set of challenges. They must manage through cultural and communication barriers and the stress and social isolation of an unfamiliar environment. That requires a unique set of skills. So it's no surprise that only 29 percent of executives surveyed by Ernst & Young said their companies effectively place employees into overseas assignments without a big disruption. Research psychologists from National Taiwan University and the University of Illinois studied a group of 83 American expatriates working in Taiwan to test whether certain personalities more easily adjusted to international assignments. The team measured personality characteristics using the Five Factor Model of Personality, a model that measures extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and their opposites. They found that three characteristics accurately predicted improved performance in overseas assignments. 1. Extroversion. Extroverted expatriates were more willing to interact with their overseas subordinates, colleagues, and boss. They were also more likely to socialize outside of work, easing their transition into a new environment. 2. Agreeableness. Individuals who were more agreeable were more likely to establish friendships with locals and embrace local cultural norms, alleviating the sense of isolation many expats experience. 3. Openness to experience. Expatriates who were more open to experience had an easier time adjusting to novel living conditions and culture. Of course, there are dozens of variables outside of personality that can influence the success or failure of an expatriate assignment, ranging from ease of relocating and cost of living in the host country to previous overseas experience and arranging a work visa for expatriates' spouses. However, many of those factors vary from case to case, and are therefore hard to incorporate into an expatriate selection program. By assessing candidates' basic leadership skills and the personality characteristics that predict more successful adjustment to a foreign assignment, companies can drastically improve the success rate of their expatriate managers. Ryan Daly is a content analyst for Hogan Assessments.