Successful Repatriate Training
Six Steps to Successful Global Succession Planning
Six Steps to Successful Global Succession Planning
by Neil S. Orkin
A hot topic in human resources development circles has been global succession planning. How can companies best meet their human resources development needs abroad and track the global skills of their people? How can a global professional be kept connected to the home office and satisfied with their job and organization? Here are six steps to help you with this important challenge.
1) Database Management Systems - Organizations need systems that note the international work experience and foreign language skills of employees. Training professionals need to be able to make ad hoc queries on a computer to get employee profile information. Windows based programs exist that can make the job of finding the appropriate professional much easier.
2) Selection - Interview candidates to verify their interest in a foreign assignment. The professional may not feel that the assignment is a good fit for his or her current professional and personal situation. It is far better to have this information before the employee is chosen than to risk a failed assignment which can be extremely costly for both the individual and the organization.
3) Mentoring Programs - Providing the global professional with a mentor is critical to the success of the assignment. The mentor, ideally someone at a higher level in the organization who has completed a successful international assignment, can inform the professional on how to navigate his or her assignment and also let the professional know what is happening back at the home office.
4) Keeping in Touch - By installing a computer or fax machine in an expatriate's home, he or she can receive daily messages from the home office. This helps keep him or her informed and feeling part of the team. Some firms have created special newsletters for expatriates to help them stay current with organization news and information. Certainly, regularly scheduled trips back to the home office so the employee can be briefed on important company news and meet with his or her mentor is key.
5) Re-Entry - The organization needs to sit down with repatriates and help them map out a personal action plan noting the challenges they feel they may face. Another challenge is deciding how the knowledge and information that repatriates have gained can best be shared with home-office professionals.
6) Retention - It is not uncommon for repatriates to leave the organization after an overseas assignment. Losing a key global professional can be very costly. Having a clear career path for repatriates is critical, as is allowing them to serve as mentors and providing a forum for them to share the knowledge they have gained with future expatriates.
Following these six steps will allow your organization to become more global and enable you to develop and retain a team of global professionals.
Neil S. Orkin is a principal with Global Training Systems, a global management consulting firm specializing in human resource development located in Hillsborough, New Jersey.
Six Steps to Successful Global Succession Planning, Neil S. Orkin, Performance in Practice, Reprinted with the permission of the American Society for Training and Development, Alexandria, Virginia.
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Speaking to Global Audiences
by Neil S. OrkinAs speaking professionals we recognize how important it is to understand our audience and to customize our message to the groups we are speaking to. When presenting abroad or here in the United States, it is key that we have an awareness of the non-native speaker of English and prepare our speeches accordingly. Here are a few simple steps we can take to maximize the impact our presentations have with global audiences.
TIME ISSUES: It is not unusual for speakers to want to include a lot of information in their speeches. This can be very problematic when speaking globally. Listening to a speech in a second language can be very tiring, so the shorter and more direct your presentation is the better. When conducting seminars allow plenty of time for covering each section of your program and for questions. Give participants time to "recharge" with adequate breaks.
VISUALS: The use of visuals is always important. Remember to include pictures and diagrams to help you present your message. These diagrams can help your audience follow your talk particularly if the visuals are clear and not too cluttered.
LANGUAGE: Try not to use jokes because humor can be very place specific and may not travel well. The same goes for idioms and slang. It may be useful for you to tape yourself before giving your presentation to "weed out" your use of idioms and slang. This language can be very confusing to your global audience. Americans tend to drop word endings particularly final consonants, which can make what you are saying difficult for your audience to follow. Another common problem when speaking to global audiences is speaking too quickly. We really need to remember to slow our rate of speech down.
OBSERVE YOUR AUDIENCE: It is key to observe your audience when giving your presentation. Don't be impatient, and be willing to adjust your delivery based on audience reaction. Your audience will appreciate the effort you took to customize your keynote presentation.
By following these four simple steps you will notice that your audiences have more energy and will be understanding your message much better. This will definitely be worth the changes made.
Reprinted from Liberty Bell Newsletter. A Publication of the Liberty Bell Speakers Association, a Chapter of the National Speakers Association.
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Successful Repatriate Training
by Neil S. OrkinThe retention of corporate professionals after a global assignment is key to the future success of your global organization. How can you minimize the challenges that your repatriate employees face after returning from an overseas assignment? How can the knowledge they have learned abroad be transferred and shared? These five steps can help.
1. Dealing with Reverse Culture Shock. Until fairly recently, the idea of offering training to professionals who were coming home was considered odd. Repatriates were often thrown back into their jobs with no discussion of their international assignments. Research has shown that a home culture can seem strange after having spent a period of time negotiating a new culture. Providing repatriates with an outlet to discuss their feelings can be crucial to successful repatriation.
2. Transferring knowledge. Sound repatriate training should include time for the repatriate to discuss how to transfer the knowledge he or she has learned. This may best be done on an informal, just-in-time basis during a special project, or during meetings with the boss, or during special meetings of their team.
3. Mentoring expatriates. The repatriate can serve a key role in helping the organization develop a global workforce by serving as a mentor to expatriates going to the same country or part of the world. The information exchange between the repatriate and expatriate can help ensure a positive experience for the expatriate by alerting him or her to the challenges faced when working abroad.
4. Conducting repatriate forums. Organizing a group of repatriates who can share their knowledge of international business during regularly scheduled presentations gives a clear signal to all employees that global experience is valued. In addition, the networking between repatriates can help your organization build a more satisfied global workforce.5. Providing career paths. The strain and uncertainty of the overseas assignment can be reduced when the expatriate knows what career opportunities are available upon return. This knowledge also can create a much smoother transition once the employee returns home.
To remain competitive globally, organizations need to make it clear to all employees that global experiences are encouraged. One way to do that is through an organizational design that promotes international assignments. Another way is to provide repatriate training programs.
Too often, repatriate professionals leave their organizations because they feel that their knowledge is undervalued. These five steps can help prevent this from occurring.
Neil S. Orkin is a principal with Global Training Systems, a global management consulting firm specializing in human resource development located in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Successful Repatriate Training, Neil S. Orkin, Performance in Practice, Reprinted with the permission of the American Society for Training and Development, Alexandria, Virginia.
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