Are Women Better Suited Than Men For International Assignments?

Women who take on international assignments have long been a rarity, but that is rapidly changing as more companies expand their global business and more women fill the ranks of upper management.

How do women fare in this role -- especially in areas like Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, where males dominate and the social mores often relegate women to menial roles? Research has shown that women not only are adept in conducting international assignments, but also actually are likely to have advantages over men in several key areas, including emotional intelligence and cultural awareness.

"Women score high in emotional intelligence because they are excellent at reading body language, they are more intuitive and they can read between the lines," says Diane Simpson, Ph.D., a member of WJM Associates' coaching faculty who has helped managers from more than 100 countries to work effectively across cultural borders. "They are also more self-reflective and look to see how their behavior affects others."

A global mindset is another asset that women managers are likely to possess. "This is having a true cultural awareness," says Simpson. "Women are more willing to learn foreign languages, to pay attention to the hidden dimensions of differences and to have a curiosity about cultures. As a result, women are more likely to feel comfortable in culturally ambiguous situations."

Knowing the language and customs of a country can set a very positive tone from the outset. At the same time, it's not wise to do everything in a country the way people there do, cautions Simpson. "Women are more likely to realize that when in Rome, you can't act like a Roman, you have to act like a smart foreigner, which is to know when to adapt and when not to. After all, if you try to become too much like a Roman, which Roman do you emulate -- the taxi driver or the mayor? Knowing which things you pay attention to and which you do not is where having a global mindset comes in."

Many women can be at a disadvantage on the international front because they may lack the self-confidence to weather the stress, the ambiguous environments and the strenuous demands of the situation. They can learn to project self-confidence, says Simpson, by techniques such as speaking forcefully when appropriate and avoiding the use of qualifiers.

Another disadvantage facing women is that there are many locations in the world where they are not taken seriously or where there are strictly observed cultural customs to overcome. For example, in Mexico City it is customary for women not to go out to restaurants by themselves. Faced with this situation, one woman on assignment there developed an expertise in home entertaining in order to socialize with her Mexican clients.

When women are dealing with countries where hierarchies are important, it's vital to send out signals that proclaim, "I'm the decision-maker," says Simpson. Recommended strategies include flying first-class, bringing along a male assistant, carrying a letter of introduction of a senior officer in the company, and having business cards translated so that her ranking is correctly stated.

Some women working abroad prefer to skip after-business social activities, which are important to relationship building. "Sometimes the best answer is, you go to the dinner and one place after that, and then you return to your hotel because 'You have to make a call,'" advises Simpson. "If you're talking about Asia, it's the right time to phone the office back home."

Other times, women do not even receive the opportunity to participate in social events. "I know one woman executive visiting China whose host told her, 'You're tired now. Perhaps you'd like to go back to your hotel.' That was his way of not inviting her."

Are first-born children destined to become domineering, authoritarian bosses? Is your younger sibling liable to break free and emerge as a rebellious but creative guitarist?

For many years, researchers have studied birth order and drawn conclusions about how it influences personality and behavior. The basic premise is that children seek parental favor by using strategies that are determined by their birth order, which, in turn, leads to the development of distinct personalities. Of course, there are a number of variables, such as gender, temperament, physical characteristics, socioeconomic class, family size and degree of conflict between siblings and parents that influence and alter the impact that birth order has on personality.

What has become generally accepted about firstborns is that they consistently support the status quo represented by their parents. They tend to be ambitious, conscientious and achievement-oriented and, because they are initially bigger, stronger and smarter than their younger siblings, firstborns are thought to be more assertive, dominant and confident. Younger siblings, on the other hand, are born into a family system where one or more niches are already occupied by older siblings who have the benefit of age and experience. As a result, it's a logical strategy for laterborns to rebel against the status quo that is represented by their parents and their older siblings.

Although few people would disagree that early family experiences and sibling rivalry are important influences on personality, there's been scant agreement about the specific manner in which birth order influences personality, and in which personality influences leadership, and, therefore, the specific ways in which birth order influences leadership. Still, the best supported and most compelling of the research suggests that firstborns are more conservative and laterborns are more rebellious and adaptable. So, we tend to expect firstborns to have leadership traits associated with authority, rules and traditions, with laterborns exhibiting an emphasis on group cooperation and community.

The relationship between birth order and business leadership hasn't yet been the subject of any empirical research. In the absence of this research, I would predict that business leaders who are firstborns are more likely to support the status quo while laterborns are more likely to support innovation. In today's rapidly changing, globally competitive business environment, business leaders constantly need to implement technological and procedural innovations in order to compete successfully. It could be hypothesized that laterborn, more flexible leaders will feel more comfortable managing in the business world and more likely to succeed in the global economy.

Of course, birth order itself is merely a proxy for what we ultimately want to know: just how can a combination of traits and characteristics lead to accurate predictions of attitudes and behaviors in different situations?

Ben Dattner is a member of WJM Associates' coaching and assessment faculty, and is an adjunct professor in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology Master of Arts Program at New York University.

Coachable moments are those golden opportunities for managers to teach staff on the spot. Your coaching moves from theory to practice quickly when you observe people on the job and provide them with immediate feedback. And it doesn't have to take a lot of time.

I once worked with a company that was as committed to coaching as any organization I had ever seen, and its bottom line reflected it. The company was a large national retail chain with hundreds of stores all over the country. Coaching was ingrained in its culture.

Every day, in every store, every manager was required to do at least one two-minute coaching drill with every salesperson in the store. Coaching was as important as ordering inventory, stocking the shelves, and maintaining the store.

The two-minute coaching drill usually went something like this:

• The manager observed the salesperson in a customer sales situation.
• After the customer left, the manager took the person aside and asked how she thought she did.
• The manager then gave feedback to the person as to how she could have done better.
• The manager and salesperson role-played the real-life sales situation that had just occurred using the manager's suggestions and the employee's self-reflection.

The two-minute coaching drills were used for a variety of purposes, including improving performance in all kinds of areas, encouraging cross selling, correcting mistakes, and maximizing sales. Specifically, managers:

• Used slow times for coaching practice. If, for example, salespeople weren't recommending enough product, managers would take them in the back room and review sales basics.
• Taught salespeople how to transition from selling one product to selling another.
• Showed how to make confident recommendations without sounding pushy.
• Helped salespeople think through items to suggest.
• Instructed salespeople on how to handle customer objections.
• Showed salespeople how to ask open-ended questions.
• Trained salespeople on how to listen and focus on customer needs.

Managers used every coaching opportunity as a chance to teach a principle, practice it, and then get commitment for continued performance. Some managers would actually role-play with salespeople as they unpacked shipments. Others quizzed salespeople on products during down times. Managers were constantly in coaching mode.

Role-playing was such a way of life that often managers would rehearse with staff and, soon after, the situation they had just practiced became a reality on the sales floor. Coaching was so entrenched in the company's culture that managers coached the managers below them and salespeople even coached managers! As managers constantly coached salespeople, the salespeople were so programmed to deal with customers in specific ways that when managers didn't follow the instruction they had been giving, the salespeople let them know.

To reinforce the power of coaching even further, managers were asked to submit their best coaching stories to an in-house publication. Anytime anyone in the organization had room for improvement-- not just salespeople -- coaching was the tool managers used most to help the person achieve peak performance.

Once you start looking for coachable moments, you'll find that they happen all the time. Before they do, ask yourself these questions:

• Is the time and place appropriate?
• Is the person in a frame of mind to hear what I am saying?
• Am I prepared to coach the person and offer my undivided attention?

If the answer is yes, seize the moment and make the most of it as a coach.
 

Chairman Bill Morin and President Chuck O'Dell will deliver a presentation entitled "Returning Trust to the Workplace -- Is it Possible?" at the 12th Annual Garden State Council Society for Human Resource Management Conference in November.

"The most successful organizations are those that are able to attract, develop and retain talented people -- people who require developmental opportunities, coaching and feedback," says Morin. "Our presentation will show human resources managers how they can help transform the relationship between their organization and employees by fostering trust-based management."

The session will examine how perceptions of trust in the workplace help and hinder company performance. "Participants will share stories of difficult employee relationships and we will explore possible solutions," says O'Dell. "In addition, audience surveys will reveal insights into general feelings of trust, and we will present interactive case studies."

The conference, entitled "21st Century HR: Measuring Up," offers 42 concurrent sessions, two keynote addresses, executive panels, chapter awards, and more than 40 exhibits.