Managing People Across Different Cultures

by Simon
Source: http://myceolife.com/2008/08/managing-people-across-different-cultures/

During my time with the REA Group we grew the business from operating in just one culture – Australia – to one operating across many different cultures – from Australia and New Zealand through to the English and European cultures.  When we started a small office in Shanghai and acquired Squarefoot in Hong Kong, we further enriched the cultural mix.

Now the challenge i always had was do i change my style to adopt to the various cultures or do i maintain, as much as possible, my approach to doing business and help move the operating cultures in each of the countries to a more common culture.  I made the choice that i would, where possible, adopt the second approach as i felt it was more important that we had a unique REA Group culture rather than half a dozen different cultures.

“How did you make this happen”, i hear you ask.  Well first and foremost i lived the cultural values that i have written about before http://myceolife.com/2008/06/what-makes-great-culture/.

Some of the things we did were:

Every time i visited one of the offices, i ensured that i dressed casually (rather than suit and tie) to give the team confidence that it was ok for them to dress the same.  In many of the European and Asian countries the staff take big clues as to what is acceptable from the senior management therefore you have to be very careful what you did.

When i was in the office i would go out of my way to meet with everyone and say hi.  I tried to remember something about them so that i came across as relaxed and approachable.  In Italy for example, they were very used to the CEO being in their own office and really only talking to the team on a transaction basis.  I purposely sat with the teams often sitting in different places each time i was in the office and i made it a point to have a laugh with the team.

Another thing i did was to have team meetings when i visited an office.  The reason for this is that i wanted the local team to know what was happening globally and i wanted them to have a chance to ask me questions – any questions at all.

Finally, i always went for a drink and dinner with the team when i was travelling and i made sure that every one was asked along – not just the local management team.  Having equality in a business is very important to me as it gives people the confidence to speak their mind and to contribute to the successful growth of the business.

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10 Steps to a Killer Resume

From Louise Fletcher

Guest Author Louise Fletcher founded Blue Sky Resumes after leaving a 15 year HR career. She is a Certified Professional Resume Writer and a member of the Professional Resume Writers Association, the Career Masters Institute and Society for Human Resources Management.

You know the feeling. You spend hours, or even days, creating a résumé. You pore over every word of your cover letter and agonize over what to say in your email. Then you hit ‘send’ and wait. And wait. And wait. No one calls. No one writes. You don’t know if anyone even saw your résumé. When this happens, it’s easy to get dejected and worry that employers are not interested in you. Don’t! Remember, they haven’t met you. They have only seen your résumé and that may be the problem.

An overwhelming majority of job seekers make basic mistakes with their résumés -­ mistakes that ensure that they will not get the interviews they deserve. If you feel as though you’re sending your résumé into a black hole, try this ‘Ten Step Program’ to diagnose problems and get your résumé working for you.

1. Is your résumé the right length?
You may have heard that your résumé should fit on one page. This is nonsense. Recruiter or hiring managers don’t care if your résumé is one or two pages long. But they do care whether it is easy to read and gives key information upfront. Your résumé can be one, two, or (occasionally) even three pages. The only rule is that the length should be appropriate for you. If in doubt follow the (very general) rule of thumb that less than 5 years experience probably only requires one page and more than that may need two.

2. Does your résumé clearly position you as someone who can meet the needs of the employer?
Think of a résumé as an advertisement for a product, only this time the product is you. Just like any other advertisement, positioning is everything. The person who receives your résumé will scan it quickly ­ perhaps for no more than 20 seconds ­ to determine whether you can help her company. Your job is to say quickly, clearly and loudly that you can!

Don’t just launch into a chronology of your career history. Instead, determine your own positioning by spelling out your message at the start of the résumé and giving the reader your version of events upfront. For this reason, you should use the first 1/3 of your résumé to create a compelling personal profile which highlights your key strengths in an attractive, easy-to-read format.