Going beyond the competencies that leaders are simply taught to mimic, we look for universal foundations that are generative
Common obstacles an organization with international operations face
The rotation problem
Rotating leaders every 3 to 4 years for their career progression works against the business; in high-context countries, customers only begin trusting and providing real business opportunities after observing supplier commitment years into the assignment.
The best practice trap
Every subsidiary needs to comply with headquarters because it has worked in their home context. This erodes the strengths and expertise of local teams and their ability to compete in the local market.
The translation tax
Local leaders needing to translate headquarter demands into more appropriate local practices and vice versa creating management inefficiencies, lost value and burn out.
The invisible local talent gap
High potential talent unseen by headquarters because the metrics used to measure potential and performance are unable to pick up the attributes masked by cultural differences. Send more expats.
Our Solutions
Service #1
Leader Self Diagnostics
A self diagnostics assessment and 1:1 debrief by a certified coach to help leaders understand their defaults and to work with them to become more intentional in applying the right approach to the context they are in.
Service #2
Multi-rater Diagnostics
Collating feedback from teammates on how the leader is experienced to help the leader make adjustments to her leadership approach with real data for application to the existing team.
Service #3
Team Operating Norms Workshop
Working with the leader and their team to develop a set of operating norms that help them to encode into everyday practices that remove misunderstanding and accelerate collaboration and teamwork.
The 3-Layer Architecture
What must persist. What needs to adapt.
The Contextual Fluency™ Architecture separates leadership into three distinct layers. Four universal foundations that should never compromise. Eight context-dependent dimensions that legitimately vary across cultures. And a contamination signal that cuts across both. It describes what generates effective leadership — across any cultural environment.
Failure Rate for international projects as stated by International Labour Organization (ILO) and reports in the Business Standard
Most organizations are clear eyed when going overseas. They provide their executives cross-cultural and business etiquette training but do not equip them with the leadership awareness and frameworks that are contextually relevant. They are given a mandate to "shake things up" and they will undoubtedly make drastic changes. Most will extract from their teams, few are natural builders - intergenerational stewards with a purpose beyond self.
The more successful the leader sent, the more difficult it is for them to make adjustments to their theory of success formed elsewhere. Often, performance dips and the blame rests squarely on the local team being incompetent. Talent is replaced by people who can work with the new leader, destroying trust and requiring much financial investment to restructure and rebuild the operation. This is expected norm from headquarters, but should it?
Every 3 - 4 years, the cycle is repeated as the leader rotates out. Results are achieved. Short term. Extractive. There is a better way to work "along the grain" of the local workforce and encode strong practices that build on the past and create value for future generations.
Contextual Fluency™ helps leaders "See the Water" and gives them the tools to make intentional choices to be better.