5 things I learned as a foreign employee

I have only officially worked in 3 different countries, but 5 if you count my short stint in Nespresso in Switzerland and African Outback in South Africa, so I am certainly not an expert. But what I have learned, I will share:

1. Pay attention when you are surprised at work
Whether you are pleasantly surprised or ending up feeling frustrated, pay attention to those feelings and analyze carefully what might be the root cause of that. As a foreigner, understand that the innate cultural differences can cause quite a shock to your system. It can certainly be your colleague's unique character, or it might be the common place thing for all natives to do, especially if you start to recognize a pattern. For me, after multiple frustrations, I realize that it was just a cultural response and there were no ill intentions what so ever. If you can't beat em, join'em!

2. There are multiple cultural aspects at play
As you start to dissect why certain situations arise, understand that the culture of the people, the company and individual personalities all come into the mix and they will interplay and leave you befuddled. From my experience, the culture of the natives is probably the strongest underlying factor and the individual personalities come a close second.

3. Let stereotypes be a way to develop relationships
Interactions with your colleagues will quickly help you understand how they see you and what kind of stereotypes they have about you. You will learn more about perceptions of your culture, but you will also learn how to dispel them gently. People are often proud of their "keen" observations and when the time is right, they will share them with you. (I had a boss where he was shocked I added milk in my coffee, he was pretty sure all Asians were lactose intolerant... really odd, but I was able to smooth things over by listening to his hypothesis and engaging in an interesting exchange)

4. Fit in when you need to, but stand out when you should
After learning more about the culture you are working in, leverage the fact that you can fit in when you want to, but really stand out when you should. You will be forgiven because you are different, but more often, you will be appreciated, for doing what's right and daring to break the cultural shackles.

5. Prepare yourself for "20 Questions"
When you work in a different country, people will inevitably ask about your culture and country. So be prepared and brush up on your history, political situation and any interesting nuggets of information! Especially if you are an American, because the pervasiveness of US media is so wide that your colleagues will no doubt already have an opinion about the US. If that's the case, refer to point #3.

There you have it, the top 5 things I learned when working in different cultures. What have you learned?

Cheese to temple

Team Gruyere has transformed to Team MonX! Here is a clip from our outdoor exercise, where we worked as a team and reflected on our behaviors individually and as a group.

It was an amazing end to a long and tiring day. We went back into the dungeons after the exercises and spent the rest of the night reflecting and discussing how roles and group dynamics were represented.

Cheers team!

No people, no business

This week has been "different" to say the least. Each group was introduced to a consultant (psychology background) who will be working with us till May. The focus for the past few days was to really dive deep into our group and understand how we feel and interact, both among group members and among other groups. A full day of outdoor exercises and competitions ended in some heavy debriefing and reviewing at night till about 1.20am, then followed by a sharing of learnings the next morning.

Watching our own behavior, sharing very personal thoughts and putting everything on the table made me feel a sense of relief, but also made me feel uncomfortable, especially in the larger group setting. We could all feel the tense atmosphere and the "rawness" in the auditorium. Every group is in different stages of evolution, and we will continue to grow. There were tears and there were intense emotions throughout the day, and I can say it was a truly real learning experience. My senses to emotions were sharpened during the past few days and I promise to continue using them and sharpening them throughout my life. I believe this to be important, as without relationships, not only is there no business, we are also denying the most basic of human needs.

Team Gruyere

As part of the MBA program, we work extensively in groups. Since we will be exercising leadership all our lives in small groups throughout any organization, we put a lot of time in our groups. The great part about IMD MBA group work is that in addition to case discussions and completing assignments, we also study our own behavior in these groups. We use video, group observation techniques and various psychological assessments to really dig deep into who each of us really are and how we can view the world from another person's perspective, at the same time taking note of what our initial reactions were.

This may sound very "touchy feely"... well it is! But it is so important! Effective leaders must understand themselves, both the dark and light side, the conscious and the subconscious. Throughout our short time together, I came to realize the power of active listening and self reflection as well as how better decisions can result from the conflict and differences in the team. Cheers team, our roller coaster ride is just beginning!

Team Gruyere - From left: Ayman, Hannes, Constanza, Elisa, Nicole, Sanjar

Half a week

The first weekend of the program! After a packed couple of days, we finally have a short break to catch up on some sleep, readings, life and some homework. Our Saturday class ended at ~12pm today and after a short group huddle, we left IMD and greeted the sunshine and balmy 43F weather!

So far, the experience has been simply amazing. 

Starting with a team building activity (scavenger hunt) in Lausanne, in which our group spent the longest time running around town (since we love each others company so much!), 90 minutes and 90 people to build an arch (talk about too many cooks in the kitchen! We completed the project nonetheless) and lastly a group homework in the evening and into the night (we left IMD ~12.30am). This was our kickoff to the program.

I loved our classes. Although each class was 4 hours long, I loved the fact that philosophy and history was a strong part of them. (I wrote a post on Leadership on the IMD blog). Here's to a great start and a wonderful experience. Cheers!

Economy Class

Team 4 aka Team "Gruyere" in our study room