Stakeholder engagement – How to make it work!

April 10, 2013

The challenge to find out what’s really going on and what people really think

incense1.jpgEnabling stakeholder feedback and two-way information flows can be challenging. However, intercultural communication skills and appropriate process are vital when engaging in stakeholder consultations with culturally diverse groups.

People in different organisational and cultural contexts have vastly different ways of interacting and engaging, and if you want to get feedback and know what people really think, there are some key strategies to ensure greater success:

1. Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve

Don’t underestimate the power of thoroughly working through this with your team. Before embarking on stakeholder dialogue, ensure your team have a shared understanding of why  this is necessary and the process which will occur.  It can be immensely confusing to stakeholders and minimise trust if different reasons are mentioned by different representatives from the organiser.

2.  Engage with a representational group

Knowing who to engage with is critical. In many cultural contexts, the most accessible people may not be the most representational. They may be the most available, be the gender who are traditionally ‘spokespeople’ or the best English speakers.

Sometimes it’s better to use various engagement strategies for people at different levels. For example, a Country representative may meet for a formal lunch with senior Ministers or bureaucrats, while country staff meet with mid-level managers over a more formal casual lunch or small meetings.

3. Know how your intent might be perceived

In non-democratic political contexts, sharing information without permission can be risky.  What may be perceived as ‘sharing opinions’ in a Western context may be seen as criticism of the government in other cultures with potentially damaging personal consequences.

Don’t assume trust is a given or transparency and disclosure are easy.  In communist or socialist governments and in very hierarchical cultures, information is power and rarely shared openly. Instead it travels through trusted networks as a tradeable commodity and source of favour.

4.  Negotiate a process which meets everyone’s needs

When asking stakeholders what their needs are, sometimes it’s best to consult those with experience and knowledge of what works best.

For instance in most Asian cultures, putting people from different levels an organisation in a room and asking ‘what they think’ is highly ineffective. In many cases, the boss will speak on behalf of their team who will remain silent and share only positive information.

Often it’s more effective to have multiple smaller consultations rather than one large gathering. Wherever possible, ensure your stakeholders are in their comfort zone. Go to their world and where they feel comfortable.

5.  Ensure language is inclusive and relevant

Wherever possible, ensure stakeholders are speaking their first and most fluent language.  There are significant risks in conducting stakeholder engagement in English in non-English speaking countries.

Effectively engaging with local stakeholders can provide information to significantly influence project success and minimise the potential for violation of safeguards. Knowing in advance how your actions may be perceived, likely challenges and pitfalls and strategies to avoid them can minimise cost overruns, poor management choices and reduce risk.

The people ‘on the ground’ are the usually the most valuable resource in terms of insight and knowledge. Development of staff and employing specialist facilitators with the intercultural essentials of awareness, perspective, knowledge and capability, is critical.

Filed under Asia, Asia Literacy, Asia-Australia Engagement, Australia, Australia in the Asian Century, Change, China, Complexity, Connectivity, Cross-cultural, Culture, Diversity, Education, Global Virtual Teams, Globalisation, Intercultural, Uncategorized, Unconscious Bias, Workforce capability

What’s wrong with the world? Can you see it in this clip?

December 4, 2012

Watch the clip and see if you can work out what’s wrong with the world…

Recently, while searching for video for our new website, this clip was the best we could find.  I thought I’d found what we’d needed in finally locating a globe that didn’t start and end on the USA or Europe, only to discover some fairly significant issues.  Did you notice them? Tasmania is missing, as is half of Indonesia, and some rather strange things have happened to the Malaysian peninsula.

compass_imageIt is all too easy to overlook the local, or to define the world in the eyes of the beholder with scant regard to the ‘detail’ on the ground.  What did you do when you looked at the map?  Typically we first locate our home.  Once we have oriented ourselves, only then do we scan the periphery and ‘other’ spaces.  If our home space isn’t accurately defined, recognised, acknowledged and respected we turn off, log off, or react with anger.  Our respect for those who have ignored or misrepresented us is greatly diminished.  We can feel ‘unseen’ and invisible in the eyes of the other.

When operating globally it is critical we recognise, engage with and respect the local.  This does not only require defining the ‘boundaries’ accurately and seeing what is local, but engaging with local perspectives, opinions and ensuring collaborative and two-way engagement.  Such engagement enables honest feedback and the challenging of (mis) perceptions and an essential education on what’s really going on at the local level.

As was discovered by the US forces in Afghanistan, and as is so often discovered by multinational companies attempting to sell standard products in local markets,  the local matters.  The capacity to ensure local participation, engagement, collaboration and partnership can make or break a mission, project or business.  Skills in intercultural collaboration, cross-cultural engagement and partnership are critical and must be front and centre of any effective global/local engagement.

Filed under Asia, Asia Literacy, Asia-Australia Engagement, Australia in the Asian Century, Change, China, Connectivity, Cross-cultural, Culture, Diversity, Education, Globalisation, Intercultural, Uncategorized, Unconscious Bias, Workforce capability Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Getting Diversity Right – It’s not just about the numbers

October 4, 2012 2 Comments

So often, the focus of ‘getting diversity right’ is about the numbers. Yet, we often forget that it’s not just the numbers which matter – it’s the interaction, collaboration and capacity to engage and achieve results among people from diverse backgrounds which matters.

Ian Dalton, Kirrilee Hughes and I at our session

I presented a session yesterday at the Australian International Education Conference, and was fortunate to attend another session on ‘Internationalising the Curriculum’. The conversation was vibrant, and highlighted the risk of just focusing on ‘the numbers’ to demonstrate internationalisation. It’s all too common to have huge numbers of international students from all over the world attending Australian universities, who can complete an entire degree with little or no interaction with fellow local students. The challenge with an internationally diverse group is to ensure we don’t end up with a ‘classroom of tribes’ where the Indian students sit together, the locals from the private school who know each other sit together, the Chinese from Hong Kong are at another table and also separate from the Mainland Chinese, with little or no interaction between groups. In such an ‘international’ classroom, global mobility does little to expand intercultural engagement or understanding, and can actually reinforce stereotypes of other groups.

One of the key challenges of getting diversity right, is to enable and facilitate the expansion of interactions beyond one’s own comfort zone and in-group. It’s not enough to simply reach ‘the numbers’ and assume internationalisation has therefore occurred. Intercultural learning, collaboration and engagement is a process of learning, reflection and challenging of stereotypes and assumptions. Intercultural capability requires the capacity to engage with others, to understand their world-view and perspective, and to demonstrate the behavioural flexibility to negotiate differences and find common-ground. These skills are the ones which make the difference whether working in international business, or with people from diverse backgrounds at home.

Filed under Asia, Asia Literacy, Australia in the Asian Century, Cross-cultural, Culture, Diversity, Education, Globalisation, Uncategorized, Unconscious Bias Tagged with , , , ,

The Intercultural Essentials

September 17, 2012

A common refrain from busy potential clients is “I just need the essentials, I don’t have much time – tell me what makes the most difference”.  After fifteen years of working with thousands of people in organisations and businesses trying to get ‘the essentials’, we decided it was time to summarise what we think on this topic in a model.  The BI ‘Intercultural Essentials’ model defines what is really needed to be effective when working in complex and culturally diverse workplaces.

The BI Intercultural Essentials

It is critical that any intercultural training programs or coaching address all of these four key stages: Awareness, Perspective, Knowledge and Capability.  It’s also most helpful to address them in this order.  It is a risk to jump to ‘knowledge’ without being aware of why such knowledge  is necessary, and what your cultural position is in the first place.

We’re looking forward to using this model as an anchor for all of our programs, and to assist our clients understand the process of working toward greater capability – the end point we always focus on.

Filed under Uncategorized

Building Workforce Capability for the Asian Century – Is knowledge what counts?

July 18, 2012 Leave a comment

Last week I really enjoyed attending and presenting at the Asian Studies Conference of Australia.  Click here to see my powerpoint presentation summary ‘Is knowledge what really counts? Exploring ‘Asia Capability’ and ‘Asia Literacy’ in Australian workplaces.  So often we assume that it’s knowledge which matters, and this focus on ‘Asia literacy’ can sometimes detract from the more important and bigger picture issue of capability.  When we are thinking about our future in the Asian Century, it’s not enough to be ‘literate’,  we also need to be ‘capable’.

People who are effective when working in complex intercultural workplaces demonstrate: high level interpersonal skills; tolerance for ambiguity; an awareness of the subjectivity of their own perspective; and the capacity to adjust and adapt as required.  These skills are not just formed through formal study.  In many instances, the nature of formal study in disciplines such as business, economics and commerce can detract from such tolerance for ambiguity, as people are taught about black and white ‘facts’, and ‘externalities’ are ignored.  The evolving world of the Asian century requires creative thinking, tolerance, negotiation skills, and a capacity to operate in an environment of uncertainty and ambiguity.  Great opportunities exist, but only for those organisations with the people capabilities to leverage them.

Some of the most interesting sessions at the conference addressed the broader issues of capability and Australia’s future in the region.  Dr Ken Henry’s session was well attended as he provided some insights into his White paper on Australia in the Asian Century which is soon to be released.  He emphasised  “change is not easy, reform harder still, yet a new mindset is required for the Asian Century, and the test will be how we adapt to it”.  He added “There has never been a more important time for Australians to understand the vast and diverse region in which we now live”.  A standout conference presentation was also from Emeritus Professor John Ingleson on the need for sustainable, long-term policy commitment to engagement with Asia.  His emphasis on the crucial question of  which institutions will responsible for the implementation of Australia in the Asian Century recommendations is a valid one.  Ingleson mentioned the critical role of the Australian Olympic Committee and Australian Institute of Sport in preparing Australia for the Olympics and asked, which institutions have a comparative role in preparing us for the Asian Century?  Ingleson also emphasised the valuable learning outcomes of cultural immersion programs for Australians in Asia, and of the need for longitudinal research on the impact of such experience.

There is a lot to talk about, and even more work to do on workforce capability for the Asian Century.  We’re looking forward to some more quality dialogue on the issue.  It’s been a long time coming!!

 

Filed under Asia, Asia Literacy, Asia-Australia Engagement, Australia, Australia in the Asian Century, Change, Complexity, Cross-cultural, Culture, Diversity, Education, Globalisation, Intercultural, Uncategorized, Workforce capability

Hosting events for HE Yingluck Shinawatra Prime Minister of Thailand

June 4, 2012 Leave a comment

What a week! As National President of the Australia Thailand Business Council, I was involved in many of the events regarding the visit of HE Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand. It all kicked off with a media interview with ABC and progressed to lunch at Parliament House.  Julia Gillard was hosting, it was great to see two women leaders for a change, and equally great to see so many friends in the Australia-Thailand relationship in one place.

Next stop was Canberra airport – nearly didn’t make it back to co-host the dinner with Jennie Lang from the Asia Society.  Our plane had a broken propeller and we were all disembarked.  A highly surreal moment on the tarmac, calling the Thai delegation to see if we could get a ride on the PM’s plane, only to discover we wouldn’t make it, and chatting to the US Ambassador and other business and government reps about plan B.  Fortunately Qantas came through and the next flight was ok, a dear client provided an express lift straight to the hotel and made it with 5 mins to spare.


The dinner was a whirlwind, HE Yingluck is a dynamo, and was keen to meet lots of representatives of the Thai -Australia Business relationship.  The PM was accompanied by 70 leading Thai business people and four senior ministers, and it was a delight to meet so many strong advocates of collaboration.

On Tuesday,  I was MC for the BOI ‘Unbeatable Thailand Seminar’ with the Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment and some great speakers from business and the National Economic and Social Development Board.  Some fabulous case studies on the restructuring of Australian businesses to make the most of the ‘Asian Century’ and better position themselves to thrive in the changing economic context.  The study of the Australian Business experience in Thailand presented by John Andersen, President of AustCham Thailand was also striking for its positive outlook.

Thailand invests nearly $5 bn in Australia and we invest only $1.9 billion in reverse.  Thailand and Australia have two of the more resilient economies in the world, and it makes sense to further develop opportunities in a Southeast Asian region destined for significant future growth.  The economic turmoil and declining markets of the past day heighten the importance of focusing on our own region and the opportunities provided there.  I am looking forward to hosting a Boardroom lunch tomorrow with Asialink in Melbourne at Baker & Mackenzie to hear from Australian Ambassador James Wise regarding his insights and reflections on the visit.

Filed under Asia-Australia Engagement, Australia, Cross-cultural, Thailand, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

An Ode to the Local…

October 13, 2011 Leave a comment

“Who are the people in your neighbourhood?…the people that you meet each day”

Our new office

We talk so frequently about the joys and realities of the global, yet an equal and necessary counterbalance is that of the local.  To belong and be a part of a community is so very important in this world of mobility, speed and change.  The capacity to connect and to be grounded in relationships that matter is essential for our wellbeing.  For our clients, the capacity to get involved with and belong to healthy communities, whether they be global or local, is essential.

What a joy to now have our business situated in the heart of a community of connected people who live and work in the one place. The capacity to have everything you need within a short walk, and so many close friends nearby is an absolute delight.  I travel interstate or internationally on an almost weekly basis, and there is nothing more special than coming ‘home’ to the community where our business resides.

The Marrickville main street is a vibrant mix of locally owned and run businesses.  McDonalds and KFC have both gone out of business here, and to sample some of the local food is to know just why. I often start the day with a coffee made by Sascha at Marrickville Road café – the guy who knows my family, and my kids. At the café, I’m guaranteed to bump into a few locals, our real estate agent, the beauticians from the local salon, or parents from the school. The alternative is Coffee Alchemy, known as ‘The Temple’ – a place where people come to wait and pay homage to the best coffee in Sydney.   At the time of day I was previously spending travelling to our city office in packed trains of cranky commuters, I now take my daughter to the local school.  At the assembly I, and a gaggle of other parents are greeted by 150 kids chorusing “good morning, parents up the back”.  The school teaches Vietnamese, Greek and Mandarin and is another hub of the local community.

At Beasley Intercultural we assist clients negotiate the challenges of traversing, engaging and working with highly complex and diverse communities. In recent months we have been fortunate to work with individuals involved in the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, also worked with senior corporate leaders in a multinational accounting company focusing on client engagement in complex, global contexts, and are preparing to facilitate discussions with the Community Detention Network in Australia with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Red Cross, The theme cutting across these contexts is that in our businesses and our organisations, we neglect the local, and the community at our peril.  The thread that binds, is the necessity of engaging with and acknowledging the existing strengths and resilience of diverse communities.

Community is what grounds us, what feeds our soul, and what enables us to be at our best.  Our capacity to get involved in, and connect with our community matters.

Filed under Australia, Change, Complexity, Connectivity, Cross-cultural, Culture, Diversity, Globalisation, Uncategorized

A Final blog Post from Emilia our Intern from Finland

September 23, 2011 Leave a comment

The last three months have passed so fast. My BI internship has come to the end.

I have learned heaps of new things during this time at BI. I am ‘interculturally trained’, since I have taken part in so many BI workshops, while documenting them. Trust me, every single one has been interesting and raised my awareness a lot.

I think one of the many great things I learned, is the SURF model:
-Stop and suspend judgement
-Use your observation skills
-Recognize and respect difference
-Find common ground.

I think this model is great when you are experiencing cultural differences: either at home or abroad.  I use the model with the different people I meet, when I am unaware of their culture, for example sometimes with Aussies.

Getting to know culture or language is interesting and exciting process.  It’s the same thing than trying to learn to surf.  I have been really unfamiliar with surfing, since I have never lived near the beach and since all the sports that I do are related to snow, not ocean and waves! No matter how hard I try, there are always the waves that I won’t catch, but I just keep on trying and trying. It’s kind of the same thing when for example going abroad or working with people from different countries: no matter how well you think you understand the cultural differences, there is always something that you can’t understand. But when you keep going and trying you always learn more.

In the first blog post I was wondering am I in the ‘panic zone’? Well, now I can tell you, I’m definitely not in the panic zone.   I have been in the learning zone for a long time and I’m fully enjoying it. I have been learning bunch of different things, that I can use the rest of my life.

It’s been great to work for this team, thanks BI team for this good opportunity. Now, I’ll start new projects; including writing my Master’s Thesis and looking for some new opportunities in the Australian job markets. My adventure in Down Under will continue and I’m excitedly waiting for the new challenges.

Remember to keep on surfing!

Cheers!

  Emilia

Filed under Cross-cultural, Education, Travel, Uncategorized

An intro to Emilia

August 1, 2011 Leave a comment

My name is Emilia and I’m first ever BI intern. I’m finishing my Masters in Communication in the University of Jyvaskyla, which is in Finland where I come from.

It’s been exciting time for me; I have been in Australia only for few weeks. I started my first workday by watching the whales while waiting for the bus on Monday morning. That was a great start of the week and an amazing start for my internship at Beasley Intercultural in Sydney.

I had an idea that in Australia the working culture is relaxed and so far my smooth start at Beasley has been proving that. I spent the first days reading and going through what BI team has done recently, the same time my task was to update the BI Blog.

After working on the Blog I have been analyzing and resuming some of the Intercultural Essentials -training feedback. I went through feedback that about 1000 participants had written. It was interesting to read what the clients had thought about the training. Some of them said that their awareness of cultural issues grew and that now they are thinking out of the box. I’m impatiently waiting to grow awareness of Australian culture, while working at BI! :)

At the same time, I have been reading Hofstede’s book Cultures and Organizations – Software of the Mind. Since I have been interested in intercultural communication while doing my Masters degree, I was already familiar with the cultural dimensions. Although by reading more of Hofstede’s work each of the dimensions got so much deeper and I could understand much more why we humans are so different.

The most interesting day so far has been Monday last week. It was my first chance to go to see one of the workshops that Tamerlaine is facilitating. I was supposed to take notes in the training, but since it was so interesting, I spent my time just listening, learning and enjoying. Also it was interesting to watch the participants and their reactions to the activities that we did. Overall, the training was fascinating and it was nice to know how the trainings are facilitated.

Monday’s workshop we learnt about Comfort-, Learning- and Panic Zones. Afterwards, I have been thinking about the Zones and I’ve been wondering am I in a Learning Zone or in a Panic Zone right now? I mean definitely I’m learning new stuff in every minute that I spend here, but sometimes I feel a hint of panic because I’m Down Under! :)

Emilia

Whale photo by: puttpoke

Filed under Uncategorized

What we’re reading and listening to: podcasts and book reviews

March 27, 2011 Leave a comment

The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, Richard McGregor

This book should be compulsory reading for anyone engaging in business or government relations with China.  The Communist Party matters, it has influence and it is not going away.  Contrary to the expectations of many, the rise of capitalism in China has not led to the demise of the  Party.  The book provides great insights into how the Party, due to its command and control structures was able to act far more decisively than Western powers during the GFC and drive the reforms necessary to ensure economic stability.  To listen to a podcast of Richard McGregor presenting at the Lowy Institute on his book, click here.

Michael Wesley, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute is currently completing a book on the rise of the Chinese multinational Huawei.  The story of Huawei is an interesting one to explore in conjunction with Macgregor’s book.  Huawei is ranked the fifth most innovative company in the world by Fast Company, now Ranks No.2 in global market share of radio access equipment, and is recognized by BusinessWeek as one of the world’ s most influential companies.  I visited Huawei when I was in Shanghai last year and was awed by the scale of its growth and the speed at which it was becoming the lead provider of wireless and telco network infrastructure in the world.  One to watch…

Global Citizens by Mark Gerzon

Mark Gerzon, the author of this book has significant practical intercultural experience: as a Mediator at the World Economic Forum; Distinguished Fellow at the East West Institute; leading the Global Partners team at the Rockefeller Foundation; and working with the UN Leadership Academy.  His book provides a simple summary of what he believes it takes to become a truly ‘Global Citizen’.    I  liked the book, particularly Gerzon’s four step process required to develop Global Citizens: 1. Witnessing: opening our eyes, 2. Learning: opening our minds, 3. Connecting: creating relationships and 4. Geo-partnering:  working together.  His justification of the need for Global skills is compelling, stating “Our so-called leaders, especially, often view global issues through the lens of their national education and make decisions today based on yesterday’s realities.  In an unstable, dynamic, globalising world, this can be disastrous”.

Gerzon does however neglect to address some of the realities of power imbalances, and their implications for the dynamics of change and relationships among minority and majority groups.  Acknowledging the nature of who has power, access to capital and the capacity to leverage influence, is an important element of the conversation surrounding globalisation.

Gerzon’s list of “20 Ways to raise our Global Intelligence” at the end of his book is a great summary of simple actions we can all commit to, both personally and within our organisations.

Talking to the Enemy: Faith, brotherhood and the (un)making of Terrorists by Scott Atran

This book, and Atran’s work is of great interest for anyone working in international negotiations, counter-terrorism, and multicultural policy.  Atran, an anthropologist by training has spent a significant amount of time in Palestine and Israel, and interviewing the families of the Bali bombers and 9/11 terrorists. His key point in this book is “People don’t kill and die for a cause.  They kill and die for each other” .  Atran explores the importance of ‘sacred values’ and attempts to define why terrorists commit their lives.  Atran challenges some of the focus of current counter-terrorism and provides a valuable historical perspective.  Interestingly, the ‘logic’ of the market place does not work in these spaces, and is counter-intuitive – the provision of financial incentives being a disincentive in contexts where sacred values are at risk.  Here’s a vodcast of Scott Atran presenting at the RSA in London on his book and ideas.


Filed under China, Globalisation, Uncategorized

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