Four C's
A picture of a boat? On the Global Integration blog? Indeed. It caught our roving reporter’s eye for the boat name: The Four Cs. (You can tell it was taken in Europe – our US canal locks just don’t look the same.)
At Global integration we use the four C’s as a way of organizing course content for virtual teams training.
Jun 06 2011
This poster was spotted on London’s metro (Tube) last week, and is a great demonstration of why traditional thinking on cultural issues can be misleading.
Assuming that someone is Asian culturally because of their appearance might be a good place to start when thinking about how to communicate with someone you don’t know, particularly if you are visiting their country, but could also be misleading.
Jun 03 2011
Phil Stockbridge, Global Integration
Phil Stockbridge, Director, Global Integration on the cross cultural issues faced by businesses in the North of England when dealing with Asian companies like Toyota
Those who know me will know that I live in Burton in the north of England. Those that don’t can probably guess after a short look on line – my name is closely associated with Burton’s rugby club.
Some years ago, Toyota moved into the area.
I have been amazed at how little local businesses have been able to make of having this World class company on their doorstep.
May 24 2011
TH Ong, VP, Global Integration
Post by TH Ong, Vice President, Global Integration
Companies in ‘Western’ countries, including the US, UK and Europe, need to brush up on their intercultural skills – and fast!
There are billions of pounds of trade at stake. US Trade with India was around $US 49 billion in 2010. US Trade with China in the same period was almost ten times that amount. And although tiny by comparison, India is seeking to increase its bilateral trade with the UK to a not insubstantial £24 billion in the next few years. Almost one in five of every Euro spent outside of Europe by European countries was with China (18%).
May 22 2011
Phil Stockbridge, Global Integration, at his long service celebration
When teams work remotely, it’s important that time is made for recognition and celebration. Global Integration’s team of trainers is no exception.
Our Global Integration team meeting last week kicked off with some time for activities together: first up a little healthy competition learning archery, followed by some genuine team work building rafts in teams, and them some exhilarating white water rafting. (There are some fantastic shots of this on our Flickr account.) This part of our agenda allowed people who hadn’t previously met to get to know each other, and time for those who had travelled long distances by plane to acclimatize and get used to the time difference.
The evening was spent celebrating Phil Stockbridge’s long service with Global Integration – 13 years, no less.
And the following day was heads down looking into important company issues, new developments and, importantly, some formalized sharing of learning exercises that work for the individual trainers.
All of which we are sharing simply to demonstrate that we do practice what we preach!
May 14 2011
A video by Kevan Hall, CEO of Global Integration and author of the book Speed Lead – faster, simpler ways to manage people, projects and teams in complex companies.
Edited transcript for people accessing site using readers, or unable to play YouTube videos due to local restrictions/technical limits:.
May 09 2011
The current senior management generation faces huge challenges when a managing outsourced, acquired or remote company satellites. Current senior managers tend to have been influenced by the experience of their managers and the generation before.
But the pace of technological change over the course of their lifetimes has changed the skills required management faster than at any point in history. The ‘kudos’ within organisations is no longer necessarily job title, although, of course, this has its place: there’s a leaning towards skills and knowledge.
Cultural awareness has become just a tiny part of the mix when working with teams overseas. People can quickly bypass some of the cultural issues. For example, German and Indian cultures have some elements that are diametrically opposed. Yet once people start communicating, the respect that develops for pockets of expertise is incredible.
Newer entrants to the workforce have less problems with reaching out across cultures: most have grown up in an environment where they are acclimatised to multiculturalism, to being technologically connected, to managing multiple communication channels and constant change. They are more culturally exposed (and by this I don’t just mean exposed to different cultures). Read the rest of this entry »
May 04 2011
Video by Kevan Hall, Global Integration: The Matrix Pyramid
.
Global Integration video: The Matrix Pyramid (matrix working)
The matrix pyramid represents the elements of a typical ‘matrix working’ training program from Global Integration. It focuses on some of the key personal effectiveness skills that individuals working within a matrix organization need to master to be successful: understanding the matrix; networking to get things done; living with ambiguity; dealing with competing priorities; managing multiple bosses; influence without authority; and helping individuals to shape their roles.
Apr 28 2011
