Intercultural SystemsCross-Cultural Consulting, Training and
|
|
6 TIPS FOR GETTING BUY-IN AND COMMITMENT ACROSS CULTURES Kathleen Curran - Intercultural Systems How many times have you heard that the executive committee in HQ has decided the company will now adopt SAP worldwide, change their brand focus, or implement sexual harassment policies and employee training in all locations? (Read, "they decided".) The validity, value and/or necessity of any of these decisions are not in question. What is in question is the buy-in and commitment of those expected to carry out the decision. No matter what kind of new strategy, revised procedure or change an organization attempts to make, success is revealed through its implementation. Therefore, gaining employees' buy-in and commitment is crucial to effective follow through. This is true in every culture, but the ways to achieve this vital acceptance and to cultivate the climate in which buy-in and commitment can be achieved are very much influenced by cultural values, attitudes and behaviors. This article highlights 6 tips for achieving optimal buy-in and commitment from employees across all cultures. 1. Employees must be able to "see" your vision. Your team meets to come up with a theme for the annual dinner and dance. The team leader enthusiastically suggests an animal concept. He has some general ideas for decorations, menu and invitations, tasks for each member, but…you just can't "see" it. It doesn't matter if anyone else can; you can't, so you feel no motivation, involvement or interest in making this idea a reality. In other words, you have no buy-in or commitment. Though a tiny example, this scenario illustrates how vital it is for leaders to clearly and fully convey their vision of the changed future, including the purpose, the desired outcomes, the impact on employees' daily roles, responsibilities and performance criteria, and the track the change should follow. Employees, no matter what the issue, must be able to "see" with their own eyes what this vision will mean for them and to them. 2. Cultural filters must be identified and influencing values capitalized on. The way each person "sees" a new vision is filtered through his or her cultural lens. To achieve buy-in and commitment, the values shaping this unique perspective must be identified and capitalized on in order for the vision to take root and grow. A team consisting of a Singaporean Chinese, a Hong Kong Chinese, a Chinese from Shenzhen, one from Shanghai and one from Beijing set out with a vision to build a new business site in Shanghai. Conflict immediately erupted as implementation procedures, viewed through each one's cultural lens and driven by each one's values, varied widely. The Singaporean Chinese wanted detailed and transparent procedures; the HK Chinese wanted everything to work faster than such procedures would permit. The person from Shanghai wanted good housing while the Shenzhen member cared more about salary than where he lived. Finally, the person from Beijing expected all others to follow his instructions and objectives. When the team painted a culturally inclusive vision that all could "see", and which included elements that met the needs of each, they created a successful organization with three factories in China and many international customers today. Considering the cultural filters and values influencing their views, the position of each team member in this example is easy to understand. Singapore has the reputation of being a "fine" country - rules for many things and fines for breaking those rules. Hong Kong is the land of entrepreneurs who thrive on speed and a "just do it" philosophy. Shenzhen is where people relocate for the purpose of earning money; few originate in this southern city. Shanghai's past and present highlight an importance on a fashionable lifestyle and a pride in their city for all to see. Beijing, the center of government and tradition in China, was historically considered the center of the world (to the Chinese) and today houses political and military leaders. Clearly, each team member's perspective and needs were determined largely by their respective cultures. Until differing personal and culturally driven motivations are successfully linked to the corporate vision, employees cannot "see" the vision nor give their buy-in and commitment to make things happen. 3. The message must be delivered in a culturally appropriate style. While the leader is the best (and expected) messenger of a vision in all cultures, the most effective delivery style itself is culturally influenced. For optimal buy-in and commitment, the leader must employ a delivery style that considers the audience's culture and accompanying expectations. Many cultures such as the US, Australia, Germany and the Netherlands are generally more task oriented and direct in their communication concerns and style. Others such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China are relatively more relationship oriented and indirect in communication concerns and style. For example, a task oriented/direct culture would expect a message delivery to be short, use a series of bullet points, and to be presented formally to a large audience (consider the typical PowerPoint presentation). This relatively impersonal separation of message and messenger is quite typical and accepted in the business setting. In contrast, this same style of delivery would most likely be perceived by a relationship oriented/indirect culture as cold, lacking in context, distant, and as a result, even scary! This audience would warm to a more personal connection with the messenger, i.e., an understanding of the leader as a person as well as a superior, and would need many details beyond bullets points in the message content. A more intimate, small group setting with more time allowed for digesting the impact of the vision would be preferred. The bottom line is that while many cultures may appreciate a personal link and warm delivery style, some cultures require it. Without a culturally appropriate delivery style, buy-in and commitment may be missed. 4. The vision must be painted with the employee's perspective in mind.
5. Employees must trust and respect the leader, vision and intent. In addition to being able to "see" the vision, employees must trust and respect the leader, the organization's judgment and vision, and the new plan's intent. They must believe the change is good for them as well as the organization. Without trust and respect, buy-in and commitment are impossible to achieve. Trust and respect appear to form a universal foundation of buy-in and commitment. All cultures value the building blocks of trust:
Culture's impact on the trust-building process appears to reveal itself in the prioritization of these elements. For example, according to some cultural informants, Japanese value sharing-activities such as sports and having a drink together; Indonesians place more emphasis on the relationship built by informally talking together; Australians look for follow through on one's promises; South Koreans need personal information sharing -- the degree of intimacy in sharing shows trust. Culture also has a significant impact on how quickly trust can be established. From culture to culture, employees will require varying amounts of time to judge their leader's and organization's behavior, which will either confirm or disconfirm their trust. Americans and Australians, for example, grant trust relatively quickly, trusting almost naively until that trust is broken, after which it is difficult to repair the damage. On the other hand, in cultures such as China, Japan, Singapore, and Indonesia, people tend to be cautious about trusting others too quickly and require many more shared experiences and kept commitments. Once the trust is cemented, however, it is very difficult to damage the relationship. Behavior contrary to history and expectations can be explained and forgiven. The attitude toward respect is conversely correlated. The same cultures that trust quickly are quite slow to give respect. That respect must be earned through merit and achievements so is directly tied to the individual. In contrast, those who trust cautiously tend to grant respect quickly and somewhat unquestioningly. Their respect is based on the role and rank one holds, so is not tied to the individual but to his/her status. Across all cultures, however, the onus of earning employees' trust and respect --- through good will, kept commitments, and sufficient time --- falls on the leader. Studies in multinationals show that even strategies developed in headquarters seen as unfavorable to subsidiaries around the world are better accepted and implemented if a relationship of trust and respect has been established between them. 6. Employees' skill sets must be developed to meet implementation requirements. Thus far, "seeing" the vision and trusting and respecting the organization and its leaders are information- and attitude-based. Skills to carry out the strategy are the critical next step towards buy-in and commitment. Employees must feel safe and confident in their abilities to perform if new demands are placed on them. Moreover, cultural influences impact how an employee will manage this uncertainty in skill set adequacy. Many achievement-oriented cultures such as the US, Canada, Germany, Australia and Sweden see fair evaluation as the result of an objective measurement of accomplishments. As such, employees in these cultures would feel urgency to develop the skill set required for a new procedure or strategy implementation; without such new skills, these employees may not be able to advance. The resulting fear is a block to employee buy-in and commitment. Other cultures feel urgency to develop the new skill set, too, but for a different reason. More traditional cultures, e.g., China, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia, which are generally slow to embrace change, value security in knowing one's place and saving face before others. Therefore, asking an employee to try new skills in order to implement a new strategy introduces potential failure and threat to one's dignity. An individual may prefer to avoid this, especially if performance criteria are linked to the new skills. For such risk averse cultures, a skills-training safety net facilitates employee buy-in and commitment. Providing training in new skills or upgrading present ones will assist everyone from every culture in achieving buy-in and commitment; the necessity is only heightened with varying cultural influences. Conclusion Full employee buy-in and commitment can make or break any project an organization undertakes: large scale restructuring, new brand development, or shifts to distributed team/leadership communication structures. By addressing the 6 highlighted tips and capitalizing on the cultural differences inherent in a global workforce, organizations can achieve breakthrough results. |