The First 90 Days - Expat Style

Michael Watkins wrote the book on adapting to a new role, “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter”.  In the Amazon advertising page he points out, “While transitions offer a chance to start fresh and make needed changes in an organization, they also place leaders in a position of acute vulnerability. Missteps made during the crucial first three months in a new role can jeopardize or even derail your success.”

If this is true for people transitioning into leadership roles at home, how much more vulnerable are those transitioning into expat roles where not just the role or the organization is different but also the background culture, underlying systems and unwritten rules of relationships? 

In any leadership role the new leader needs to prepare him / herself.  As Watkins says, adopt a learning approach, devise the most appropriate strategy, aim for early wins, build critical relationships with the new boss, new team and the new cohort and keep his / her balance while achieving results.  

In an expat role in a new country the new leader also needs to gain familiarity with a city, understand the new market, become cognizant of relevant legal and government systems both official and unofficial, navigate different infrastructure, climactic factors, different language and /or communication styles, all the while maintaining appropriate familiarity or distance with new colleagues, teammates and of course the new boss. 

And we haven’t even considered pressures from unhappy family members or the everyday challenges of living in a new location!

Watkins suggests that too many organisations follow a process of Darwinian leadership development leaving those in transition to sink or swim.  Instead he suggests adopting a framework for transitions, recognising it is in everybody’s interest to shorten transition times and more quickly get new teams and leaders working effectively together.

He recommends a number of strategies including identifying the developmental stage of the organization or department (Start-up, turn-around, realignment, sustaining success and matching strategies to the appropriate stage) and defining the 5 key conversations the new leader needs to have with their boss (situational diagnosis, expectations, styles, resources, personal development).

So what other aspects might be needed for an expat environment?  I’ve been asking a few questions via a survey of expats (I would love you to add your ideas please click here)

Here are a few starting points

Cultural conversations reflecting on the newcomers preferred style of operating, the local ways of operating and considerations of when to adapt or not to adapt.  This could be with the boss, a cultural mentor or executive intercultural coach.

Identifying and utilizing local experts from within the organization to provide information (legal, government, market, cultural, historical) 

Relocation support; cutting out some of the work involved in adapting to everyday life (house hunting, utilities connections etc) will allow the new leader to focus. Plus cultural training; incorporating cultural intelligence with business understanding and personal transition skills.

Transition families later - This strategy has been used by a number of expats I’ve worked with who have chosen to move before their families to give time and energy to focus on the job transition.

 “What you do early on during a job transition is what matters most. Your colleagues and your boss form opinions about you based on limited information, and those opinions are sticky—it’s hard to change their minds.”  Michael Watkins

Join us for a further discussion of some of these aspects in next week’s webinar The First 90 Days – Expat Style