Meeting Goals and Expectations: Amid Change

We all see organizations seeking to become more adaptive and innovative.

To achieve current growth goals and expectations demands new behaviors from leaders and employees that are often antithetical to their legacy corporate cultures.??

For example, my Korea work often centers around where historical norms were tied to Confucian and decades of accepted business practices.?

That said, surprisingly even in Western operations for Korea Groups I often see changes that have become widespread in Korea, still lingering in overseas offices—some assigned there clinging on to the past, while others see an overseas assignment as an opportunity to drive change.?

Tackling change and specifically targeting “what to change” takes deep insights into the culture and an understanding of the many changes currently underway.?

I’ve found change can’t be achieved through top-down mandates or a slick boilerplate agency program.?

We must be hands-on and sensitive to how best to shift those long bound by the old norms and hesitate to change. Not easy for some.?

Many Western teams and leadership, especially those new to working with Korea, should just jump in and make changes without fully understanding the overall dynamics.

My findings are that if we probe many of the most outstanding issues are more one-sided communication in nature—with gaps, for example, in the approach to tackling projects.?

In my advisory practice, the first step would be identifying the core issues then offering support. In past projects it was and is not uncommon to find what I was told were the key issues were but the symptoms, not the cause.

This leads to my final point!

When tackling a situation(s) I’ve found that it is essential to join and “sit in” at as many team and leadership meetings and discussions as possible. I’d add being available for one on one’s with leadership is also a top best practice.

In both cases, it is easier to provide objective feedback, workarounds, and recommendations by understanding the full context of the major issues. Not to mention, the need from a cultural perspective to track and listen for what can be missed if I only get a briefing.?

For many we find the best model is for the team to see me as “ in-house,” hands-on, report to senior leadership directly, and be available when teams have a question or concern—always kept confidential and private.?

Always open to discussing. Best to Text first.???310-866-3777

?Don?