It's Complicated! What Your New Expats Need to Know And How to Help Them

In the now famous interview with former Princess Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Meghan admits that one of the difficulties she encountered with assimilating to her new role was not having the benefit of an orientation into British norms and customs. An example she shared was having to appear at a function where the National Anthem was to be played, and the stress of realizing that she didn’t know the words of the Anthem, nor the Protocols surrounding that ritual. As an American she knows what to do when the Anthem is played in her country of birth, but here she was - overwhelmed and under a lot of stress trying to learn the words of the Anthem and the attendant protocols the night before the event!

Now I recognize that the whole issue of Harry and Meghan’s exit from the Royal family is very controversial, as is the tell-all interview with Oprah, so I certainly don’t want us to get distracted by our passionate feelings one way or the other on that! I would rather focus more on the valuable cross cultural learning that can be extracted here, and that is - what kind of orientation do you give to the new members of your team who are from another country? How do you help them to integrate and assimilate into their new culture? cross cultural competency is generally thought of as a ‘soft skill’ and as such, many organizations dismiss it as unimportant, believing that it can just be learned or “picked up” along the way. They often don’t see the value in investing in cross cultural awareness training, which on the flip side means they don’t appreciate the value or cost of what they may be losing in the ‘lost in translation’ moments.

One of the interesting things that you discover when you delve into the cross cultural world is that you don’t know what you know. Because we have been schooled in the cultural and societal norms of our home country since birth, we tend to take them for granted and don’t consciously think about everyday routine activities. Going back to the example above, if we were asked to attend an event on behalf of our organization where the National Anthem was played, we wouldn’t give it a second thought – we would automatically know when and how to stand, where to place our hands, when it is appropriate to sit back down, and of course we would (or should!) know the words to the Anthem. Think about how many other routine activities we carry out each day that are second nature to us because of our cultural upbringing, and then think about how many of these activities a newcomer to our culture would be unfamiliar with and may genuinely get overwhelmed with trying to figure them out on their own.

Therein lies the value of cross cultural training, this ‘soft skill’ which can help your new recruit from another culture to assimilate that much more easily to their new environment. Cross cultural sensitization shortly after their arrival, or early in their stay can heighten their awareness of cultural differences, helping them to avoid embarrassing faux pas. It can also minimize the risk of misunderstanding and miscommunication which can disrupt your team, resulting in loss of productivity and efficiency.

If you are incorporating new employees from other cultures to your team, you should seriously consider including a cross cultural training programme as part of their orientation package. Some companies, particularly smaller ones may balk at the thought of an addition to their training budget, but the value-added of a sensitized, more cross culturally competent employee is always worth the investment. Indeed, you may lose a valuable employee if he/she finds it too difficult to adapt. Organization heads or their HR Managers can explore different training offers, and will probably find one that they can manage. More intense and thorough training programmes are often at least two days long, but a one day or even a half day session is better than no sensitization at all.

An appropriately customized targeted session, even a short one, will offer a good introduction to the important elements of a host culture, cover the fundamental principles of cross cultural competency and can also point the newcomer(s) in the right direction so that they can continue enhancing their knowledge and understanding of their new cultural environment on their own.

When you are considering a programme for your newly recruited expats you should be looking for a training package that will help them to understand the nuances of the cultural differences that are often subtle, and may even seem unimportant, but can make a huge difference in terms of:

• Building trust, good relations and effective communication with other team members;
• Demonstrating appropriate respect for colleagues and superiors or subordinates;
• Employing effective negotiating techniques with internal and external stakeholders;
• Understanding how to treat with different issues such as compliance with rules, risk taking, approach to tasks, regard for time and so on;
• Adjusting to daily living in their home culture on the personal front outside of the work context (health, transportation, schooling for kids, social activities and so on). On that note don’t forget to include their family members who also need support in adjusting to their new culture and fitting in.

This list is by no means exhaustive, nor stated in any particular order of precedence, but the cross cultural trainer’s objective will be for the Expat to leave the training with an appreciation for their own self awareness, and an insight into their new host culture values, beliefs, traditions and so on. Equipped with enhanced skills for communicating effectively and resolving conflict in this new environment, your new employee will adjust and adapt much more readily, and will therefore likely settle into the new job more quickly and more comfortably. It is a win-win situation and a “soft landing” all around.