Three key career insights from a General Manager

Cultural intelligence

Anyone working in an international company may need to engage in cross-cultural communication to address business challenges. Considering the numerous functions and assignments corporate managers are likely to encounter throughout their careers, a lack of cultural intelligence can be a significant disadvantage.

In her work, Andrea collaborates with colleagues and clients from a wide range of regions in South America including Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, and more.

In a nutshell, cultural intelligence involves the ability to suspend judgment and think before acting. It requires using your senses to notice how the personalities you encounter differ from those in your own culture while also identifying their similarities. Whether it’s how you shake hands or order a coffee, demonstrating the ability to mirror the customs and gestures of those around you shows that you respect them and their cultural background. By adopting people’s habits and mannerisms, you begin to understand, in the most fundamental way, what it is like to be them. In turn, they become more trusting and open.

The foundation of your knowledge in cultural intelligence is observation — sensing what approach is necessary for people with different cultural backgrounds. Only when observed behaviors begin to form patterns can you reliably anticipate how these individuals will react in various situations. The conclusions you draw in this way will avoid the pitfalls of stereotyping.

If you feel that you lack experience in this area, don’t overlook courses and books on cross-cultural communication. Even Coursera training can serve as a foundation, boosting your skills in awareness and sensitivity towards cultural differences, increasing cultural understanding, and building necessary communication skills.

Developing Star Performers

As a manager, it’s crucial to bear in mind that your responsibility extends beyond simply ensuring team harmony; it also involves nurturing future “star performers”. This approach benefits you directly, as capable and seasoned team members can step up in emergencies, preventing key processes from relying solely on one individual.

To cultivate employees who are ready to act independently, it’s necessary for you to possess managerial skills and qualities of a leader and coach. A well-known pioneer in coaching introduced the GROW system, designed to assist leaders in coaching others through challenges or issues. It consists of four points, each of which includes several questions that need to be asked to your employee:

G - Goal:

\\ What do you want to accomplish?

\\ Why is it important?

R — Reality:

\\ Tell me more about the situation.

\\ What else is involved?

\\ What assumptions are you making?

O — Option:

\\ What options do you see?

\\ What would success look like?

\\ What other approaches might work?

W — Will:

\\ What are the next steps?

\\ What support do you need to succeed?

\\ Is there anything else that will be helpful?

While neglecting employees’ developmental needs is a mistake, approaches like GROW can help boost their effectiveness. And don’t forget that coaching and management also involves clearly asking for what you want, with a tone that demonstrates a genuine understanding of each employee’s strengths, preferred communication style, and motivators.

Be an example

Following the need to nurture future star performers, another great way to do that is to lead by example. It starts with building trust by demonstrating reliability and consistency.

In a leadership position, your words and actions have influence. When your actions align with your words and you follow through on your promises, employees perceive you as trustworthy. This fosters engagement, encourages questions, and promotes ownership of responsibilities among team members.
Flexibility, transparency, honesty, and learning from mistakes become paramount in showcasing resilience:

\\ Call out any unprofessional behavior.

\\ Take responsibility for your mistakes.

\\ Demonstrate reliability and dependability

\\ Strive for fairness by treating each team member equitably.

However, discipline shouldn’t be equated with overworking. On the contrary, if you want your team to perform well, it’s important to set an example of someone who knows how to take care of themselves and maintain a healthy work-life balance, without pushing themselves to exhaustion.