How To Be Successful in Business Abroad
There’s plenty to be said about being a guest, having guests over, treating customers like ‘guests’, etc. One of the often overlooked types of guest is the kind living in a foreign country. International companies often fail to understand the importance of this small detail when transferring employees.
Being a guest means you can’t expect your host country to work exactly like your home country does. You must learn new customs and etiquette, which will allow you to accomplish your goals much more quickly.
An example of this is when I moved to Italy from North America. In the USA and Canada, time is considered a valuable commodity. My Italian business colleagues, however, would never commit to a fixed time for a meeting. They would always say, ‘We’ll meet around that time.’ They’d allow a 15 minute grace period, which in turn, gave everyone a chance to get there, get settled, etc.
Also, meetings never began with a business discussion. Family, the football game, politics, and anything else would be brought up first. This would allow us to get to know one another. Just before closing the meeting, business would be wrapped up. Much patience was required to learn this custom, but once I did — by being a good guest — I was respected and went on to achieve results.
It’s very simple: know your place, adapt, show respect, be humble. You are the guest.
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Written by Manfred Vollmer, institute B’s VP of Fun & Fruition