How does Australia rank on cultural agility?

Australians live in an island country and we are well known for our ability to travel for work, both domestically and internationally (more than 50 per cent of the Australian population has a passport). 

We are envied the world over for our mostly harmonious, multicultural cities.  They are still works in progress (although a great response recently by various community leaders to prevent disharmony) and we still need to develop greater access and equity for our indigenous Australians. 

Unfortunately on the topic of Global Mobility, we are still in a time warp.  Human Resources Managers are still in the unfortunate position of trying to sell soft skill cultural training to reluctant general managers, CEO’s and boards.

Dr Paula Caligiuri, Professor of Human Resource Management at Rutgers University in New York was visiting Melbourne on 20 September 2012 to discuss Cultural Agility thanks to funding provided by DeakinPrime (the corporate education arm of Deakin University) and Newcrest Mining.

For years, individual cross-cultural consultants, relocation and settlement services have provided training and development to help individuals and teams live and work in other countries and cultures.  However, based on Dr Caligiuri’s comprehensive research, she is now recommending that companies operating internationally need to focus their efforts on creating culturally agile talent pipelines by providing more detailed selection and assessment and then training and development.

There are some compelling statistics that justify her suggestions:

• one third of companies are cancelling strategic initiatives due to a talent shortage
• only 33% of Americans hold a passport (most use them for border countries)
• many countries require a social license to operate – this requires careful negotiation
• the costs associated with a failed international assignment cannot be overlooked
• more companies have global or multicultural teams

• particular dispositional personality traits – emotional stability, extraversion and openness
• language skills (at least one other language to some extent)
• their attitude and ability to manage themselves, their perceptions and their relationships
• their past developmental experiences (like voluntary work in a third world country)
• their curiosity, humility, tolerance for ambiguity and willingness to seek advice and support

Organisations have many ways to create a Culturally Agile workforce and some of her ideas include:

• providing cross national mentors and buddies
• offering opportunities for enhanced business travel
• participating in international volunteer programs
• encouraging people to learn foreign languages
• creating safe mistake and feedback environments
• measuring and rewarding cross cultural competencies and developmental experiences

0 Comments

1. 

   Bronte Jackson

   October 9, 2012 at 12:55 am

   Cultural agility

   Great article and very interesting!  I worked globally (Europe, Africa, Middle East) for 17 years as an HR Director and specialist in organisational efficiency, designing and implementing large corporate IT, finance, operational and HR transformations.

   My academic training is in social anthropology (culture change) and business (MBA).  I have been back (I am originally from Melbourne) in Australia for two years now and have spent most of it looking for work and being repeatedly told by HR recruiters that although I have an impressive CV, my lack of local experience has barred me from even an interview in most situations.  There has rarely been an acknowledgement that my cultural agility, my unique mix of specialising in both the soft skills and business skills, my experience in being able to manage and get results in vastly differing cultural environments with multiple stakeholders and in highly sensitive environments (United Nations conflicts and emergency response organisations) could be of any use in Melbourne.  And I know I am not alone.

   There are many, many such cases here in Australia and numbers of people give up and leave to take their skills elsewhere.  I therefore find reading articles like these extremely frustrating.  There seems to be a big disconnect in the HR/Recruitment community and profession between what we know and how we behave.  All of Dr Caligiuri’s recommendations for how to develop individuals and organisations to fulfil our future requirements are already present in expatriates returning and yet when HR specialists and recruiters are presented with these individuals they are mostly not recognised.  After much "field research" my conclusions are quite damning. It is about the sale.  HR specialists and recruiters are more interested in placing candidates they know will provide them with a quick, sure sale rather than providing long term strategic advice to their clients that will result in sustainable and long term growth for their organisations, prevent brain drain, and start to build up Australia’s long term reserves of HR capital.

   The huge amount of outsourcing of HR recruitment in the past twenty years has meant that HR recruitment is now primarily a business for themselves rather than a strategic business driver of an organisations growth, goals and outcomes.  For those HR professionals and business leaders that operate within organisations to keep and develop talent I recommend that, as well as developing some of the programmes that Dr Caligiuri suggests to manage the war for talent, specifically requesting your recruiters to look for returning expatriates who already have all of those skills and experience deeply embedded by virtue of the fact they have already worked in cross cultural environments.
   • 

     Sue Ellson

     January 29, 2013 at 12:00 am

     Cultural Agility

     Yes Bronte, I have heard your lament from many other Australian Repatriates across all industry sectors – finding that it is difficult to get back into work here in Australia after having international experience but also finding that HR is not necessarily as strategic as it could be.

     There are a variety of ways to overcome these issues.

     For repatriates, here are my best tips:

     . maintain networks in Australia whilst overseas
     . develop international networks whilst overseas and ask them to refer you to people in Australia before you return
     . consider starting your own consulting business – people feel less threatened by an expensive consultant rather than a fellow employee
     . try spending a bit more time following your hobbies and interests and consider taking a slightly lower level role when arriving in Australia, perhaps even in a different field, to allow yourself some time to get used to the Australian ‘rhythm’ again
     . source voluntary work in a boutique firm or an international NGO – they are sometimes more receptive to international experience
     . connect with people on LinkedIn who have also lived and worked in the same countries you have been to – ask them for information, referrals, mentoring

     Human Resources suggestions:

     . firstly, there needs to be MORE emphasis placed on understanding cultural agility or GLOBAL COMPETENCIES. The entire Australian workforce is changing with many cultures in each workplace – if we perform badly locally, we can be sure that these employees will share their story with friends and families overseas and this gives Australia a bad name. I have heard several times that we are a first world country but that we have third world policies and practices
     . networking – too many HR professionals are locked in their offices and not getting out and about sharing their knowledge and experience – we need MORE of a focus on International Human Resources, Global Mobility, Talent Management, Recruitment and Retention and more opportunities for cross pollination across HR disciplines that incorporate a GLOBAL ideology
     . management development – senior managers, board members etc need to be educated on the changing nature of the GLOBAL WORKFORCE – yes, Australia is now competing at a global level for talent – because their are less skilled younger people available thanks to our aging population – sourcing qualified, English speaking people from BRIC countries is likely to be the norm in the not too distant future – attracting the best of the best from USA, Europe, Canada etc will require more than advertisements about Australian beaches
     . champions – we need more champions to raise these issues, to advocate for change and keep Australia at the forefront of development and pragmatism.  I say this because we must not just be leaders, we need to remember our greater good for future generations and whilst we grow our country, we must maintain our moral compass, our egalitarianism and good humour.

     I welcome further contributions and suggestions!

     Sue Ellson
     Founder and Director
     Newcomers Network, Global Mobility Network, Camberwell Network

      
2. 

   foggy

   October 13, 2012 at 7:37 am

   Culling the cultural

   Multicultural cities! Each city mirroring the differences in their cultural make-up, with bright and colourful flashes in the reflection. I wonder which international culture makes up the lion’ s share slice in Australia? Does the cultural populace of Australia as it is exert any pull in attracting exceptional skills from its own culture abroad, to its own population percentage  resident in Australia?
   Does demand for skill anywhere dictate the flow of job oriented cultural traffic?
   • 

     Sue Ellson

     January 29, 2013 at 12:10 am

     Culling the cultural

     You can probably find some statistics via the Australian Bureau of Statistics website based on the census data for some accurate numbers on the multicultural mix around Australia. Some years ago, Professor Michael Clyne (now deceased) found that it was more ‘mixed’ in Victoria and more ‘segregated in clusters’ in New South Wales – but this may have changed.

     In my view, Victoria has been the stand out state for many years as we have had many inspirational migrants who have strived to make Australia a better place and we have had proactive government representatives who have been willing to take a stand, complete research and create new legislation.

     I believe that many Australians who grew up in Australia and work overseas dream about returning to raise their own children here but often find that after a higher level of international experience, they cannot find the right match or fit when they return. The ‘tall poppy syndrome’ can affect Australians too.  That said, some individuals are not necessarily as culturally agile as they think they are – expatriation and repatriation are two different skill sets.

     Large corporate companies requiring specific expertise are now sourcing talent wherever they can.  For instance, some mining companies in Australia are sourcing former American soldiers because they are well trained, speak English and cannot find work in America after completing their tour of duty.

     Thanks for your questions Foggy, more contributions welcome.

     Sue Ellson