Choosing Expatriate Managers

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As with any senior management role, there are basic requirements that managers need for success. Management roles based in overseas countries have an extra layer of risk to them because the expatriate must adapt himself to an entirely new work environment and lifestyle. The chance of failure is therefore higher than a usual assignment within the home country. 

A failed expatriate posting is one that either is forced to end early or is deemed unsatisfactory by senior management. Failure rates for such posting are generally accepted to vary between 10% and 50%. Postings in so-called advanced countries are lower risk and those in emerging countries, such as those of Southeast Asia, are considered higher risk. 

Given the high costs involved in expatriate postings, it is foolish to not reduce risks as much as possible by selecting managers who have attributes that make their success as likely as possible. 


Key Attributes of Successful Expatriates
 

1. Extroverted

People who have outgoing personalities seem to adapt faster than desk-bound introverts. Extroverts are able to build necessary relationships with their new staff and key stakeholders quickly and with more ease. Shyness is not an advantage in a foreign country when you need to get results through others in short order. 

MANAGEMENT RULE: 

Select expatriates with outgoing personalities.

2. Adventurous

People who are naturally interested in new experiences and meeting new people often adapt easier in offshore environments than those who do not. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Select expatriates with a history adventurous behaviour that includes involvement with other people. 

3. Cultural Sensitivity

People who are ethnically aware seem to adapt better than those who are culturally ignorant. Look for candidates from an ethnically diverse background. Perhaps their parents were immigrants or they grew-up with or worked among an ethnically diverse environment. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Select expatriates who have experience with ethnic diversity. 

4. Independent 

People who are self-reliant are generally better expatriates than those who are used to a lot of support. Working overseas can be a lonely and daunting experience. Cut off from established work-related support networks, as well as family and friends, expatriate managers will need to be self-supporting to succeed. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Select expatriates who can be self-supporting. 

5. Career Motivated

People who believe strongly that successful international experience is vital to their long-term careers will be more inspired to make it work. Given that senior management roles today are almost always international in scope, this should not be a difficult attribute to uncover. However, there are many people who are not motivated in this way and such people will have a lower chance of overseas management success. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Select expatriates who believe strongly in the value of overseas experience. 


In summation, people most suitable for expatriate postings are outgoing, self-motivated managers with mindsets that are adventurous and internationally focused. 


Expatriate Families

Most experienced international managers know that one of the most usual causes of expatriate failure is not the expatriate but the family who accompanies him. 

The family should be involved in the decision process for the expatriate posting from the earliest stage. The wife (and yes, trailing spouses are still usually females) should have expatriate-friendly attributes such as those above. Assess the spouse in much the same manner as you assess the expatriate manager. 

The trailing spouse often experiences a more intense dose of culture shock than the actual expatriate. Unlike him, she will be completely cut off from all of her previous life – family, friends, home, children’s schools, shopping, restaurants -- everything will be different. And remember that in emerging countries “different” will not always be good. The wife will need to be at least as outgoing, adventurous and independent as the expatriate manager. 

Young children are blessedly resilient creatures and acclimatize themselves well to different cultures. As children age however, they become less able to adapt. 

Teenaged children seem to have the most difficulty of all groups adapting to a foreign culture. They are already going through the most challenging adaptation of their lives -- becoming adults. Wrenching them from this already delicate situation to put them into another country and culture seems a recipe for turmoil. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Select families with suitable expatriate attributes. 


Expatriate Women

Given that 40% of employees in advanced countries are female, it seems reasonable that women be considered for overseas postings as well as men. They seem to do well for assignments in so-called advanced countries but our experience has shown that extra care is needed when considering females for emerging countries. The nature of the business and lifestyle environment in these countries is such that women have a lot more going against them than men. 

Female expatriates have to be extraordinarily resilient and resourceful if they are to be successful. Asia is known as a “guy-friendly” region and in many countries there is still resistance to having women participate at senior levels in business. As well, the continuing prevalence of after-hours “entertainment” that is part of business in Asia makes relationship building more difficult for women managers. 

A further challenge has to do with the nature of personal relationships. Expatriate women are career-minded professionals who are often married to like-minded professional men. Despite what they might have been told, such men often struggle to find suitable work opportunities in emerging countries for various reasons. The result could be a relationship that suffers severely because of a despondent trailing male spouse. 

Single expatriate women are confronted with a different problem. As is natural for all people, they generally desire companionship of someone from the opposite sex. However, men in many emerging countries are accustomed to women who are more demure and attentive to men than is common in so-called advanced countries. Attributes such as assertiveness and self-confidence -- vital to success as an expatriate female -- can seem overwhelming and unappealing to prospective male companions. The result could be an expatriate who feels lonely and dejected in her life and less motivated at work. 

MANAGEMENT RULE:  

Women need to be chosen carefully for expatriate postings in emerging countries. 

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