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08/16/2019

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I thought the timing and the title of this article of preparing for a new country was incredibly relevant, given the offer the U.S. is preparing to make for the purchase of Greenland.

Har du nogen fagforeninger her?

(Do you have any unions here?)

We'd all better brush up on our Danish language skills.

Thanks.

Given our VUCA global world, we are reminded of the need to continue to be very mindful of the bases and importance of local values, behaviors, and workplace practices, before we fashion new programs for those markets. We certainly do not want wholesale transfer of products / services, policies and practices.

Going into a new country or region is, for me, always exciting, with a healthy dose of trepidation to keep one watchful and mindful.

I have witnessed several instances where otherwise 'normal' or 'reasonable' policies and practices from the HQ country appear, and/or become massively troublesome, distracting, or even damaging in application in other countries.

Unfortunately, in a related dimension, many companies still continue to send out inadequately prepared and even hostilely-acculturated leaders and teams who end up spending too much company time, money and resources (millions of dollars) chasing red-herrings, and creating disasters in matters of HR/People, Community-relations, Operations, etc.

Cultural preparation is as important as technical preparation in most cases. And it does not cost a whole lot of money (relative to the damages and costs created by not doing so). It is worth the investment to properly help technically-proficient people to become better prepared in terms of managing attitudes, behaviors, relations, and the delivery of results.

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