PUBLISHED ARTICLES

In a Human Resource report recently conducted, 60% of employees stated that their Chinese bosses were “order-issuing lovers” and another 18 percent referred to their bosses as “critics”. Merely 5 percent spoke positively about their superiors. From the 16,734 leaders surveyed, more than 82 percent considered themselves good leaders and friendly to subordinates. An earlier study further indicated that more than half of bosses used an inflexible leadership style regardless of the needs of the situation.

While most Western companies emphasize promoting managers with interpersonal skills, I argue that most Chinese companies promote their managers strictly based on past knowledge and experience. If choosing between promoting a leader based on his experience and expertise only versus promoting a leader based on his interpersonal skills, I would promote the leader with great interpersonal skills first. Excessive research supports this notion. Western CEO’s typically credit around 85% of their success to their soft skills and 15% to their technical skills. Naturally a manager with a good understanding of the industry he enters has an easier time. Nonetheless having to change ones behaviors and personality is vastly more difficult than to learn about a new industry.

Regardless of if we put the emphasis on hard or soft skills, one thing is certain; all managers needs to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses to be able to perform in the long run. Having worked as a coach for more than 10 years now, I cannot overstress the importance of first having a correct map when starting a journey. It doesn’t matter if it is a journey of personal development or if it is a vacation trip to a distant, beautiful and sunny island. Without adequate self-awareness we will wrongly interpret the information from our surroundings as well as misdirect our behaviors and actions. Instead of achieving our desired results, we will create misunderstanding and disappointment, perhaps even outcomes contradictory to our intentions. Adequate self awareness is crucial to be effective at understanding ones situation. This clearly links to what will be needed to achieve, and being able to communicating it to the right people in the right way.

One way to see if one’s self perception is accurate is to do a 360 degree assessment. There are many 360 degree assessment solutions in the market and experiences from using them actually concur with the Chinese study mentioned earlier: Individuals involved in a 360 assessment generally grade themselves higher than their coworkers do. This fact makes half of the information in a 360 less valid and not reliable but gives an important heads-up on how we usually think when evaluating ourselves.

Another factor that often makes it difficult for managers in international companies is cultural differences. Common behavior that usually gives certain results at home might give opposite results abroad. To be aware of cultural differences is as important as being aware of one’s personality and behaviors. It is important that a manager has valid information not only from the coworkers but also from himself to be able to become a high performing manager! Otherwise he and his company may end up in a cold ski resort instead of the intended beautiful and sunny island.

- Peter J. Karlsson