How to Achieve Multicultural Leadership – I by IMD

In our Coaching Corner series, we share real-life coaching cases that have emerged from our work with leaders.

Task

Ian is an experienced and successful Vice President of a multinational company headquartered in London. The organization recently opened a new strategic center in Singapore following the acquisition of a large regional company. This is a major initiative for Yang’s organization, and the CEO convened a summit at the new building in Singapore to bring together business leaders from around the world: Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa, America and the Middle East. Ian, an outstanding leader with a strong multicultural personal and organizational background, is tasked with leading this series of meetings. The goal is to gauge people’s reactions and concerns about the acquisition and planned expansion, and to gather information about integration efforts.

For Jana, this appointment represents a career step as its success will allow her to take on a more senior position within the company, something she is keen to explore. However, she has some anxiety. A lot depends on the summit, both for the organization and for her personally, and when the summit begins with the first town hall meeting, she already finds some disparity in the expectations and reactions of various stakeholders. Some leaders actively and openly support or oppose this strategic move for organizations, others are less vocal and seem reluctant to share ideas or feedback, while a third contingent are quiet and, in Ian’s opinion, seem to be sitting still. fence and wait for the result. The most alarming thing is that the latter contingent appears to come from the region most affected by this acquisition.

Despite his experience managing diverse and multicultural teams, Ian begins to feel out of place. Looking around the room, she senses both discord and anxiety—there are clear signs and signals that stakeholders who are not on the same page are unable to find common ground or common mechanisms to communicate with each other. But while Jan sees this, she doesn’t know how to respond or how to ensure everyone is heard and valued while gathering the information needed to support the company in formulating its next steps.

As the second general meeting approaches at the end of the week, Ian decides to contact his executive coach for information and guidance.