"Going international,
Managing the expatriation experience"

By Marc Raynaud

"Going international is a good start.

Preparing your team of expatriates for the experience is even better."

Go international!", "explore foreigne markets!", "conquer new territories!". More than ever before, politicians at the highest level are urging French companies to think international and open up to the world commercially. Company presidents are also waking up to the idea that going international could put a little wind back into company sails and allow the troops to dream again, after years of relentless and often traumatic change and restructuration. Behind the talk of dreams and adventure, however, both parties know that unless organizations rapidly open up to the international sphere, many companies in France will simply die out in the coming years.

Warning : being a winner on international markets means doing things professionally. A taste for adventure is important when going international, but without adequate preparation, the cost of failure can be crippling.

This article aims to show how, with the right preparation, the experience can be successful and rewarding for expatriates and the company alike. It focuses on the unique experience of one large French international public utility (or IPU) whose human resource division developed, with the help of ICM, a comprehensive and highly effective programme for preparing its expatriates and managing the experience of going international within the company as a whole. It is not intended to serve as a model, as every company's experience is unique, but rather as food for thought on a complex and much talked about issue faced by most large companies today.

Laying the foundations

Usually, going international is the task of a select number of specialists. In the case of this IPU, a huge number of actors were involved across the country, organized in local distribution centres. In a bold move, the company recruited an "army of conscripts" from the ranks of the organization, whose job it was to steer top management on course for international competition. This costly first step was taken at the beginning of the 1990's, and reflected a real commitment to cultural change in the organization by the board of directors. Money invested was targeted to specific objectives, based on clear, shared principles, and focused mainly on deploying several key tools and methods.

In a company governed by strict rules and regulations, where rule books for procedure filled countless filing cabinets, it might have been tempting to classify the preparation for international activities and management of expatriates in the same way. Thankfully, IPU avoided falling into the trap. Instead, top management came up with a set of ten principles which could be applied everywhere, whilst leaving their concrete application partly to the initiative of each operational unity. These common principles were integrated by top management and used as a guide to its preparation for going international. The ten stages were as follows :

TEN STAGES TO GOING INTERNATIONAL

1. Publicise international ambitions

Define services and product range

Decide on targets (countries, markets, clients)

2. Identify internal competencies

Communicate international ambition internally

Invite potential candidates to come forward

3. Decide on suitable profiles

Rank personal qualities sough

Provide internal recruiters with adequate methods and tools

4. Prepare from the beginning

Provide a training programme for going international

Meet with families

5. Give support and management at a distance

Train those remaining at base to work for the international service

Maintain regular contact with expatriates (videos, magazines)

Assess performance

6. Define contractual aspects

Formalise contracts for departure and return

Give clear details on remuneration

7. Prepare the return

Take advantage of holidays to meet future internal employers

Sell the experience gained going international inside the company

8. Welcome those returning

Minimise cultural shock with appropriate coaching

Valorise the knowledge and experience gained

9. Capitalise on the experience

Constantly collect testimonies

Share experiences in an "old-expatriates club"

10. Keep the network of former expatriates alive

To identify, inform, motivate and choose new recruits.

Four key devices

To encourage the application of these ten principles, IPU developed several useful devices. Four of these are described below. Two concern information given to candidates before leaving (stages 1 and 2), one assists with preparation of candidates (stage 4) and the fourth deals with capitalising on experience acquired abroad (stage 9).

1. The International Infokit

If a company is to attract potential candidates, it must have a dynamic and motivating communication package to sell the company's international ambitions. One of the tricky tasks is to convince regional management that some of its prized "high flyer" managers are of greater service to the company outside the traditional frontiers. If middle management rather than regional top management are the first to hear the news, they can take charge of cascading the project down the organization.

The International infokit is a useful tool to help management fulfil their role as communication relay. It contains ten overhead projector slides with summarised, user-friendly information, two short videos by directors and a guide showing the best way to present the material. It allows key messages to be communicated in a coherent way to information meetings in just over two hours. These meetings are also an opportunity for candidates to come forward and formally declare an interest. International infokit allows the international strategy to reach a wide audience and to clarify its message, the products and services chosen and the skills required to operate on foreign markets.

2. An Awareness-raising seminar

Once candidates have been identified and selected on their dossier, the first step in their preparation is to attend an awareness-raising seminar. The aim of the seminar, affectionately known as the "fish tank", is to get candidates to think about the advantages and the risks involved in going international. The idea is not to convince candidates to leave the country, but rather to help them confirm or invalidate their choice, with full knowledge of the facts. Based on the principle that people cannot be forced to go international, the seminar, held four times a year, is aimed at volunteers who seem ready for the challenge. Here, they can meet former expatriates, often with their partners, who will share their stories and answer any questions. As expatriation is also a family matter, these questions usually tend to be about daily life in the foreign country. People's testimonies are accompanied by theoretical lessons on negotiation, communication and intercultural management by ICM's team of multi-cultural consultants. One common theme is that of cultural shock, discussed at length by all present, and reinforced by examining case studies.

These help people understand the four separate phases of adaptation which an expatriate will go through in a different cultural context :

THE FOUR PHASES OF ADAPTING
TO A FOREIGN CULTURE

Phase 1 :

The individual notices differences in behaviour, but he does not question his own value system. This is the period of euphoria and exoticism, feelings usually common to tourists.

Phase 2 :

Errors in behaviour persist despite the beginnings of adaptation. The individual feels his judgement is less solid but is still not able to change it much. The feeling of awkwardness and general unease is verbalised. Finally, the world seems to be turning upside down : this is the critical moment of culture shock.

Phase 3 :

The individual begins to assimilate the new cultural norms, which he perceives with growing clarity.

Phase 4 :

Now quite used to his new environment, the expatriate adapts and his satisfaction grows.

Extracts from Leaders sans Frontières, Ediscience 1988, (written by ICM consultants

3. The Expatriate Video

Another stage in the expatriate training programme allows candidates' partners to voice their expectations and possible apprehensions about accompanying their partners abroad. It is no secret that expatriation puts a fair amount of pressure on couples. If the couple lacks stability before leaving, candidates should not take the risks involved in going international. The human resources team at IPU put together a new tool to tackle this delicate and often taboo subject, knowing that it can often determine the success or failure of a mission. "Women of the World" is a video about expatriation from the partners point of view, and is based on the rich and varied testimonies of five expatriate wives. Used as a tool to stimulate discussion, the video allows future expatriates to talk openly about going international with their partners.

4. "Words from Afar" : a book of wisdom

Over the years, IPU collected 100 written stories from expatriates in 25 countries and put them together an in-house book, "Words from Afar". This is part of a written package given to every new candidate, designed to help them learn from former colleagues' experience and to adapt quicker and better to their new environment. The stories take the form of letters written by expatriates to their successors, and contain both professional and personal information and anecdotes. The 300-page book also allows the candidates to see who has worked in which country and how to get in touch with them on home territory. Finally, the book ends with a summary by ICM entitled "Living and working abroad", and by practical advice from the head of international human resources. Some of these practical tips are extremely useful and often ignored by top management who can be poorly informed of many concrete details of daily life in a foreign country. They are the kind of useful details which, if overlooked, can reduce performance by local representatives by as much as a half.

Thanks to these methods and training tools, problems of cultural adaptation, still often largely underestimated by many directors who have never worked abroad, can be anticipated and tackled. Candidates leave their home country far better equipped to deal with obstacles and differences which they will inevitably be confronted with. These tools are even more effective when part of a coherent, lasting strategy to manage expatriation, based on a few simple principles, which are shared by everybody in the company.

IPU have run their expatriation programme successfully for the last six years. They know that there is no place for amateurism when it comes to going international. Their expatriates represent the company abroad but are also ambassadors for their country. They know that flying the flag, like the ambition to go international, is no half mast affair.

Marc Raynaud is a partner with Inter Cultural Management Associates (ICM).

ICM is a Paris-based consultancy which since 1983 has been helping managers and organizations work effectively across cultures (national, corporate or functional cultures).

Inter Cultural Management Associates

2, rue de l'Eglise ­ 92200 Neuilly sur Seine

icm@icmassociates.com