Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER October 19, 2015 12 EXECUTIVE SERIES Labour law research just got faster, easier and more comprehensive. LabourSource™ on WestlawNext® Canada combines the most robust collection of grievance arbitrations with court and board decisions, expert commentary, legislation and collective bargaining-related content – with Canada's most advanced search engine. A single search delivers the content you're looking for, whether it's case law, legislation, commentary, or legal memos. You can then filter your results to get exactly what you need. With LabourSource, you'll always be confident that your research is complete and that you haven't missed anything. Experience the benefits • Prepare winning grievance arbitrations and labour board applications • Successfully negotiate favourable collective agreements • Stay up to date on the latest labour-related decisions, industrial relations and economic news Legal content that is labour focused, not labour intensive Introducing LabourSource™ on WestlawNext® Canada See the LabourSource advantage View a demo at westlawnextcanada.com/laboursource 00224EP-A47770 Michael Clark Organizational Effectiveness What the locals eat Peter Drucker famously quipped "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." Culture, in his case, means organizational culture. Yet, Stephen Miles' presentation has us real- izing "local" culture has the same power. Our interconnectedness, the economies of scale that spread our supply chain further abroad and the global migration of talent means even the smallest business can find opportunity internation- ally. is is, literally, moving out of your comfort zone — where you, your talent, customers and sup- pliers all have a common under- standing of how to do business. As we reach beyond our com- fort zone, it seems inevitable that we stumble into a fish-out-of- water comedy of misunderstand- ings and unintended offence, where crazy foreigners drive on the "wrong" side of the road, we worry how deeply we should bow and ask, "What do you mean din- ner starts at 10 p.m.?" Despite the comedy, each of these mishaps can have an impact on organiza- tional effectiveness, with local cul- ture nibbling on, or in some cases wolfing down, your strategy. To minimize the impact and leverage the opportunity, Miles suggests we go out into the world recalling three pillars of cultural sensitivity: awareness that cul- tural differences abound; appre- ciation for those differences and a willingness to understand their role in local culture; and engage- ment — a willingness to partici- pate in those differences. Miles' presentation failed to point out we needn't travel far to find use for cultural appreciation, awareness and engagement. Cus- tomers or talent may be found in ethnically defined clusters such as Richmond, B.C., Brampton, Ont., or the Avalon Peninsula, N.L. "Time" in Vancouver means something different in Toronto. "Work" means something differ- ent to millennials than to boom- ers. Marketing and sales are al- ways at each other's throats. If local culture eats strategy for breakfast, then to succeed in the world of business, international or otherwise, we had better know what the locals eat for breakfast. Michael Clark is director of business development at Forrest & Company. Forrest is an organizational trans- formation firm, with over 25 years experience in developing the organi- zational and leadership capacity in organizations. schedule will become stressful for everyone, he said. "If you try to force our (linear) structure onto an event- or rela- tionship-based time culture or person, it's going to be really, re- ally difficult." The third manner in which people view time could be called "circular time," said Miles. "is is primarily in Asian coun- tries like Japan, China — they view time in a very circular fashion." What that means is they don't just make decisions and move on — they tend to circle back and reconsider things from different angles. "Time is a process… there's a whole process to things, there's a cycle," said Miles. "ere is this whole process of getting things done that you can't really short- circuit… You've just got to allow the process to take place." It takes patience for linear-time thinkers to adjust to this — but, in the end, the results are just as good, he said. "In the end, everyone is busi- ness — everyone is smart. So these different views of time, none of these are right and none of these are wrong, which is a dif- ficult thing to grasp until you ac- tually see it." e relationship talk e second big factor that causes a lot of significant conflicts is the different views different cultures have about relationships, said Miles. One of the biggest elements of that is differing attitudes around group-think versus individualism. "As Canadians and Americans, we rate ourselves very highly on the fact that we stand out as in- dividuals. We want to be recog- nized, we want to be bonused for performance, we want to be able to ride up the elevator and share our ideas with different people; at brainstorming sessions, we're the ones sticking up our hands and throwing out ideas. We really like to be recognized on an individual basis," he said. But there are other countries and cultures that really embrace the concept of the group. "If you think about Japan, as an example, or Mexico — those are cultures that are much more fo- cused on the group benefit: 'We as a team are going to do this.' ey don't want to be stuck above any- one else on their team," he said. "at's different than the way we operate and it has a big effect on how you set up your company, how you reward people." Another factor is distance from or access to the boss, or the rela- tionship between subordinate and authority figures, he said. "Some countries have a very low gap — there's an expectation that you have access to your boss and your boss' boss," he said. "Canadians, Americans, we have the view that if we have a bril- liant idea and we're going up the elevator with the CEO, we could go, 'Listen, I've got an idea that's going to make us $5 million. Do you want to hear it?' at would be acceptable in North America; that would be very unacceptable in countries that have a very big gap between you and the boss." Japan is one example. "Even in our business (in Japan), there's a real hierarchy around even leaving the office. So at 6:30 in the evening, we're wrapping up our meetings and… until we leave, the management team can't leave. And until the management team leaves, the managers can't leave. And there's sort of this whole wa- terfall of people leaving the office and everyone's working away at their desk until their boss leaves," said Miles. "And you're not going to stand up to your boss, either privately or publicly." ere can be a tendency to au- tomatically assume that the way we're used to doing things is the "right" way and these new, dif- ferent methods are "wrong." But there's no such thing as right or wrong when it comes to these cultural differences, said Miles — only different. And the more busi- ness leaders learn, the more they can come to appreciate and enjoy those differences. "With all these things — time, relationships — it really does come down to being aware, ap- preciating and then embracing (the differences)," he said. Appreciating the differences LEADERSHIP < pg. 10

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