Positive mindset

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with people from most European countries as well as from China, India, Korea and the US. 

My first job in the UK was to help my British colleagues to reach out to their competitors and customers in France.  This included meeting many French people visiting the UK for business. 

What stroked me was their difference of mindset.  On greeting people at the airport, I could quickly tell whether they were going to enjoy their short stay in the UK. 

Some were curious, enthusiastic, and enjoyed discovering a different culture. 

Others were irritated by small details and kept complaining about everything. 

It is interesting to note that these differences of attitude had nothing to do with language skills.  In fact, some of the most open-minded visitors did not speak any English at all.

People who elect to live in a different country soon realise that it is up to them to adapt to the local culture as there is no point in getting annoyed with things you cannot change.

Integrating successfully and living a fulfilling life in a different country requires a positive mindset. 

Leading multinational teams

Having a “foreign” background has been a real asset for me when working with people from different cultures and nationalities. 

At one point I was fortunate to lead teams of engineers from India, China and Korea. 

Even though I had not had any previous experience of working with people from these countries, I found that my French-British background helped me considerably. 

From a language point of view, I could understand the challenges they faced with English, having experienced this myself when I moved to the UK many years ago. 

Some of my British colleagues were simply oblivious to this and sometimes got frustrated as they struggled to communicate with them. 

Instead, I tried to use simple English with clear and unambiguous statements. 

Ironically, I found that some of our foreign colleagues used me as a go-between when they had to communicate with British people. 

Apart from the language challenge, I was also able to empathise and help with cultural differences. Having experienced these challenges myself, I could appreciate how the UK culture can be perceived from the outside.

This appeared to give my foreign colleagues the confidence to talk to me and ask for help as they perceived that I could understand their views.

Developing business internationally

It is a challenge for SMEs who mostly serve their domestic market to develop new business overseas.

When my first UK employer decided to maximise their sales effort with Aérospatiale in Toulouse to win business on the Airbus A320, they realised that they would need a French engineer “on their side”. 

Their requirement was to find someone with the same background and culture than their customer i.e. a French engineer with the same education background as the engineers of their customer. 

This proved to be a cleaver move.  In this role, I was in a better position than my British colleagues to understand the mindset and requirements of the customer’s engineers who felt able to be more direct and give me honest feedback about our offering. 

The leaders of the business had recognised that an in-depth understanding of the customer culture and language were essential to develop international business successfully. 

I can help

I work with overstretched people leading Engineering SMEs to help them prepare their business so they can achieve profitable growth. 

If you would like to discuss how I could help you to grow your business internationally, please use the link below to book a time in my diary for a free 30-minute exploratory conversation.

http://tinyurl.com/HerveJardonCalendar