The American Management Association (AMA) in their 2012 Survey on Global Leadership Development identified 10 critical future competencies for leaders; 6 of which relate to cross-cultural leadership, namely:

-Managing virtual teams 
-Cross-cultural employee engagement
-Managing innovation in a cross-cultural setting
-Collaboration with peers from multiple countries applying ethical standards in multiple countries
-Multi-country supply chain management.

ODE is fully endorsed to represent and apply Professor Geert Hofstede’s body of research in the workplace through the Hofstede Culture In The Workplace Questionnaire™. Professor Hofstede, a Dutch social psychologist, former IBM employee and Professor Emeritus of Organisational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University in the Netherlands is well known for his pioneering research on crosscultural groups and organisations. He is known for his books Culture’s Consequences and Cultures and Organisations: Software of the Mind.

ODE has worked with organisations in various industries, namely, electronics and banking sectors, to support their leadership in developing a global mindset. Options for full or half-day workshops were facilitated by ODE for the electronics company.

In addition, ODE also incorporated coaching as a follow-through program. The engagements brought about positive feedback and drove personal and organisational success. Some notable testimonials of the program:

“Constantly reflect our thinking with different cultural expectations in mind. Do not think that “I am right.”
“The personal experiences/examples given were very useful and insightful.”
“Much more enhanced sensitivity towards colleagues overseas.”
“Interaction with overseas counterparts, more cultural sensitivity.”

Success Story
The Client is one of the largest local bank in Singapore. Since the bank has expanded its presences across Asia Pacific, the United Kingdom and the United States, the internal organization environment is host to many cultures. The bank, therefore, needed a workshop where their employees could learn how to develop an understanding of cultural differences, leverage these differences and improve their ability to lead effectively in a multi‐cultural environment within the organization.

Prior to attending the one‐day workshop in countries like Singapore, London, USA, Korea, but to name a few, all participants completed the Hofstede Culture in the Workplace Questionnaire™ (Hofstede CWQ) developed by ITAP International. When results of the Hofstede CWQ reports were debriefed in the workshops, participants were able to understand how their own cultural preferences impacted others.

The workshop addressed the challenges of working in cross‐cultural teams, building awareness, understanding different cultural preferences, moving participants beyond their biases to leverage cross‐culture as an asset and turning their cultural orientations into a business advantage. The customized workshop also helped the bank surface the key issues faced by participants in their culturally diversified working environment.

The breakthrough within the workshops was that cultural differences were reconciled, with a healthy respect being gained for one another. The forward momentum has resulted in improved collaboration, trust and maximizing performance within the organization.