Behavior Minder™ - Case Studies - Page 2

A Cross-Cultural Relocation Challenge:

A Native-born American who has been working in Milbourne for three years with an Australian affiliate of a U.S. based conglomerate is transferred to Papua-New Guinea, and the adjustment is proving difficult. Not only does he have to adapt to a new staff buy to an entirely new cultural environment. A development program is specifically tailored to help him make the adjustment.

It begins with both he and his former colleagues in Melbourne and his new colleagues in Papua-New Guinea filling out his TBM questionnaires. This enables him to compare the kind of first impressions he makes with impressions formed over a longer period of time.

He also discovers that he has a casual, informal style of relating to people that his new colleagues could consider disrespectful, as well as confrontational style of conflict management that could come across as offensive.

His tailored ABC's program, based on his TBM results, enables him to develop more appropriate behaviors. When giving instructions, he learns to quickly ask questions - "I'd like to check your understanding of what I'm asking you to do." - that let him know when to move on. Instead of telling a colleague, "I'm running out of patience with your excuses!" he uses a less confrontational style and says, "I expected you to be here at 8:00 a.m. It's now 9 o'clock. Is there something we can do to prevent these delays?" In this way he is able to make a more successful transition in his new job