Bridging two worlds: My takeaways on how to do your expat role well

When companies expand and set up offices abroad, besides hiring local talent to fit the demands of the market, often they choose to have at least one expat in the office. Having been the only non-local employee at two Austrian subsidiaries in Taiwan, and having helped the development of offices in the Philippines, Japan or Bangladesh, I have learned a thing or two about this role, and how I believe to do it well. First, let's cover some basics:

Why expats?

First of all, let's briefly clarify what expats are and why companies may choose to have them. This definition from Emerald Technology is pretty straightforward:

An 'expat' refers to a professional who resides temporarily or permanently in a country other than their origin, typically to fulfill a particular employment contract or business objective.

There are several benefits of having expats for international businesses (e.g. Penmore listed a few of them), I personally believe these are the major ones:

• Knowledge transfer Expats often can bring best practices or certain technical skills to the office, and help to train local employees. They often have been at the HQ or in similar positions for a while already, and therefore can bring specialized skills and expertise to the office.

• Bridge headquarter and its subsidiary Expats can act as a bridge between the headquarters and its local office, through knowing both the culture and direction of the HQ as well as the actual situation in the country.

• Global perspective and diversity

  Expats often already have international experience and can bring in a broader perspective, new ideas and a different approach to problem-solving compared to how things are done usually locally. They know cultural differences exist, and how they can affect business operations and international teams working together.

  
  

My key takeaways

To me, my journey as an expat, representing the HQ at foreign subsidiaries, has been special. In both companies, I actually haven't worked at the parent company before being selected to work abroad. While I still had my on-boarding and first training in Austria for a few weeks, I couldn't rely on bringing in deep experience from being at the company for several years. Despite this limitation, I still found it possible to quickly create benefits for both the parent company and subsidiary. Reflecting back on the last 6.5 years, these are my major realizations that helped me to be successful as an expat:

Build important relationships in the company early - and make yourself useful to them

During both on-boarding periods, I tried to get to know as many people in the company as possible who are affected by the work of my future workplace. I aim to understand what's their experience or expectation of working with the branch and its colleagues, and current pain points they are facing - this will give you a first impression of the goals for your assignment.

Next, once you have arrived at the new location, also take time talking to your new colleagues, and find out how they experience the collaboration with HQ or other offices - are there any struggles or obstacles they are facing? Observation in the beginning is important, aim to really understand first, before starting to make changes too fast. Once you have insights over both sides and their wishes & expectations, you can start to make first improvements - and keep colleagues involved in them. If your coworkers notice you can actually help them, you get credibility and trust early on - you will need it in the long-term both in HQ and the local company, if you want to do the role well.

Being a bridge to increase mutual understanding

Being an expat, you are bridging two (or more) different offices with their own culture, priorities and pain points. In this role, you see both the development and strategic direction of the parent company, and also the actual situation on site. This gives you an information advantage - many threads are coming together at your position.

Employees at foreign offices often have only limited ideas of what's happening at the headquarter, why certain decisions were made, or where the company is heading. Since you have direct access to these information, regularly sharing them (e.g. at a monthly/quarterly all hands-meeting, the local chat streams or informal coffee talks) will be very valuable, since it aligns the colleagues at the subsidiary closer to the company direction, and increases their trust in the organization. Communicating honestly and sincerely is important - nothing destroys trust in you faster than if employees find out you have been sharing wrong information (especially if that's for your own benefit).

On the contrary, the headquarter often also doesn't know what's really going on at the subsidiary, how a certain decision is perceived on site, or if and how a new global initiative can really be executed. If you get a call from a HQ colleague asking for help with an issue connected to your office, and you can explain why it's happening by sharing the local point of view and can help to solve it, you are actively closing that information gap.

Overcome cultural differences

During my studies of global business, I learned a lot about different cultures and the challenges of working in teams with mixed backgrounds (the book "Culture Map" is a good read for this topic). When I was asked to support offices in Taiwan, Philippines or Bangladesh on site, the reason was often similar: Employees on both sides were frustrated working with their counterparts. I heard complaints about Asian team members never speaking up, asking no questions, not being transparent about their work or sitting back and waiting for Europeans to take the lead. I also heard stories about Austrians being pushy, taking charge without considering others opinions or even being rude. In these situations, cultural differences are often a root cause for it. As an expat, understanding both cultures and being able to talk to both sides in person, you can make all parties feel heard and understood. Together we can find ways to overcome these gaps, which makes collaboration across borders much easier and effective.

Be pro-active: Pick up the phone and get stuff done

A personal opinion: It's actually not so hard to bring value as an expat, as long as you have one trait (which I saw in many successful expat colleagues): They were all very pro-active. If there is an issue coming up, they go and fix it. If headquarters announces a new process which is not suitable for the local culture, they reply and give reasons and a counter-proposal. If a delivery date by the factory is too late to fulfill a customer demand, they pick up the phone and negotiate a solution. I have seen in Asia that decisions announced by the headquarters are often seen as written in stone, and it's hard to do something about them (even if the local employees already know they won't work). This will then build frustration on both sides - first at the subsidiary, later then also at the parent company once they realize their request not being implemented or done well. Instead of accepting these new policies, actively knowing who to talk to and negotiating on behalf of the office and taking action is an important value you bring in this role.

"Eyes and ears"

I still remember the voice of a previous executive, when he told me "As expats, you are my eyes and ears in the office. I trust in your judgement and opinion - I can't be everywhere myself". This stuck with me - as an expat, you have a very trusted role - whatever information you provide is often the best source the headquarter is getting, and it may become the basis for many decisions. This makes expat positions powerful in the organization - and this comes with great responsibility.

When you see something which is not right, you then have a choice - are you addressing it, are you reporting it, or are you giving it some leeway? It's a fine line to walk, since you have to keep the trust and positive relationships with both headquarters and the colleagues in the local office - judging events and acting correctly is important, not over-reacting but also not letting important things slide.

No matter what comes up, you are responsible

I still remember the words from my Austrian colleague when I was in Korea, getting ready for my first assignment in Taiwan. Having several years of experience in a similar position, he told me the following over a beer: "If you are an expat, no matter what happens in the office, you are responsible for it, no matter what's written on your job description. The sooner you accept this, the better you will do." While this view seemed unfair and a bit scary at first, it later made sense to me: Since you are hired to be the eyes and ears and represent the headquarter in the office, you are expected to take care of issues coming up, so they don't have to (since they are far away and have limited knowledge). Therefore, if something happens and reaches the headquarter, often as an expat you will be the first one they reach out to. If you knew about it but didn't take action, or (even worse) say you are not aware of it, you lose credibility. No matter whether it's in your actual responsibility or job description, doing what you can to make the office run better, knowing what's actually going on and solving problems before they grow bigger is how trust in you is established.

World map on a wall. Source: Unsplash

Final thoughts

Expats are here to stay - I strongly believe the functions we are covering are very important and valuable for companies - if they are performed well. For me personally, while being an expat definitely still has its challenges I found the responsibility, freedom and trust connected with it very rewarding. It's a position where you can create, support, teach and build relationships across the globe. The last 6.5 years have been a journey of self-discovery and growth - I wouldn't want to miss it and am glad to continue on this path, and I hope my experiences will help you on your journey as well!