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7 Tips to Training Success Overseas
April 29, 2009
By Shannon Alter
Always a gypsy, I finally had the chance to quell my wanderlust with my first international teaching assignment in 2004. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to teach and speak about commercial and retail real estate in cities across the globe: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai. As the first female instructor to represent my professional real estate association in Moscow, I quickly found that taking on international training assignments, and conveying U.S. business practices, not always is glamorous or easy. It is, however, challenging, passion inducing, and addictive. I’ve gathered a few tips along the way to help trainers make the most of their international assignments.
Network up front: Don’t wait until you reach your destination to network. Capitalize on your U.S. connections by making a few contacts in advance. By doing a little research in advance you can find out about local business practices, customs, laws, even new clients, and upgrade your networking potential exponentially. Surprisingly, I’ve even met a few U.S. managers overseas who are more than kind enough to put up with my many questions.
Allow extra time: On my first assignment in the Ukraine, the students were so interested and enthusiastic that I had to set aside three extra hours outside of the course material just to answer their many questions. It’s always wise to have a Plan B so you can allocate enough time not only for the translation, but for all the questions and comments your talk will generate.
Bring your own equipment: If you’re a seasoned professional, you know the value of checking out the equipment ahead of time. I prefer to bring my own laptop, remote, and my presentation on a flash drive. But, if like me, you have been surprised to learn the CD that should have contained your dual-translation materials now contains Russian folk music, make sure you insist on seeing the materials in advance. And a trip to Beijing where my host had a bag of batteries ready to replace the quick-to-die remote batteries reminded me of the merits of bringing along my own remote (or two).
Check out the venue: The venue for your presentation may hold its own surprises. When I arrived in Moscow on a recent trip, my Russian hosts advised me our class would have 65 students, considerably more than the confirmed count of 35 students. In fact, the course administrator mentioned that she could conceivably register another 20. People that day—a total of 85. Normally that would be a good thing, except when that is way more students than comfortable for your small, narrow classroom. Other surprises may include permanent ones such as columns in your sight line, or temporary ones such as seating or table arrangements.
Get a cell number: Stuff happens, no matter how carefully you plan. Reminded of this when I was grounded in Helsinki for nine hours, I was glad I had taken extra time to
obtain not only the contact information for my host, but the cell number for my English-speaking translator.
Learn a few phrases: I am not a particularly linguistic person, but I always try to learn a few phrases in the language of the country I am visiting. My students and my audiences get a good laugh from my dubious pronunciation, but they love it, and it goes a long way toward creating camaraderie.
Go with the flow: Whether the stage lights are out in Beijing, or your co-speaker doesn’t show up in St. Petersburg, I’ve found it’s usually best just to go with the flow. Always fascinating, and often wild, wacky, and just plain kooky, you may just find you can’t resist coming back.
Shannon Alter, CPM, is a commercial real estate consultant, trainer, and speaker based in Southern California.
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