This edition we feature an article on a newly developed training and development tool called The International Profiler (TIP).

If you want to get on in business across the globe, new research shows that ‘who you are’ is more important than ‘where you come from.’

Recent research have revealed that the successful transfer of professional skills across diverse cultures has much more to do with personal attributes such as openness, flexibility and resilience than experience of a culture.

As a result of these findings an organisation based in London called WorldWork has developed a set of tools to help people transfer their technical and managerial skills into the international arena. They are designed to help people become effective as quickly as possible in cultural settings that they are not familiar with. As such the approach focuses less on specific cultural differences and more on strategies to deal effectively with cultural diversity in general.

WorldWork’s assessment and development tool The International Profiler, takes the form of a questionnaire and feedback book. It has been developed in consultation with organisations including Volvo, Cadbury Schweppes, Matra BAE and Cambridge Business Link. Companies currently using the Profiler include Colt, Deutsche Bank, Electrolux, Heinz and the Bank of Italy. More than 50 individuals have been licensed to use the product.

This tool, The International Profiler, can be applied for assessment or developmental purposes, and can be used with high potential employees to identify their potential for international work. They can also be used for all employees who face increased exposure to working across international boundaries, and might, for example, include those working in international teams, managing operations in a number of different countries, or simply dealing with suppliers and customers from diverse backgrounds.

Specifically, using The International Profiler helps organisations to:

• Identify the particular development needs which must be met before a specialist or manager can successfully deploy their capabilities into an international setting;
• Distinguish those people who have the potential to work effectively in a global environment from those who are less likely to succeed;
• Select the best people for the challenges of specific international assignments.

How does The International Profiler (TIP) work?

It utilises a set of 10 competencies (with 22 associated skills, attitudes and areas of knowledge) that define the special capabilities required to transfer professional managerial skills to an international context. The International Profiler (TIP) is a psychometric questionnaire that provides individuals with structured feedback in terms of the energy, emphasis and attention they bring to this competency set. There is also created a licensing process to help consultants and HR professionals use these tools and provide structured feedback to individual managers both one-to-one, in groups and over the telephone. The TIP feedback provides:

· Awareness of potential gaps in a person’s international competence
· Linkage to individual roles, required working style and appropriate attitudes and approaches
· The rationale for development and initial action steps for gap closing

Who is TIP for?

The International Profiler is aimed at individuals who need to build adaptive skills for working in a multi-national environment. They may wish to review their present international experience and extend the skills they bring to the task. They may have a present or imminent need to transfer their technical and managerial skills more extensively into the international arena.

Typical candidates include:

• Managers leading, or participating in, international teams
• Specialists sitting on international committees
• Managers operating in multi-cultural workplaces
• Professionals with international business careers
• International project managers
• Managers integrating operations across national boundaries
• Key support staff co-ordinating and communicating across cultures

What are the benefits for the individual manager?

According to the experts at WorldWork TIP is NOT a prescriptive tool. It is the basis for a structured exploration of an individual’s competency requirements, and thus is developmental. They believe that TIP will help managers to understand the extra and enhanced qualities they require for personal success at an international level. It can be used to identify and address the particular development needs they require to:

• Take on a specific new international role
• Build an international career
• Work more effectively with colleagues in an international team
• Build productive relationships with new partners in unfamiliar cultural contexts

What are the benefits at an organisational level?

According to WorldWork the benefits of TIP for the organisation are:

• Reduction of the personal and organisational trauma of inappropriate appointments.
• Avoidance of miscommunication and mistrust in critical business relationships.
• Development of an organisational audit of experience and capabilities for working across cultures.
• Provision of individual development plans and group training solutions that are specifically adapted to the demands of a multi-national business environment.

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