Bank of China: Developing international capabilities in Chinese leaders
A five-day programme that prepared 75 Bank of China managers to lead local teams in new overseas branches.
The client
Bank of China is one of the largest state-owned commercial banks in China and a long-standing member of the Fortune Global 500. The bank supports Chinese businesses as they move into overseas markets.
The challenge
The bank planned to open branches across major European countries and the United States, adding to its offices in London, Berlin and Milan.
Most staff in the new branches would be hired locally, but each branch would be managed by a Chinese national. These managers had built their careers inside a state-owned enterprise and would now lead Western teams. Senior management knew problems would follow if managers could not adapt their style to a new environment and a culturally diverse team.
What we designed
The Bank of China Institute of International Finance in Beijing asked ClarkMorgan to design a programme with two aims:
- Give selected managers the management tools they need to lead foreign staff abroad
- Help the bank's HR team identify high-potential candidates for rapid deployment to Europe and the USA
ClarkMorgan designed a five-day Managing Culturally Diverse Teams programme and delivered it three times in successive weeks. The 75 managers were split into three groups of 25.
The course was activity based. Participants had at least three hours of skills practice each day, on their own and in groups. That let the trainers and the bank's HR representatives assess each person's learning ability, adaptability and enthusiasm. At the end of each day the trainer and HR met to review results.
Presentation Skills (1 day)
- AUDIENCE analysis
- Key message
- Handling nerves
- Body language, volume, tone, speed and pauses
- Making a strong conclusion
- Handling difficult questions
Negotiation Skills (1 day)
- Eight guidelines to negotiations
- Needs and wants
- Discovering deeper needs with the funnelling technique
- Tactics and leverage
- Negotiation role play
Cross Cultural Communication (1.5 days)
- Communication challenges and cultural differences
- Technology barriers, distance and isolation
- Building trust and relationships
Business Writing (1.5 days)
- Ten email commandments
- Starting with the goal in mind
- Direct and indirect language
- Structuring business writing with PDA
- Handling written complaints
The result
By the end of the week the HR team had a list of the 10 to 15 most promising managers. They were fast-tracked for deployment abroad.
Facing a similar challenge?
Tell us about your team and we will design a programme around the situations your people face.