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Rochelle Kopp: How Great Managers Thrive In Culturally Diverse Workplaces (Ep. #31)

The BetterManager Team
Building Better Managers Podcast Episode 31 - Rochelle Kopp

Building Better Managers Podcast Episode #31:  

If you want to scale your business, organization or company, listen to some very functional ideas to get started with your team. The more time we put into the right systems, the more creative we can be at work.

In this episode:

Meet Rochelle:

  • Rochelle is a management consultant who helps clients increase profitability and employee engagement through improved communication and working relationships in multicultural environments.
  • She is currently focused on helping Japanese companies be more successful in their global operations providing cross-cultural and leadership training, executive coaching, organization development, and teambuilding.
  • She also works frequently with American firms that have Japanese subsidiaries, customers, joint venture partners, and suppliers.

The Importance of Communication

  • Cultural differences (even within the same country)
  • The 3 Levels of Listening
  • Mindfulness

3 Keys to Communication

  • Talk less, listen more
  • Don't let something be vague
  • Don't forget to apologize

Gender Challenges in Japanese Business Culture

Agile Concepts

  • The challenges transitioning from Command & Control approaches to Agile, self-managed teams.

Servant Leadership

  • Servant leadership emphasizes support for team members and creating an environment in which they can perform their best, rather than as you were saying about more the traditional Japanese culture, maybe command and control.
  • Servant leadership offers a really great alternative, particularly now that that so many jobs are knowledge workers, that your servant leadership style is really appropriate for managing employees who have high levels of skill, and don't need to be told what to do, but they need to be coached and encouraged.
  • Being able to learn some coaching skills and standing back and letting people use their strengths is like the coach to an Olympic athlete - the athlete has the talent, they're the one who's performing, but you as a coach are helping to create an environment where they can excel.
  • The framework from servant leadership includes a key concept called conceptualization, which is really all about creating and communicating a very clear vision.

Explain the 'Why'

  • What is our vision? What are we trying to accomplish?
  • In the past this may have seemed unnecessary because of the culture or the nature of the business, but today it is more effective to communicate these very clearly.
  • If your team understands the why, then they can really be more independent and know how to contribute.

Downloads & Resources

Follow Rochelle on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. or at JapanInterCultural.com.

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast platform!

Check out our blog articles on Leadership here.

About Rochelle Kopp

Rochelle is a management consultant who helps clients increase profitability and employee engagement through improved communication and working relationships in multicultural environments. She is currently focused on helping Japanese companies be more successful in their global operations providing cross-cultural and leadership training, executive coaching, organization development, and teambuilding. She also works frequently with American firms that have Japanese subsidiaries, customers, joint venture partners, and suppliers.

Episode Transcript
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