Daniela Fehring

Do You Face Challenges or Conflicts on a Global Level?

It’s not rare to face surprises when taking on a global leadership position in / for Asia

With 33 years of experience in China, South East Asia and Europe, I am skilled at rapidly identifying the potential of tensions as well as defining ways to reduce their effects.

Helping people help themselves is my credo, therefore I won’t “settle in with you”. The faster you are successful, the better! That’s a major difference in regard to most of my competitors.

After the analysis of your situation, we dive into the cultural differences and negotiation patterns lying underneath the water level, to then define the strengths that help you solve the issues at hand, and re-establish the most important relationships.

Our target:

• To get a buy-in of your local employees, colleagues, external partners.
• To position yourself as a strong, human leader committed to the mutual cause.

To be sure we fit, let’s have a call first. You reach me at +49 171 4919242).

The sparrings last between 1 – 2 months with around 10 hours per month. 1 hour comes at Euro 250,–.
Your investment in your global strength is about Euro 2.500,–/month + VAT in Germany.

Example 1: A French takes over a vacant position as GM in Shanghai.

Two Chinese predecessors had left this position before the official end of their contracts.
In the first two weeks my client discovered that not only the books were sugarcoated, but that part of the production wasn’t according to contracts. Additionally he found out that relatives worked in different internal and external positions which led to contracts not in favour of the company. When he got threatened, my client panicked, which wasn’t really seen by his leaders.
I supported my client in

• clarifying and structuring the different situations,
• preparing a presentation, which strengthened his position in the international leader circle,
• developing specific strategies for each of the involved persons and parties at the Shanghai site as well as in Singapore, Germany and Japan.

Example 2: A Chinese corporation buys a German medium-sized company

To ensure the investment, a Chinese CFO was sent to Germany. He masters the English language, but not the German, and had to experience that many decisions were passing him. When the figures deteriorated, he searched for my advice. The key tasks were:

• Be a sparring partner for the CFO, and give him intercultural advice
• Moderating the management team meetings, and prepare a culture change
• Doing a corporate culture comparison in Germany and China
• Explaining the effects of the found differences in both countries to increase the understanding and improve the urgency as well as negotiation strategies

Example 3: Mediator after a strike in Shanghai

When the workers went on strike, the Shanghai Labour Daily published details of the work contracts and the leader of the worker’s council wanted to become CEO, the top management asked me to join as analyst, mediator and moderator.

• Translating the single interviews of all managers and the top management
• Single interviews with all employees in Chinese
• Dialogues with the Shanghai Labour Union
• A plan for the re-establishment of the plant and work procedures
• Moderating the process for three months

Example 4: A German Department Head R & D becomes the new Head of a Swiss start-up

A Swiss start-up has been bought by the German corporation some time ago. Everything was kept Swiss, but when the expected figures didn’t realize, my client was offered the position as head of the start-up – including the assignment to integrate the start-up into the corporation.
On the ground he found out that the former leader was very popular with the crew. His charismatic way had helped him to disguise the financial situation, which lead to the whole personnel’s belief, that they were not only leaders, but pioneers. We focussed on several questions:

• How can my client succeed in conveying the reality and keep the personnel – at least for the beginning?
• How can he prevent the former leader from sparking into his business?
• Who in the personnel could be a supporter of change and integration or an adversary?
• How are Germans perceived in Switzerland and how does this influence his first 100 days?

Example 5: Facilitating the post merger integration of a German-Taiwanese-Chinese M&A

• Preparation of the German management team before signing
• Intercultural team-building workshops with all managers in Taiwan before closure
• Moderation of the kick-off
• Conflict mediation at the plant in China
• Sparring of the German managers

Example 6: Corporate Change in Malaysia

A Swiss company bought a Malaysian firm. The Swiss CEO notices that the local management team was full of conflicts, and that the differences between both company cultures led to difficulties in communication and collaboration.

• Detailed culture analysis of both company cultures
• Culture profiles of each manager in Malaysia and of the management team as a whole
• Sparring for the whole management team
• A Future Landscape Lab for the visioning of the corporate change
• Workshops for the concrete and detailed roadmap