This is one of the topics I find most helpful…almost daily.
During a conversation with a Korean acquaintance, my friend emphasized and prompted me to revisit some ideas about expectations and alignment.
This pertains to the relationship between Korean leaders and their teams and the dynamic between a Western team and a Korean team.
A friend of mine shared that leadership offers direction while the team executes tasks.
However, it’s common for teams to seek more clarity.
During our conversation, we discussed how the Korean team’s comprehension of direction and clarity is essential. However, based on our shared experiences, it is also crucial for both Korean and Western teams to be aligned, which can sometimes be difficult.
We agreed with both observations.
1) A Korean team’s questions will surface, and they often need to return to leadership for clarity and finetuning the Direction. Sometimes, mid-course corrections occur as new information can alter the original plan.
And 2) We should not assume Korean and Western teams will be aligned in one or even several meetings. The goal should be clarity, which may take some time vs. nailing things down in one meeting. I suggest an ongoing query back and forth and that midstream things can change.
For example, I have a weekly Monday evening USA Time Zone Video meeting. Before the meeting, I email the team a list of projects and their status. One by one, we go over — some on the list are new, while others on the list are ongoing. With each talk, we add a layer of understanding and clarity with new questions on both side surfacing.
Bottom Line
Take time to understand expectations better and look to align.
As a caveat, most often, my role is to provide a channel for managing expectations and alignment — often when projects stall and need to move forward. Although in the best cases, I am engaged on Day 1 as a best practice.
