LWhat’s Your Language Strategy It should bind your com.docx

L
What’s Your
Language Strategy?
It should bind your company’s global talent management and
vision.
by Tsedal Neeley and Robert Steven Kaplan
ARTWORK Tomás Saraceno, Cloudy Dunes. When
Friedman meets Bucky on Air-Port-City, 2006Spotlight
LANGUAGE PERVADES EVERY ASPECT of organizational
life. It touches everything. Yet remarkably, leaders of
global organizations, whose employees speak a mul-
titude of languages, often pay too little attention to it
in their approach to talent management. As we have
observed in countless organizations, unrestricted
multilingualism creates inefficiency in even the
most dedicated and talented workforces. It can lead
to friction in cross-border interactions, lost sales,
and a host of other serious problems that may jeop-
ardize competitiveness (see also “Global Business
Speaks English,” by Tsedal Neeley, HBR May 2012).
Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing
language can help transform that vulnerability into
a source of competitive advantage.
Choosing a lingua franca, or common language,
can dramatically improve how employees collabo-
rate across borders—even though it also introduces
new challenges. For one thing, the decision to adopt
a lingua franca must be balanced with the need to

speak local languages and adapt to local cultures. For
another, individuals’ proficiency (or lack thereof) in
the common language can cloud leaders’ judgment
about how suitable those people are for specific as-
signments and promotions. Decision makers may
undervalue or overvalue language skills and there-
fore misjudge talent.
We have learned through more than a decade of
Tsedal Neeley’s research on language in global or-
ganizations and teams, and more than 20 years of
Robert Kaplan’s leadership of global organizations,
that language strategy is critical for global talent
management. As a leader, you can factor language
and cultural skills more deliberately into the hiring,
training, assessment, and promotion of talent—and
into the management of global teams—whether PH
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70 Harvard Business Review September 2014
SPOTLIGHT ON MANAGING ACROSS BORDERS
or not your company adopts a shared language. Of
course, in a global firm, choices and tactics will vary
somewhat according to the needs of each unit and
region. But those differences must exist within a
cohesive system that allows employees to function
effectively across the organization and achieve key
strategic priorities.
Indeed, your language strategy must fit with
your firm’s value proposition to customers if you
hope to penetrate various markets and coordinate
among them. You need to consider how to infuse
language into your core talent practices in order to
deliver that value.
Hiring and Training
When seeking superb job candidates, recruiters at
global companies must be aware of potential blind
spots regarding language. First, they may allow flu-

ency (either in a lingua franca or in a local language)
to overshadow their assessments of a candidate’s
skills, growth potential, and knowledge of markets
and cultures. To ensure that you are hiring the
best people, you may need to accept some limita-
tions on language capabilities and be prepared to
provide training to meet both global and local lan-
guage needs.
For example, although IBM long ago adopted
English as its lingua franca, the company has iden-
tified eight other languages as important to serving
local markets. IBM hires global professionals with
the expectation of strengthening their language
skills through immersive training, private coaching,
or online learning. Further, employees know that
certain international assignments carry with them a
language-training requirement.
Another blind spot is a tendency to overrely
on external lateral hires with a certain degree of
language skill to fill midlevel roles rather than hir-
ing and grooming outstanding junior candidates
with the capacity and motivation to learn new
languages. While the latter approach may initially
take more time, companies often find that entry-
level hires ultimately become their best leaders,
because they have been trained from an early
stage in company culture and practices. Defaulting
to lateral hires can make it more difficult to build a
cohesive culture—those recruits have been trained
elsewhere and may have trouble assimilating.
Excessive churn can be another issue: As months
or years go by, companies may discover that lateral
hires lack other critical competencies, even if their

language skills are strong.
For those reasons, many global companies have
improved their entry-level hiring capabilities and
beefed up their language training. (See the sidebar
“Making It Easier to Acquire Language Skills.”) That
approach may require more patience, but it may
actually help you build a cohesive global business
much more quickly, because you’re not continually
rehiring.
Evaluating Talent Accurately
Once you have improved your ability to hire and
train global talent, you will need to keep language
in perspective when evaluating employees’ perfor-
mance and making promotion decisions. Language
agility does not necessarily spell high performance.
As a result, it is important to assess skills and various
attributes through 360-degree evaluations, which
solicit feedback from subordinates, peers, supervi-
sors, and (when appropriate) clients. The process
allows managers to look beyond verbal agility when
After identifying the languages your global employees should
know
in order to perform at their best, support their efforts to become
more proficient.
CONSIDER ASSESSMENTS AND TRAINING FOR ALL
NONNATIVE SPEAKERS.
Your workforce will improve its language skills as a whole only
if all parties
are held accountable for progress over an appropriate period.
Enforce
high standards by requiring training for those who haven’t yet

achieved the
desired fluency. In most organizations, that’s about 3,500 words
of English
(if that’s the language of choice)—not the 15,000 words that
native speakers
have mastered, but certainly enough to understand and be
understood in
most contexts.
PAY FOR THE TRAINING. By providing all-expenses-paid
courses, you
signal that language proficiency is a corporate priority. And if
you frame
the training as an investment in employees’ marketable skills,
people are
more likely to match that with their own investment of time,
energy, and
determination to succeed.
HOLD THE COURSES DURING WORK HOURS. Schedule the
training
during the workday, and provide an accessible location on-site,
further
demonstrating corporate investment in the program and
emphasizing it as
a strategic priority. Treat it as an essential part of employees’
jobs. If you
wouldn’t ask employees to learn to use new software or
complete other
essential training on their own time, you shouldn’t expect them
to learn a
required language that way.
Making It Easier to Acquire Language Skills

gauging performance. It’s a reality check, a way to
make sure that you and other leaders are not unduly
swayed by fluency.
Jim, the head of a global bank’s Japan subsidiary,
learned firsthand what can happen when leaders
make promotion decisions without proper evalua-
tion tools, such as a 360-degree review process. He
had decided to promote Hiroshi Kato to a key leader-
ship role in the unit. Having previously lived in the
United States for more than 10 years, Kato was fluent
in English as well as Japanese, which made it easy for
Jim to communicate with him. Kato appeared to be
well versed in Japanese culture and society. And Jim
believed that Kato had good relationships with his
colleagues and his clients.
Because Jim had been sent to Japan with the
mission of building an indigenous team in order to
develop a sustainable business, he was thrilled to be
able to promote a Japanese professional. Initial re-
actions to the promotion seemed positive. But dur-
ing a dinner with a senior Japanese employee, Jim
discovered that he had judged people’s responses
too quickly. The employee commented, “Kato’s
peers don’t respect him. He is weaker than others
in terms of job performance and relationships with
clients. There were several other choices you could
have made among Japanese staff that would have
been much better. People can’t believe you made
this decision.”

After digging deeper, Jim realized that he had con-
flated Kato’s fluency in English with high-level man-
agement and client skills. After thinking through how
to avoid similar mistakes in the future, he introduced
a 360-degree evaluation process. This new tool al-
lowed Jim to consider much broader and deeper
assessments of employees’ performance instead of
relying on his impressions, which were strongly in-
fluenced by language proficiency and his own ability
to relate to an employee.
Rethinking the Role of Expatriates
Many companies send seasoned professionals to
lead business units outside their home countries.
Although expatriates may not be familiar with the
local language, culture, and business practices, they
can bring knowledge of organizational culture along
with an understanding of the company’s products,
processes, and systems. But hiring, training, and
succession planning must be an important part of
their assignments. In particular, they need to focus
on developing local talent and ensuring that indig-
enous professionals begin to play leadership roles in
the local businesses.
Consider the following example. The CEO of a
major financial institution grew frustrated with its
struggle to establish a strong presence in Asia. The
company couldn’t seem to build a cadre of local
leaders in the region, even though it continually
sent in expatriates in an effort to do so. Each assign-
ment lasted three to five years. Knowing that the
current region head would soon return home to the
United States, the CEO debriefed him on his experi-
ence. The expatriate proudly described his efforts to

call on leading clients in the region and explained
that he was looking forward to having another ex-
patriate take his place. When the CEO asked him to
discuss the top 10 indigenous professionals in the
region, it quickly became clear that the expatriate
hadn’t made local talent development a high pri-
ority. He never actively mentored or coached local
lieutenants, nor did he try to improve entry-level
hiring. There was no career development commit-
tee for high potentials. Even though the expatriate
had been trained in Mandarin by the firm, when
critical assignments came up he tended to give them
to other expats who spoke fluent English and were
therefore easier to relate to.
Alarmed, the CEO immediately changed his
approach with expatriates. He met with the next
Idea in Brief
THE PROBLEM
Leaders of global organizations
often pay little attention to
language when hiring, training,
assessing, and promoting
employees. This can lead to
miscommunication and friction,
especially among team members
who collaborate across borders.
The company’s competitiveness
may suffer as a result.
THE SOLUTION
Build language skills and cultural
awareness throughout your
organization in order to acquire
and develop the kind of talent

you need to compete both
globally and locally. Align your
language strategy with your
company’s overarching priorities.
BENEFITS
You will attract top-notch
employees and close gaps
between native and nonnative
speakers, turning a vulnerability
into a competitive strength.
HBR.ORG
September 2014 Harvard Business Review 73
WHAT’S YOUR LANGUAGE STRATEGY?
region head to clarify performance expectations
before the assignment began. “I expect you to de-
velop and train local leaders,” he said. “I don’t want
you covering any client without a local partner. I
will evaluate you not on how much business you
bring in but on how well you develop this office so
that we’ve built something sustainable after you’ve
returned to headquarters.” The CEO also encour-
aged the expatriate to take six months of intensive
Mandarin classes, which would at least provide him
with a minimal level of fluency. This expatriate, re-
alizing that he was sent to Asia to be a leader and
manager, not just a producer, did a much better job
than his predecessor.
In addition to clarifying the role of expatriates,

think about the people you’re choosing to send
abroad. To build a strong team of local leaders, it’s
critical to give expatriate assignments to your best
people—not just to solid contributors who happen
to have the right language skills and are more easily
dispensed with at home. Otherwise, you may find
that your firm’s global offices fail to attract, develop,
and retain the strong indigenous talent they need
for high performance.
The CEO of a highly successful global industrial
firm learned that lesson after many years of sending
expatriates to head up non-U.S. offices, with mixed
results. A friend who ran a global consumer goods
company suggested, “These overseas assignments
are really tough. You have to do more to build an
indigenous team, cultivate successors, deal with an
unfamiliar market and culture, and probably wres-
tle with a lower market share than you have in your
home market.” While this trusted peer acknowl-
edged that the highest performers were “never
available,” his advice was to “make them available”
by turning the overseas roles into high-status jobs.
“In our company,” he said, “it is widely known that
only the very best get these assignments. If you
Consider a Lingua Franca If Your Company Is...
COLLABORATING
ACROSS BORDERS
Globally dispersed teams need
a shared language in order
to communicate effectively,
whether their work involves
the transfer of information,
the sharing of best practices,

or coordination on joint
projects.
INVOLVED IN A CROSS-BORDER
MERGER OR ACQUISITION
A common language helps
accelerate the integration
of separate companies in
different regions. You’ll
achieve efficiencies from
migrating onto common
platforms, sharing resources,
strengthening internal
communication, and fostering
cohesion in the newly formed
organization.
STANDARDIZING
TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
Enterprise software in a
multinational can proliferate
into many disjointed tools
that obstruct a clear view
into operations, financials,
customer insights, and
employee data. Full
standardization across
platforms, built on a common
language, can solve that
problem.
SERVING CUSTOMERS GLOBALLY
To access global markets—and
build an accessible global
brand—dispersed teams
must be able to engage with

international partners and one
another. A common language
makes it easier to do that
and to synchronize services.
But local languages must
prevail when customer service
employees communicate with
clients in their home countries.
want to be promoted in our company, you probably
need to have done at least one.”
Upon hearing this advice, the CEO compiled a list
of his 50 most talented leaders and rising stars. When
he asked someone near the top of the list to take the
next overseas opening, that person’s manager com-
plained vociferously that the employee couldn’t be
spared. The CEO realized that this was exactly the
caliber of expatriate the firm needed in order to im-
prove its overseas operations. The company then
launched a program in which only the very best per-
formers were given expatriate assignments.
The CEO reflected, “Our best people are better
able to adapt to local cultures….They are less likely
to let language differences shade their assessments
of performance. They are willing to adapt their own
leadership styles to fit the situation and develop
local talent. They are confident enough to play the
role we need them to play.” Once employees per-
ceived the overseas offices as plum assignments,
they began to volunteer for them. Performance radi-
cally improved as measured by market share, talent
development, and profitability. The company truly
began to cultivate strong indigenous successors—a
step that was critical to building a global enterprise.

Managing Communication
on Global Teams
When organizations with globally dispersed teams
adopt a lingua franca or require proficiency in lo-
cal languages, tensions inevitably arise. Our recent
studies at a wide variety of global companies reveal,
for instance, that managers often unwittingly posi-
tion native speakers of a lingua franca as “winners”
within the firm; consequently, nonnative speakers
experience a substantial loss of power and status. If
companies don’t take such issues into account, they
can cause otherwise talented and engaged profes-
sionals to underperform and even withdraw.
SIMULTANEOUSLY
A concurrent implementation across units and
regions requires a larger-scale effort up front to
obtain resources, gain buy-in, and create a clear
road map for adoption. However, this approach can
prevent employee subgroups—verbally advantaged
versus disadvantaged—from forming. And it can
improve collaborations and reduce language
barriers more rapidly than a sequential rollout. The
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, the German
software company SAP, and the Chinese tech
company Lenovo are among the multinationals that
have followed this approach.
SEQUENTIALLY

Shoring up language skills in one part of the
company at a time can delay widespread benefits.
But it allows you to identify best practices for a
broader implementation. For instance, you might
focus initially on people who work across borders or
on senior managers and high-potential employees,
who are often early adopters of new languages.
Orange (formerly France Telecom) first asked its
high potentials to become English-speakers to help
lead its global activities. When leaders jump in first,
they show that learning a language is both a high
priority and a realistic endeavor.
Take Renée, who works for a $25 billion high-
tech multinational headquartered in France that
chose English as its main language. Renée, whose
English fluency is low, describes her experience
this way: “When we have a meeting or conference
call to discuss an issue or to make decisions, I often
feel uncomfortable. Sometimes, I must confess, my
solution is to get away with not attending meetings
that include English coworkers. It’s just too frustrat-
ing and embarrassing because of my limited English
language skills.”
Yvette, one of Renée’s colleagues, is a highly flu-
ent but nonnative English speaker. She participates
in conference calls with her San Francisco counter-
parts twice a week. Despite her strong language skills,
she finds those calls stressful and frustrating. As she
explains, “We need to be extra cautious, because the
Americans’ mastery of the language may lead them
to take advantage of us and try to fool us.” Her co-
workers voice similar fears.
A German multinational has experienced similar

friction between native and nonnative colleagues.
Local employees often invite only German-speaking
team members to meetings or schedule calls for the
middle of the night U.S. time, so that their American
counterparts won’t be able to attend. “If we are go-
ing to extend the meeting to a larger forum and we
have to talk in English, then I say ‘No! No, I don’t
want to do this,’” a German employee admits.
When employees struggle to express themselves
in meetings or get excluded because they aren’t flu-
ent in the chosen language, communication can
become wholly unpleasant. Global managers must
deal directly with such issues to promote produc-
tive global cooperation. They must be sensitive to
how employees of varying language proficiency are
interacting. The goal is to make it easier for native
and nonnative speakers to establish trust and com-
municate effectively. Managers’ observations should
include the following: Who attends meetings? Who
speaks up? Are the best employees contributing, or
is language getting in the way? It’s then important to
facilitate meetings and calls so that nonnative and
native speakers get equal airtime. Often this means
coaching primary-language people to speak less
and second-language people to speak more. It also
involves setting clear agendas up front, considering
the mode of communication, and thinking through
meeting choreography in advance.
Wajid Jalaldin, an experienced global team
leader at Oracle, is a master of that kind of orches-
tration. His current team members, spread across 14
countries, must work closely together to build and
maintain customized software systems for clients

around the world. Wajid routinely manages meet-
ing airtime to improve the effectiveness of team
members with varying levels of English fluency. He
models and evaluates inclusive meeting behaviors,
such as asking open-ended questions, using silence
as a tool to give colleagues an opportunity to speak,
and directly addressing team members who haven’t
yet participated. Most important, Wajid praises less-
fluent team members for their contributions, which
instills confidence.
Building Cultural Awareness
As we’ve discussed, language training is an impor-
tant investment in employees. But language fluency
does not equal cultural fluency—for either global
leaders or their subordinates. Too often leaders
underperform because they fail to adapt their man-
agement styles and practices to fit a multi cultural
environment. For them, understanding the cul-
tural background of each team member, the role
of the company, its products and services, and the
customers it serves within various cultural and re-
gional contexts is as essential as learning to conju-
gate new verbs.
…And Roll It Out at the Right Pace
A common language
can be rolled out
simultaneously or
sequentially across
the organization. The
decision depends on
your circumstances
and priorities.
HBR.ORG Visit this article

online to watch Tsedal
Neeley’s video “Why
Everyone at Your Company
Should Speak (a Little)
English.”
September 2014 Harvard Business Review 75
HBR.ORGWHAT’S YOUR LANGUAGE STRATEGY?
The same can be said for employees at all levels:
Even when team members are fluent in the lingua
franca, a lack of cultural awareness can cause sig-
nificant misunderstandings and disagreements; it
can lead to divergent group norms, practices, and
expectations. To prevent such rifts, cross-cultural
training must be embedded in language training.
This training should focus on the types of nego-
tiations employees might undertake, the decisions
they will face, the social events in which they might
training session, the company did a mini-tutorial
relating to cultural norms associated with specific
countries and languages. For example, Portuguese
language training included a mini-tutorial on cul-
tural norms in Brazil. This approach was so effective
that the CEO began to use his global senior leader-
ship conferences as an opportunity to help team
members learn more about the cultural aspects of
their various country counterparts. He also began to
emphasize cross-border cultural sensitivity in both
year-end reviews and interim coaching sessions.
These efforts, he found, improved coordination and
reduced friction.

That example highlights an important point:
Managers must be trained and held accountable for
ensuring that language and cultural skills are de-
veloped throughout their organizations. Progress
should not be solely the responsibility of the HR
department and individual managers. Senior execu-
tives need to model the behaviors they’re trying to
cultivate in their people. In assessing their perfor-
mance, year-end evaluations should address issues
such as respect for others and cultural differences,
the ability to foster such respect in subordinates, and
the ability to adapt management styles to fit diverse
cultural contexts and interact with employees who
have varying degrees of fluency.
Ultimately, this diversity of language and cul-
tural background should be reflected in the compo-
sition of the organization’s senior leadership team.
LANGUAGE IS A VITAL LINK to your talent manage-
ment strategy. Even if your company decides not
to adopt a lingua franca, you can’t neglect language.
In fact, it should touch every talent decision you
make as a global leader. By managing it carefully,
you can acquire and develop the very best employ-
ees, close gaps between native and nonnative speak-
ers as they collaborate to meet strategic goals, and
strengthen your company’s footing in local markets.
In short, you can turn language into a source of com-
petitiveness. HBR Reprint R1409D
Language training is an
important investment in
employees. But language
fluency does not equal

cultural fluency—for
either global leaders or
their subordinates.
participate—and the wide variation in behaviors
and preferences across cultures.
The CEO of a global technology company adopted
English as its lingua franca for cross-border contact,
although employees spoke their local languages
within their home countries. Despite their great ef-
forts to communicate in the shared language with
international colleagues, the CEO received numer-
ous reports of friction between offices. He realized
that much of the problem stemmed from insensi-
tivity to cultural differences and intolerance on the
part of managers. For example, one leader said he
found it frustrating that he could never get a clear
“yes” or “no” when talking by telephone to a peer in
Indonesia. He failed to take into account the impor-
tance of building a relationship, the value of face-
to-face communication, and the impact of cultural
differences. Lacking that awareness, he projected his
home-country norms onto his peer.
After numerous reports of similar issues, the CEO
decided to integrate cultural training into language
development programs for senior leaders. In each
Tsedal Neeley is an associate professor of business
administration and a Marvin Bower Fellow at Harvard
Business School. She is also the founder of Global Matters,
LLC. Twitter: @tsedal. Robert Steven Kaplan is a senior
associate dean and the Martin Marshall Professor of

Management Practice in Business Administration at Harvard
Business School. He is also a cochairman of the Draper
Richards Kaplan Foundation, the chairman of Indaba Capital
Management, and a former vice chairman of the Goldman
Sachs Group. Twitter: @RobSKaplan.
SPOTLIGHT ON MANAGING ACROSS BORDERS HBR.ORG
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CONSULTING PROJECT GUIDELINES
Mergers, when two or more organizations are combined, are
large, expensive undertakings. Historically, 60-75% of mergers
end in failure. One of the biggest reasons for failure is not
operating-related, but rather culture related.
McKinsey & Company has supported half the top mergers
completed worldwide since 2006 – many of them unprecedented
in scope and complexity. McKinsey’s project teams work to
help clients realize maximum deal value as quickly as possible
by tapping the right sources of value; getting the new culture
right; using the right tools and approaches to speed up
integration; and building capabilities to execute future deals.
Clients are supported from pre-announcement planning through
post-close integration.
As one of the premier project teams for McKinsey’s Merger
Management division, your specialization in global business
communications and international business allows you to
analyze mergers prior to announcement to assess viability,
identify possible problems, highlight potential synergies, and
recommend a course of action.
McKinsey has been contacted by a large international
corporation. This corporation is considering entering into a
merger with a corporation based in another country. Your team
has been tasked with preparing a report regarding this potential
merger.
Heineken International & Boston Beer Company

The following guidelines will help you organize your analysis
and report:
1. Current Situation (4 pages, single-spaced)
country/culture is the primary influence?
regions, etc.)
2. Language Strategy (3pages, single-spaced)
merged corporation? How will this fit with the proposed
language strategy?
3. Cultural Analysis (3 pages, single-spaced)
(headquarters/countries/etc.).
4. Intercultural Negotiation Teams (2 pages, single-spaced)
forming a negotiation team.
anslators are needed in your negotiation, discuss your
strategy for hiring appropriate assistance.
5. Legal/Governmental Considerations (2 pages, single-spaced)
that need to be addressed during the merger?
6. Recommendations (7 pages, single-spaced)
why not? Use your analysis to support this recommendation. Be
sure to focus on the impacts of cross-cultural integration.
Additional information that may be helpful include:

1. This merger is in the initial stages, and all information
regarding the possible combination of these two corporations is
being held in the strictest confidence. As such, do not expect to
find any information concerning the potential mergers in the
popular press.
2. The focus of this project is on how intercultural
communication and related issues may impact the success of the
merger.
3. Expect to find research materials in the business press
(Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal, and The
Economist), company websites, and any other materials. All
materials used for your report should be documented in your
report.
4. Professionalism matters. Misspellings and grammatical errors
can get you demoted or fired in the “real world.” In this class, it
will significantly impact your grade.
5. Be sure the document has internal consistency. In other
words, it should appear as a document written, printed, and
presented by a team — not several different individuals.
6. The document should be professionally creative.
7. Most business documents use numbers rounded to thousands.
An example would be: that $1,234,567 becomes $1,235 with a
column heading or note of (000's) or M or *all numbers in
thousands.
8. If there are any other questions or concerns, please contact
me before the due date and allow enough time for me to prepare
a response.

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