A Fortune 100 client was seeking a way to better identify candidates for the Finance Officer position in their, highly multicultural, Saudi Arabia office. The position required not only strong finance skills, but also the ability to manage and work with a diverse staff including Filipinos, Saudis and Jordanians. The former finance officer struggled with the challenges of the multicultural staff and left the position due to these frustrations.

PLAN OF ACTION

IOR discussed, with the client, the concept of intercultural competence, focusing on the importance of cultural competency to a global company and its talent management systems. We had the senior leadership take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) in order to understand how the tool measures a person’s attitude and behavior toward cultural difference. After several coaching sessions, the leadership affirmed the value of the tool for the selection process.

IMPLEMENTATION

The IOR Training Team worked with International Human Resources to create a Finance Officer job description that incorporated intercultural competence. As candidates applied for the job, the company had IOR administer the IDI. The reports for each candidate were studied and discussed with the selection committee, all of whom had also taken the instrument. In addition, to avoid potential legal difficulties, IOR worked closely with the HR department to ensure that the IDI was only one additional data point in the decision-making process.

RESULTS

A more refined and targeted talent pool for the Finance Officer position which resulted in several high quality candidates being considered for the position. When the final candidate was chosen, IOR administered a detailed debrief of their IDI results and combined this debrief with intercultural training, ensuring future success and improving the prospect of retention.