Cross-Cultural Advisory
International appointments require more than professional fit.
When executives take on responsibility in new markets, or when international companies fill leadership roles in the DACH region, qualification alone does not decide the outcome. Differing decision-making paths, communication styles, understandings of leadership and expectations of collaboration all influence whether an appointment becomes effective.
This perspective already feeds into our search work: into the target profile, the approach, the assessment of candidates and the preparation for the specific role. We pay attention to which person fits professionally, understands cultural differences and can lead effectively in the given market environment.
So we support companies not with abstract cultural models, but with practical experience from markets, organisations and leadership situations in which cross-cultural fit determines success and impact.
Cultural intelligence does not mean adapting until you are unrecognisable. It means meeting another culture with deep respect – and using your own values as a reliable compass.
Malte Oltmanns
Individual analytical modules for international appointments and leadership situations
Cross-cultural advisory at our firm follows no standard programme. Every organisation, every market and every leadership role brings its own requirements. That is why we work with modular analysis and advisory components which we combine as the situation demands.
Whether an international appointment, a market entry, a change of leadership, integration after an appointment or collaboration between headquarters and a local team: we look at the cultural, organisational and personal factors that determine impact and acceptance.
Our advisory work is built on international leadership and life experience of our own. We know international collaboration not from theory but from carrying responsibility ourselves – above all in China, but also in Korea, Japan, the USA and European markets.
These services support your success.
In international appointments, investments or leadership decisions, professional competence alone is not enough. What matters is whether leadership style, personality, cultural background and target environment fit together.
We analyse what a role or a market genuinely demands: how are decisions made? How is trust built? What expectations exist regarding leadership, communication and responsibility? And which person can have a lasting impact in this environment?
Our assessment comes not from abstract cultural models, but from holding international leadership responsibility ourselves – from experience of how collaboration between headquarters, local teams, clients and partners works in practice.
New markets have their own rules. These show up not only in language, law or processes, but above all in decision-making paths, trust, hierarchy, negotiation and collaboration.
Our Market Entry Cultural Briefings prepare executives and teams specifically for that reality. The focus is on concrete questions: how are decisions made locally? What do clients, partners or employees expect? Which behaviours build trust – and which unintentionally create friction?
The briefings are tailored to the market, the role and the company situation. They are based on international leadership and life experience of our own – above all in China, but also in other Asian, European and international markets.
International leadership calls for the ability to use your own leadership style deliberately and adapt it to different cultural contexts without losing your own clarity.
Our coaching supports executives before or during international roles. Topics may include communication, hierarchy, handling conflict, building trust, working with local teams, or the interface between headquarters and country organisation.
The aim is not adaptation at any price, but effective leadership in an environment where expectations, decision-making paths and communication logics are differently shaped. The basis is practical experience from international leadership responsibility – not a generic training model.
Some friction points only become visible late in the selection process or in day-to-day collaboration. Often they lie not in a lack of competence, but in differing expectations regarding leadership, responsibility, pace, communication or decision-making paths.
We make such factors discussable early on. In doing so we consider personality, leadership style, organisational culture and target market together – with particular attention to the reality of international collaboration: between head office and country organisation, local teams, clients, partners and decision-makers.
This creates an additional perspective on fit, integration and long-term effectiveness.
International leadership is a competence in its own right. Anyone leading across different cultures must recognise expectations around hierarchy, communication, conflict resolution and responsibility – and respond to them as the situation requires.
Our Intercultural Leadership Assessment analyses how a leader comes across in international contexts: how adaptable are they? How clear do they remain under cultural ambiguity? How do they build trust? And how well can they mediate between differing decision-making logics?
The analysis adds a cross-cultural leadership perspective to conventional selection procedures – experience-based, practical and grounded in an understanding of real international organisations.
An international appointment is not complete once the contract is signed. The first months in particular decide whether an executive builds trust, gains orientation and becomes effective in the new environment.
We accompany this phase with a focus on cultural expectations, communication, role clarification and collaboration between the executive, the organisation, headquarters and the local team.
This is not about generic onboarding checklists, but about the concrete leadership reality of the market in question: how does acceptance emerge? Where is clarity needed? Which expectations have to be discussed early? And how can collaboration be put on a solid footing?
International teams often work across countries, languages, functions and differing leadership logics. Friction does not always arise openly – frequently it comes from unspoken expectations.
A Cultural Fit Audit makes visible where collaboration works particularly well – and where misunderstandings, decision-making paths or communication patterns are slowing impact.
The focus is on the concrete everyday practice of international teams: leadership, coordination, responsibility, communication, trust and the ability to decide. The result is a set of starting points for better collaboration, clearer leadership and greater mutual understanding.
Some aspects of international leadership are best discussed in a confidential setting. Our Closed-Door Roundtables bring together selected entrepreneurs, CEOs, investors and senior leaders.
The focus is on open conversation about market experience, cultural leadership, international appointments and the reality of entrepreneurial responsibility in different countries.
Access is by invitation and aimed at decision-makers seeking an exchange of experience among peers – beyond abstract models, and focused on what actually counts in international leadership.
A case in point: Germany and Switzerland
International appointments do not begin only in China, Japan or the USA. Even between Germany and Switzerland, understandings of leadership, decision-making paths and expectations of communication differ noticeably.
Where Germany often puts direct decisiveness and clear allocation of responsibility to the fore, Switzerland places greater weight on involvement, the capacity for consensus, stability and regional sensitivity. Transferring German search logic unchanged may well identify professionally suitable profiles – and still miss the cultural impact the role requires.
That is precisely why we take cross-cultural factors into account in the search profile, the approach and the assessment of fit from the outset.
Let’s talk about your international appointment.
Malte Oltmanns has carried leadership responsibility in China for over ten years and knows international organisations from his own practice. Together we clarify which cultural and organisational factors are relevant for your appointment – and how they can sensibly feed into search, selection and onboarding.
