Mr. Imran Zaman, Chief Marking Officer for Amway Europe and responsible for Europe / India / Africa region (EIA), is an influencer. And, not simply by way of his C-Suite title. In intercultures‘ Sept. 2015 interview with him, Mr. Zaman responded to our questions conveying a capacity to affect the character of the Amway brand, which he says has evolved over his 17 years of service to the company while maintaining its core of family values. intercultures believes there is no universal way to act with global skills[ii], and is pleased to share one example among others of the progressive accomplishments of those within our network.
What We Noticed
In the course of our interview with Mr. Zaman for this article, we noticed that:
- He offered practical examples of how he models one key perspective;
- He conveyed a learning orientation; and
- He spoke in relative terms.
What We Know
Over the course of June-Aug. 2015, Mr. Zaman and his colleagues in leadership partnered with intercultures to offer “Working Successfully in Diversity,” a two-hour, interactive introduction to select cultural frameworks and their workplace application. Approximately 150 Marketing professionals in eight different countries across Africa, Europe, India and Russia participated in 11 webinars facilitated by intercultures Consultant Malii Brown. In 2014, Mr. Zaman and his colleagues participated in a full-day, face-to-face program by the same name and with a focus on virtual performance led by intercultures’ Managing Director, Stefan Meister. An experience of success in working to establish “a good, level playing field from intercultures,” along with the recognition that nearly 90% of business for this U.S.-headquartered company is outside the U.S. market, were factors in leadership’s decisions to invest in Amway’s diversity.
Modeling Perspective
Mr. Zaman’s key perspective at Amway EIA is that, “We have different people and different backgrounds.” When it comes to diversity, the man means business: He said “different” twenty times in our 60 minute interview when describing the people and the potential of Amway worldwide. “I try to lead by example,” said Mr. Zaman. “I’m interacting with people from various backgrounds…in both social and business situations…so that it’s visible to people that I’m trying break those barriers.”
Assumptions about how his background matches peoples‘ presumptions about him have set some up for surprise. Brought up in England and at service to a U.S.-born company at which English is the language of business, Mr. Zaman’s backstory is one among many that may not be what people presume. For example:
- Meeting in India recently with colleagues whose first language was one of the country’s 22 Constitutional languages, Mr. Zaman addressed his colleagues in Urdu and Punjabi, which was “quite surprising to them.”
- At times when he has attended meetings in many locations, such as Germany, people switch from English to their “comfort language” and have perhaps been unaware of the disrespectful tone that this switch may have had on their choice of words. Only after years did it become understood by a number of people that Mr. Zaman had a working knowledge of German.
- In his year working in Russia, Mr. Zaman encouraged group dialogue in Russian with a final response to the multilingual group in English. Being quadrilingual himself, he knows firsthand that, “You obviously get fatigued and are conscious of saying the ‘right’ things‘,” and considers it a matter of respect to set a standard where people can talk business in their native language. “I’ll pick up the conclusion,” he said, “and that’s okay for me.” How about for you?
While incorrect assumptions are bad enough, assumptions about others’ identities are necessarily counterproductive of the opportunities that the model of working in diversity is intended to make possible.
Oriented Toward Learning
Listening to the context of a situation in order to understand is a mindset and a skill. “Global collaboration and alignment is a key measure of success,” said Mr. Zaman, “but it does not happen all the time. So, it’s about trying to understand what’s behind the issues.” Early in his career, for instance, correspondence that Mr. Zaman sent to colleagues in Germany “ended up with a lot of communication misunderstandings.” In discussions with his German colleagues, he discovered that, “From a German cultural perspective, if I structured my emails more in terms of a business report, they would start to go down and answer my questions. Based on my discussions, I came to adjust my communication style. It became easier from them to respond.” A native speaker of “the Queen’s English[iii],” Mr. Zaman added that, “My way is not the only way. Yes, we all speak English, but we’re not all going to do it the Anglo-Saxon way. What is the Amway culture that we want to work with?” Certainly, discovering through learning how leadership wishes to engage its diverse workforce is a key takeaway for a learning organization.
Speaking in Relative Terms
In sharing his own perspective, Mr. Zaman used language that communicated his understanding that one circumstance is always relative to another. He recognized, for instance, that English differs in its use and meaning. For some, “Yes” is a self-empowered commitment, while to others it is an intention decided by a will beyond that of the individual, making decision-making and accountability challenging—yet possible—in the face of efforts to establish global norms. In reference to the “Working Successfully in Diversity” webinar set, Mr. Zaman remarked that, “The takeaway for many people varied. For some, it was, ‘Wow, this is really good information’. An ‘ah ha’ moment for many people I asked. They recognized the real situation as now, and that just really helped them open their mind or thinking, and really resonated with them. For some, they have interactions with others of a different background, but didn’t really learn anything from it.” All things considered, the long-term endeavor of influencing a value-add perspective of Amway EIA’s diverse Marketing group has been reinforced: “Now everyone is on the same playing field,” said Mr. Zaman. “We all can have at least the same level of knowledge. Hopefully, people start to apply that and it increases.”
intercultures promotes progressive accomplishment as individuals, groups and whole organizations act increasingly with global skills. We thank Amway EIA for their continued partnership, and Mr. Imran Zaman and Ms. Teresa Ainger for making this interview possible.
[i] Amway is one of the leading family-owned consumer goods companies worldwide, selling more than 400 high quality products in the categories beauty, wellness and home care exclusively through independent distributors to the end consumer. The company was founded in 1959 in Ada, United States and operates in more than 100 countries and territories generating a revenue of 10,8 billion USD in 2014. Amway’s top-selling brands are NUTRILITE™ vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements, ARTISTRY™ skincare and color cosmetics, and eSpring™ water treatment systems.
[ii] intercultures defines “global skills” as skills needed to work efficiently in global complexity.
[iii] According to the Oxford Dictionaries (!), “the Queen’s English” is “standard English language as written and spoken by educated people in Britain.”
The above article was included in our Sept. 2015 intercultures e-newsletter.
Picture source: Getty Images.