????對于冉冉升起的管理層新星們來說，海外任職的機會可以說是充滿誘惑力的額外獎勵。在海外工作幾年時間，而且大部分時候是公司出錢，這聽起來幾乎就跟公費度假一樣完美。

????但有一些公司在外派職員時，采取了一些新的做法。它們開始將員工派駐海外參與短期項目，讓他們暫時離開如魚得水的環境，以此來檢驗他們的工作效率和適應能力。

????當然，公司依然會把一些高管派往類似巴黎這樣迷人的地方，但短期項目通常都在新興市場，因為這里將是公司擴大業務的戰場。有些公司甚至會借鑒傳教士的做法，派員工參加慈善活動，順帶替公司做宣傳。

????比如，IBM公司就通過“企業全球志愿者服務隊”（Corporate Service Corps）項目將新晉領導者們派往非洲和其他發展中國家，目的是要檢驗這些經理人如何在陌生環境中開展業務，如何與來自不同背景的人合作，并與當地的決策者們建立良好關系，為未來的業務拓展打下堅實的基礎。

????IBM負責商業與技術領導力的副總裁湯姆?韋恩斯表示：“這些都是運營跨國企業所必須的。領導力不僅僅是一次培訓，也不僅僅是一次網絡研討會那么簡單。”

????在挑選候選人參與教育、醫療和經濟發展等領域的一系列項目之前，IBM會對員工的績效和領導能力進行審查。IBM曾將團隊派往埃及、印度、肯尼亞和尼日利亞，在這些地區，科技巨頭IBM發展勢頭強勁。

????去年三月份，來自美國波士頓的IBM經理約翰?弗戴迪參加了一個前往肯尼亞的團隊，該團隊與肯尼亞郵政公司（Postal Corporation of Kenya）合作開展了一個為期一個月的公益活動咨詢項目。

????弗戴迪稱：“我們的目標是與郵政公司合作，在它為客戶提供的服務中增加金融服務項目。我們最終為它制定了一個發展規劃圖，這樣郵政公司可以增加一些其他服務，比如簽發護照等。現在人們還需要在政府部門排隊領取簽證，而郵政公司增加這項服務后可以充分利用它遍布肯尼亞全國的網點。”

????他說，他需要將團隊的計劃提交給郵政公司的全國委員會，并說服他們，“如果你們不改變對（公司）的思路，最終它會被時代所拋棄。不過，跟他們說這種話可得冒很大的風險。”

時間太短，效果打折還是恰到好處？

????自從三年前啟動以來，IBM的企業全球志愿者服務隊已經派出了1，200名員工，在23個不同國家參與了100多個項目。而且這種模式也被其他公司采用或借鑒，比如道康寧公司（Dow Corning）和聯邦快遞公司（FedEx）。

????很少有項目能達到IBM的規模——IBM每年挑選出來參與項目的員工大約有500人。每個團隊通常由8到12名成員組成，他們花三個月的時間準備行程，一個月的時間在現場，兩個月的時間返回總部，總結工作，并與其他同事分享外派的經歷，通常是通過博客和公開交流的方式。

????許多公司認為，這些短期海外項目能幫助他們應對日益全球化的工作環境，但領導力開發專家的看法卻莫衷一是。

????哈佛大學高級領導力計劃（Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative）主任羅莎貝絲?M?坎特對這種短期項目大加贊揚，認為這種項目“以符合成本效益的方式，培養了多元化團隊的技能和人脈。”

????她認為，IBM的模式“反映了人們日益普遍的工作方式：深入到新環境中。這要求他們迅速地學習和反應，并迅速調整以適應不同的風格和文化。”

????不過，坎特認為這種方式有一個缺點，那就是“人們無法像長期任職那樣更深入地了解一個國家。”坎特著有《超級公司：頂尖企業如何帶來創新、利潤、成長與社會公益》（Super Corp, How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good）一書。

????她補充道：“但他們掌握了如何了解一個國家的方法。而且這些項目通常都需要有所創新，而常規商務工作中不可能激發這種創新。”

如果將成本計算在內會如何？

????短期的海外項目使公司既能為新晉經理人提供領導力體驗經歷，同時又能避免長期派駐海外給員工家庭生活帶來的動蕩以及巨額的跨國安家費用。

????研究還發現，結束海外任職返回總部的高管離職率較高，而且他們會發現自己與公司的管理層無法保持一致，或與公司總部的文化格格不入。致力于全球人員安置服務的Brookfield公司2010年度趨勢調查顯示，在接受調查的高管中，有38%的人在從海外任職返回總部后第一年便離開了公司。

????咨詢公司Fisher-Rock的主理合伙人邁克爾?巴菲特認為，為每位員工量身設計相關的工作體驗經歷才是關鍵。Fisher-Rock咨詢公司致力于機構改革與人才管理。他強調：“現在企業界有向短期任務轉變的趨勢，并且會針對每位員工的特點定制不同的體驗項目。”

????全球咨詢公司美世（Mercer）董事海格?納班提恩表示，公司并不會很快就放棄傳統的海外派遣，因為這種方式可以幫助公司快速解決世界不同地區人才匱乏問題。

????納班提恩稱：“但我們發現，鑒于這類外派方式成本高昂，公司對最終的效果越來越擔憂。我們近期的一些客戶表示，計劃代之以更短期限的外派任務……公司必須實現平衡。”

????負責美世公司北美遷移業務的艾德?漢尼巴爾也同意這種說法：“這對每家公司來說都非常困難。”他表示，在去年的調查中，462位美世公司客戶中，有30%稱他們采用的是短期外派任務。

慈善項目稍有不同

????聯邦快遞公司在借鑒IBM的領導力項目基礎上，推出了自己的項目。公司人力資源部經理苔絲?史密斯表示，公司近期在巴西完成了新全球領導力志愿者隊項目（Global Leadership Corps）的試點。該項目將“和平工作與商業活動有機結合。”

????史密斯表示，在此次項目中，聯邦快遞的員工幫助巴西東北部的非裔年輕人準備大學入學考試，教授他們英語，并幫助他們獲得獎學金。

????不過，此次項目的候選人必須是大有潛力的執行者，并經過提名和推薦——這一審查程序與IBM類似。但史密斯強調，聯邦快遞的項目“并不像IBM那樣直接。雖然項目也以推廣公司品牌為目的，但項目的目的并非為了獲得新的業務。”

????道康寧公司去年也開始了自己的項目，當時公司在印度班加羅爾啟動了一個廚具技術項目，使員工有機會了解在新興市場的工作情況。

????該公司的全球人力資源總監艾德?考伯特表示：“國際領導力體驗經歷非常重要，人們都希望參與。去年，有100位主管級的員工提出了申請，但只有10人有幸入選。”

????“不論是短期還是長期外派任務，只要員工能（走出）習以為常的環境，這本身就具有寶貴的價值。對于員工來說，關鍵在于體驗。”

????（翻譯 劉進龍）

????For rising managerial stars, an overseas assignment can be a glamorous perk. Spending a few years abroad, largely on the company dime, sounds almost as good as a paid vacation. Almost.

????But some corporations are taking a new approach to the overseas assignment and have begun to send employees abroad to work on short-term projects as a means to test how they work, and adapt, outside their comfort zones.

????Companies still send executives to attractive locales like Paris, but short-term projects are often based in emerging markets where companies are looking to expand. Some businesses are even taking a page from the missionary's playbook, sending employees on charitable assignments with the side goal of promoting their business.

????IBM (IBM), for example, is sending its budding leaders to Africa and other developing markets through its Corporate Service Corps program, with the goal of seeing how these managers how operate in unfamiliar surroundings, work with people from different backgrounds, and lay the groundwork for future business by developing relationships with local decision-makers.

????"This is part of operating a global enterprise," says Tom Vines, vice president of business and technology leadership for IBM. "Leadership has to be more than just a class and more than just a webinar."

????IBM vets its employees for performance and leadership qualities before selecting candidates to work on an array of projects in areas such as education, health care, and economic development. IBM has sent teams to Egypt, India, Kenya, and Nigeria, all strong growth regions for the technology giant.

????In Kenya, John Fredette, a Boston-based IBM manager, joined a team last March for a month-long pro-bono consulting project with the Postal Corporation of Kenya.

????"Our goal was to work with the postal corporation to add financial services to what it offers customers," says Fredette. "We ended up giving them a roadmap so the postal corporation can add services like issuing passports, which people now wait in line for at government offices, to make better use of their locations around the country."

????He had to present the team's plan to the Postal Corporation's national board to persuade them, he says, "that if you don't change the [company] mindset, it will become irrelevant. It was dicey to say that to them."

Too short for its own good or just right?

????Since its launch three years ago, IBM's Corporate Service Corps has sent 1,200 employees to participate in more than 100 projects in 23 different countries. And its model has been adopted or adapted by other corporations like Dow Corning and FedEx (FDX).

????Few programs are as large as IBM's, which selects around 500 employees to participate each year. The teams, usually between eight and 12 members, spend three months preparing for their trip, a month on location, and two months back at their home office wrapping up their work and sharing their experiences with other IBMers, typically through blog posts and public appearances.

????Many companies argue that these short-term projects abroad help them respond to the demands of an increasingly global work environment, but leadership development experts have given mixed reviews to this approach.

????Rosabeth M. Kanter, director of the Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative, praises such short-term projects as "cost-effective ways to build skills and relationships in a diverse team."

????IBM's model, she says, "mirrors the way people increasingly work: thrust into new situations that require them to learn and react fast while adjusting quickly to different styles and cultures."

????A drawback, notes Kanter, who wrote Super Corp, How Vanguard Companies Create Innovation, Profits, Growth, and Social Good, is that: "People don't learn a country in depth the way they would on a longer-term assignment.

????"But they learn how to learn about countries," she adds. And, "sometimes the projects demand innovation that isn't possible in more routine business work."

Taking the costs into account

????Briefer assignments also allow companies to provide leadership experience to upcoming managers without the family disruption and major relocation expenses of a long-term international move.

????Also, studies have found that there is a high rate of departure for executives that return from assignments abroad and find themselves off the management track or out of sync with the culture at company headquarters. Brookfield Global Relocation Services' annual trends survey for 2010 found that 38% of executives surveyed left their companies in the first year after their return from an assignment abroad.

????Devising a relevant experience for each employee is key, says Michel Buffet, a managing partner at Fisher-Rock Consulting, which specializes in organization change and talent management. "There's a trend toward moving to short assignments, and customizing the experience for each employee," he notes.

????Still, companies are not likely to abandon traditional overseas assignments any time soon as it allows companies to quickly address talent shortages in different parts of the world, says Haig Nalbantian, a director at Mercer, the global consulting firm.

????"But we are seeing more concern at companies about the impact, given the high costs such moves incur," says Nalbantian. "A number of recent clients have talked to us about substituting shorter term assignments…. It has to be a balance."

????"It's a struggle for every company," agrees Ed Hannibal, who leads Mercer's North American mobility practice. In a survey last year, some 30% of some 462 Mercer clients said they were using shorter term assignments, he says.

Charity with a twist

????FedEx is launching its own take on IBM's leadership program. The company recently completed a pilot program in Brazil for its new Global Leadership Corps which "marries the Peace Corps with business," says Tess Smith, a human resources manager for the company.

????During this particular project, FedEx employees helped Afro-Brazilian youth in Northeast Brazil prepare for college-entrance exams, teaching English and helping them obtain scholarships, according to Smith.

????Candidates had to be nominated and recommended as high potential performers -- a vetting process similar to IBM's. But Smith notes that the FedEx program "is much less direct than IBM's. It does promote our brand, but it's not set up to get new business."

????Dow Corning Corp. began its own program last year, starting with a cook stove technology project in Bangalore, India, to give its employees a chance to learn about working in emerging markets.

????"International leadership experience is valuable, and people want to sign up," says Ed Colbert, the company's global director of talent management. Last year, 100 director-level employees applied and 10 were selected to participate.

????"Short or long-term, it's much more valuable if an employee [goes] outside his normal comfort zone. The key for the employee is immersion."