A new survey finds out what international managers really need from the organisations they work for to reach their full potential.

International managers, who are skilled at working across cultures, have become indispensable for companies to develop and succeed in the global business world. A new survey finds out what they really need from the organisations they work for to reach their full potential.

The study carried out by training and consulting company Global'Ease with the support of Expatica, reveals that international managers thrive when their multinational skills are recognised and harnessed by their companies.

Two words, passion and motivation, were used frequently by the respondents, who note that they appreciate working for a company with 'vision'.

A lack of clear objectives and not being given the space to take the business decisions needed to achieve their goals were seen as demotivating.

How managers see themselves

Respondents were asked to select one out of nine profiles which they felt described them most accurately.  The profile most international managers—30 percent—identified with was 'chameleon'.

This type of manager describes themselves as "blending in and adapting from country to country and doing their best to 'fit in' wherever their business travels take them."

However, as one global manager pointed out when Global'Ease presented the results in Paris last week, there is a gap between international managers' self-perception and the image they convey.

Keep your own values

'Chameleons' also noted that being a chameleon does not mean you should totally 'lose yourself', your own values, while on the job.  Rather, in the words of one respondent, "We should be like a sponge with a little oil floating on water. This makes the sponge float at the same time disseminating oil to the water around it; influencing and being influenced, afloat at the same time."

In joint second place, 16 percent of managers identified themselves as 'bi-cultural managers' and 16 percent as 'serial expats'.

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