The Hidden Costs of Cultural Assumptions in Global Delivery

Executives rarely set out to undermine their own global delivery strategy. Yet I’ve watched it happen repeatedly, not because of flawed operating models or weak talent pools, but because of something far more subtle: cultural assumptions that quietly erode performance over time.

If you want to understand the true cost of these assumptions, don’t start with your financials. Look instead at the symptoms: 

• Rising attrition in your center 
• A widening gap between expected and actual productivity 
• Leaders who plateau too early 
• A delivery culture that feels “separate” from the enterprise

I’ve built and led global delivery centers across Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, and I’ve learned this the hard way: your center will either amplify your enterprise culture or become an outpost defined by its absence. And once it becomes an outpost, the hidden costs compound quickly.

Below are the four cultural blind spots that most often derail global delivery, and the practices that consistently separate high-performing centers from the rest.

1. Assuming Your Brand Speaks for Itself

In many markets, particularly across Asia, brand identity carries enormous social weight. Saying you work for IBM or Apple instantly communicates prestige to family, peers, and the broader community. But if your company isn’t a household name, you don’t get that benefit automatically.

You have to build it.

Employees need a clear, compelling answer to: “Who are we as a company, and why does it matter that I work here?”

When your center can articulate your purpose and values, you see higher tenure, stronger engagement, and a deeper sense of belonging. When they can’t, your brand becomes interchangeable with any competitor offering a slightly higher salary.

I’ve seen centers transform simply because we invested time in telling our story; clearly, consistently, and locally.

2. Assuming Employees Understand Their Impact

One of the most common mistakes I see is the belief that employees naturally understand how their work connects to enterprise financials.

They don’t. And when they don’t, they disengage.

The turning point in my own centers came when we began explicitly linking daily work to revenue, cost, customer outcomes, and enterprise priorities. Once teams understood the “why,” their ownership changed overnight.

The formula I’ve used ever since:

1. Show them the value they already create
2. Explain how that value shows up in the company’s financials
3. Invite them to identify additional opportunities to contribute

Some of the most impactful improvements I’ve implemented came directly from analysts who had never been asked for their perspective before.

3. Assuming You Can Lead a Center Through Zoom

You can’t. Not sustainably. Not if you want a high-performing, loyal team.

In Asia and Latin America, especially, presence is a leadership currency. When executives show up (really show up, not “take calls from the hotel all day”) it signals commitment. 

Some of my most meaningful leadership moments happened far from conference rooms: 

• Being pulled into a cricket match, I had no business participating in
• Sharing meals in homes where I was the first foreign guest 
• Laughing through cultural missteps that built more trust than any formal meeting ever could

If you’re invited to a dinner, go. If you’re invited into someone’s home, you absolutely go. That’s where loyalty is built, and where performance accelerates.

4. Assuming Feedback Is a “Process” Rather Than a Practice

Many organizations collect employee feedback. Very few close the loop. And that’s where they lose their best talent.

Your teams know what works and what doesn’t. They live the processes every day. When feedback disappears into a black hole, employees stop offering it. Then they stop caring. Then they leave.

The highest performing centers I’ve led had one thing in common: a visible, ongoing cycle of listening, acting, and recognizing.

Not every idea can be implemented, but every idea deserves acknowledgment. Recognition doesn’t require a gala, sometimes a heartfelt thank you in a town hall and a simple certificate carry more weight than you’d expect.

The Bottom Line

Global delivery doesn’t fail because of talent. It fails because of assumptions, especially cultural ones. If you want your center to operate as a strategic engine rather than a transactional outpost, you must build it with intentionality:

• A clear brand identity 
• Transparent connection to enterprise value 
• Leadership presence that signals commitment 
• A feedback culture that actually functions

When you get this right, the performance lift is extraordinary. When you don’t, the hidden costs eventually surface everywhere.

To deepen the conversation, I’d love to hear from fellow leaders:

• Where have cultural assumptions helped, or hindered, your global delivery strategy?
• How do you ensure your center feels connected to the enterprise rather than operating as an outpost?
• What practices have most effectively strengthened your team’s sense of purpose and impact?
• What’s one cultural insight you wish you had understood earlier in your global delivery journey?