If you’ve ever sat in a video call listening to Global HQ present a “one-size-fits-all” plan for global rollout in Asia, you probably felt that quiet sinking feeling: “This isn’t going to work here.” Maybe you’ve nodded along during the call, only to log off and message your local team: “We’ll have to fix this ourselves.”
That’s the hidden cost of regional leadership: being the bridge between global ambition and local execution. You’re expected to implement with precision, yet also adapt with empathy.
Josianne Robb understands this well. As a former Asia Regional Chief Digital Officer and now an executive coach with over 1,300 hours of experience guiding leaders in this exact situation, she knows where these rollouts fail and how to make them succeed in building a future-proof business.
In this piece, she shares 7 essential questions every Asia-based leader should ask before taking on another “global standard.”
Highlights
7 Questions to Ask Before Any Global Rollout in Asia
1. What Problem Are We Really Solving?
As Asia-based leaders, we’ve all seen it: an initiative from HQ lands in your inbox, positioned as “transformational,” but you’re left wondering: Does this even apply to us?
One of the most overlooked steps in a global rollout is clarifying whether the solution actually addresses a local need or if it’s just a global mandate in search of a purpose. Asia isn’t one market, and yet many rollouts treat it as such.
Regulatory differences, language nuances, and market maturity levels vary drastically across countries. If these aren’t factored in from the start, what’s framed as a solution can quickly become a burden. Before moving forward, leaders should ask: Whose problem are we solving, and is it ours to fix?
2. Do We Even Know What ‘Global Standards’ Mean?
The term gets tossed around a lot, but rarely do people pause to define it. Are we talking about minimum compliance, best practices, or a fixed template to be replicated across borders?
What’s considered “standard” in one country might feel irrelevant—or even tone-deaf—in another. Without clarity or defined success metrics for each market, global standards become a grey zone of assumptions, and Asia ends up adapting through workarounds instead of real integration.
Before alignment, we need shared understanding. Otherwise, “global” becomes just another word for “from HQ.”
3. What About Local Market Needs & Priorities?
In many global rollouts, localisation becomes an afterthought. Regional leaders are told to “adapt,” but often without the flexibility or resources to truly tailor solutions to each market. This disconnect delays adoption and drains energy.
When HQ’s vision overrides local strategy, it feels less like alignment and more like erasure. And when workarounds become the norm, standardisation quietly unravels. If local innovation isn’t encouraged within the framework, teams will either disengage or build their own.
Sustainable change management in Asia must prioritize local needs, not just as a checklist, but as a central design principle.
4. Where Are the Cultural Pitfalls?
Global rollout in Asia can stumble on cultural blind spots, especially when execution assumes one way of working fits all. Western workplace norms often overlook—or unintentionally challenge—the nuances of hierarchy, collectivism, and social context across Asian markets.
Whether it’s a DEIB initiative in Indonesia or a feedback framework in Japan, cultural fit isn’t a detail, it’s the difference between participation and passive resistance. Regional leadership must advocate for culturally aware rollouts, not just translated ones.
5. How Does This Impact Our Trust Ecosystem?
Every global decision echoes through your trust ecosystem. If local teams feel excluded from planning or strategic partners sense a disconnect, the damage is often quiet but lasting.
In Asia, trust is built through long-term relationships with clients, partners, and internal teams, not just consistent processes. A rollout that skips local voices can undermine years of credibility. To protect trust in global teams, rollout strategies need local collaboration baked in, not bolted on.
6. What’s Non-Negotiable?
Without clear boundaries, global standards can feel rigid and unclear. Teams hesitate to adapt, fearing non-compliance—even when local change is necessary for success.
Defining what’s non-negotiable vs. what’s flexible empowers confident execution. It also prevents a patchwork of hidden workarounds that undermine the standard itself, and forces leaders to surface which local priorities might need to be deferred.
Strong localisation in Asia starts with clarity, not control.
7. What’s the Real Cost?
A global rollout’s success is often judged on implementation speed, but rarely on the hidden toll it takes. Legacy system migration, dual-reporting, stakeholder fatigue—these are real and recurring costs.
In Asia, where resource allocation is already tight, parallel systems and shifting priorities can stall local innovation. If costs aren’t fully scoped, the “standard” becomes a silent burden. Regional leaders must ask: Are we budgeting for rollout… or only for the ideal version of it?
Challenge the Playbook, Champion the Region
If you’ve ever felt like the only person in the room who gets Asia, you’re not alone, and you’re not wrong. The real danger in a poorly executed global rollout in Asia isn’t just inefficient systems, it’s the erosion of local trust, disengagement of teams, and long-term damage to market relationships.
By asking the 7 questions Josianne outlines, regional leaders and their teams give themselves the power to lead with clarity, empathy, and courage. Because leadership in Asia isn’t about rubber-stamping HQ decisions. It’s about translating vision into relevance and that starts not with answers, but with better questions.
Editor’s note: The original article was written by Josianne Robb on a LinkedIn post, titled “7 Questions Regional Leaders in Asia Should Ask Global HQ (Before Burning Cash on Global Standards).”
Highlights
Read the Chinese article here.
