Each year, Deloitte, one of the Big Six accounting firms, conducts a Global New Partners Seminar for its new “class” of appointed Partners. This year the seminar was held in China. China was the perfect country for Deloitte's newly appointed Partners to meet together for the first time. They represent the future leadership of Deloitte while China is well on the road to becoming a future global economic power. The goals of the meeting were to celebrate their promotions, build networks, understand the nuances of functioning as a global team, learn about the many resources that the partners can tap into, and achieve a better appreciation of how to enhance relationships with their clients. UNISON played the lead role in driving the designed process for the interactive sessions of the three-day meeting. An "icebreaker" exercise started the meeting so that the partners would become comfortable with the process, the technology and working with each other to reach a consensus on responses. Other exercises included selecting the six critical success factors for the firm, commenting on the current strategic initiatives and sharing views on the just-announced Strategy 2010. On strategic initiatives, one Partner challenged the group and firm leadership with, "The 2010 strategies	UNISON Levels the Kirkpatrick Model A Conversation with a Training Designer UNISON in China Sidestep Field Sales Gaffes Meghan Bourke Joins Mike Berkowitz Keeps the Beat Heard from our Clients
	all revolve around people. We seem to be the magnet for talent already. Is the challenge not retention of that pool especially in a time of growth as the firm is currently experiencing? Is 2010 too late?" UNISON allowed him to ask the question openly, honestly and anonymously.
	One of the key exercises of the meeting, “Working across Cultures,” involved understanding, accepting and adjusting to culture differences. The 480 Partners were asked to describe the worst behavior of another nationality and how they would modify their own behavior to counter their perceptions. Once the exercise closed, the results were broadcast to all participants. More than a few eyes were opened when participants of different nationalities saw how they were perceived by their colleagues. For example, Americans were perceived to be aggressive. Australians talk too much. Belgians are indirect in their dealings with others. On the other hand, the Dutch were perceived as too direct. This interactive exercise helped to break down the cultural barriers that exist between people of different nationalities in a manner that was not threatening, accusatory or embarrassing. One participant resolved, “Learn to appreciate how people from different countries can be just as effective with different work ethics.”Another wrote that when dealing with Americans, he would resolve to “ask questions to understand why it is important for the team to follow the US approach.”
	The UNISON process was designed to provoke the Partners to think and act as leaders within the context of a global organization. The fully documented results – sorted, correlated and summarized – provided Deloitte leadership with a “snapshot” of its new Partners’ thoughts which can be used as a yardstick to measure the future performances and behavior of the participants. The data including recommendations also acts as a framework for next year’s Global New Partners Seminar.