As business globalization accelerates, leaders' grasp of core
global competencies must grow, as well. Currently, however,
organizations vary significantly in their ability to identify
current and future global leaders. Corporations are even less
consistent and competent at helping global leaders acquire and
leverage the competencies necessary to succeed.
Most research on global leadership identifies competencies that are
key factors for success, such as having a global business mindset;
creativity, innovation, and vision; cultural intelligence; and
collaborative leadership, team building, and partnering. However,
organizations rarely have a coherent training and development
process that promotes the attainment of these competencies.
What organizations are and aren't doing
Corporate training. Few corporations have a global
leadership curriculum. Rather, they may offer a course or two in
their corporate university that addresses these topics. Many
corporations defer to university programs, which vary greatly in
their applicability to the needs of the individual and the
organization.
International assignments. This is one of the most
effective yet least utilized opportunities for the training and
development of global leaders. Most organizations see international
assignments simply as filling a functional need. There are a number
of organizations that do include an international assignment as a
prerequisite for global leadership positions, but then do not
measure whether participants have gained core competencies as a
result of their assignments. Even if there is a cultural training
component to the assignment, there is often no training and
development plan to develop the skills needed to become a future
leader of the organization. As a result, some people return from an
international assignment with very few of the competencies
mentioned above.
One executive boasted upon his return from a five-year assignment
in Taiwan that he did just great there without ever learning to
speak more than 10 words of Chinese. On the other extreme, another
executive spent his first six months in Japan learning Japanese and
carefully observing and noting the relationship building that took
place in the office. Neither of these executives was given
structured training or development, but one came back to the United
States ready to take on global responsibilities while the other did
not.
Executive coaching for global leadership. While
executive coaching has become the norm in many organizations, there
are very few executive coaches who have the skills and experience
to help future global leaders achieve the qualities that will help
them succeed. An effective global executive coaching program will
target the specific issues associated with global work. Much of
this is focused on the hidden cultural dimensions that are not seen
by either the executive or the coach if they have not been trained
in the field of intercultural interactions.
For example, one vice president of marketing for Latin America
received an extensive executive coaching program that focused on
his leadership, communications, and team building styles and how
they were to be adjusted for the various countries in Latin
America. As a result of the coaching, the executive and his direct
reports in the region reported significant improvements in his
interactions. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know, and
the assignment ended successfully with a new global position for
the vice president.
Global project teams. Many of the competencies
described above can be developed in concert with assignments on
global project teams. Similar to the international assignment,
these project teams focus on achieving a functional objective and
are not seen as a way to intentionally teach global leadership
skills. If such skill building were integrated into the team
members' development plan, there would be a greater cohort of
potential global leaders in the organization.
What we can achieve
A global business mindset: the intellectual
appreciation of fundamental aspects of how societies and business
practices are carried out across the globe, including
- a keen appreciation of how historical factors within and
between countries affect business relationships
- an understanding of how global demographic trends will affect
the future of the organization.
Creativity, innovation and vision: the intuitive
capacity to see issues from various and, sometimes, competing
perspectives and to create a solution those others could not see -
for example, insight to design products or marketing strategies
that balance perfectly with local tastes.
Cultural intelligence: understanding core cultural
differences found around the globe and the capacity to utilize this
understanding to adapt to the various styles - for example, knowing
that it would be appropriate in some countries to ask for direct
feedback and expect to get it while in other countries the manner,
location, and context for giving and receiving feedback is very
restricted and constrained.
Collaborative leadership, team building, and
partnering: the practice of a leadership style that
encourages inclusion and participation of all strategic colleagues,
team members, and current and future business partners - for
example, understanding how the top-down hierarchy style of
leadership is being rejected by employees, even in countries that
still maintain a high degree of respect for traditional values.
If organizations wish to succeed in the global marketplace, they
must do a better job at training and developing their global
leaders. The current hit-or-miss approach is much too costly and
inefficient.