Sense of Self

Sense of self Is a short, entertaining video. It certainly relates to Global Mindset! It's fun and well worth a look. I found it at Globalmindshift.org

The author of the video, Kenji Williams, is an award winning filmmaker, electronic music producer, theatrical show director, and classically trained violinist. Combining unique skills in film and music, Williams has earned international film awards from the CSC to Sundance. He is the composer and producer of 6 music albums, director of 15 films and music videos, 3 feature length projects, and 2 multimedia theatrical live shows. Williams is internationally respected for pushing the boundaries of audio visual art and performance.

Survival of the fittest

The globalization of business through the advances in technology is parallel to a whole new world of personal interconnectedness. The new interpersonal connectedness has come about through cheap air travel, T.V., global media, the internet, Voip, Skype, Blogging, Instant Messaging, Podcasts, Wikis, and etc. Little by little it seems that our micro-cultures (family, education, work, church, fashion, nation, sense of “what is cool”) are being slowly absorbed into a more diffuse global macro-culture. The pace of change is accelerating; it’s difficult and, sometimes, unsettling, to constantly have to adjust and adapt. It’s useful to remind ourselves that ‘survival of the fittest’ is all about our ability to adapt. So we don’t have too much choice.
To remain – or become - a productive and successful contributor in the global environment in which we now live and breathe means that we need updated skills to be able to understand the global phenomenon in terms of how we communicate with those who at first blush seem so different. We get to make choices. And, of course, all choices have consequences for better or worse. Read more...

Specific challenges for international HR

Global organizations are focused on human capital issues. There seems to be an almost global consensus that people issues are vital to company success. As the "war for talent" intensifies, the acceptance of the importance of human capital will continue to grow. Among the people challenges, there is a broad consensus, across international regions, on what the important challenges are. They include:

• The development of "global" leaders
• The creation of a high-performance global corporate culture & high-performing teams
• Managing talent (recruitment, retention, training, compensation & incentives)

If HR professionals are to be seen to play a crucial role in strategy and operational results they need to pick up the gauntlet on these people issues and act as "functional leaders". This means more time spent focusing on the business drivers and less on HR "programs and services". Adopting the role of global, functional leadership is the great opportunity for HR professionals. They need to be perceived as being totally committed to improving the business - which they must understand as well as any other leader - by their expertise in "people issues". For many years now, I have believed that the globalization of business presents an incredible opportunity to the HR profession. To succeed they absolutely need a "global mindset". See "Strategic Opportunity for HR Professionals"

China, culture and the "war for talent"

A comment to an earlier post suggests that “The small investment up front to embrace the dynamics of other societies is key to successful global operations”. I appreciate the use of the word “investment” in the context of training and global mindset development. So often “global” initiatives are canned because of the myopic way in which they are presented and perceived as “costs”. Not a bad example of the lack of a global mindset!

Another example comes to mind: the “war for talent”. Despite common misunderstandings, the war for talent is raging in China. How do I attract and retain the best and the brightest in a "group" oriented society which is quite contrary to the Western cultural focus on the "individual"? Will special benefits Western style benefits - like hiring bonuses or increased individual compensation - work in the Chinese cultural context? The generic answer is “no”, or, at least, not as well as in cultures that favor the individual as opposed to the group.

My experience in the China marketplace (mostly Shanghai) suggests the need for more innovative approaches. The Chinese are brought up to expect equal treatment in all aspects of their lives (a cultural expectation reinforced by their experience of Communism). This is less of a factor in hiring the younger generations. Their experience of capitalism, in the big cities, has encouraged them to be more open to career competition and individual rewards. However, because deep culture changes exceedingly slowly, a culturally savvy recruitment program must ensure that the reward systems must be clearly communicated and be perceived as being fair. Otherwise the program will be sabotaged by jealousy and feelings of being treated unjustly between the workforce and the new recruits.

To win the war for talent in China requires an educated global mindset in the corporate leadership. Otherwise, how do they design and promote a culturally effective hiring program? How do they communicate the program elements so that they won’t run in to cultural roadblocks? A relatively small investment in cross-cultural development will yield measurable results on ROI… saving untold avoidable “costs” caused by ethnocentric approaches. And the "war for talent" is just one example...

Leadership & Culture

Most experts are agreed that a key component of leadership is “strategic thinking,” which, of course, needs to be complemented by the ability to carry out or implement the strategy. A second frequently cited skill is “vision,” which is considered to be a critical leadership capacity. So, we have two components; the first related to cognitive capacity, and the second related to what we now know to be “emotional intelligence”. We also need to consider an international variable: does our culture affect our leadership style?

By culture I mean the characteristic behavior, which defines a group of people and is the result of their sharing the same set of values, beliefs and assumptions. Of course, we must remember that our shared values, beliefs and assumptions are influenced by the history, religion and geography of where we grew up. I am from Ireland, a relatively small island with a damp climate and a long history where politics and religion have been intertwined. In contrast, a Mexican is from a region in the new world, bordered on the north by the most affluent country in the world and to the south by the countries of Central America. Mexican culture is shaped by a range of climates and by a long history including pre-Hispanic civilizations, Spanish domination and the resulting mixture that is contemporary Mexico.

Obviously what we each value - Irish and Mexican - shapes our respective behavior. The forces of history, religion and geography clearly play a large role in determining what our values and beliefs are as a people. Our educational systems serve to reinforce our basic values and resulting culture. “Deep” culture does not change quickly, and people who have not had the opportunity to live outside their national culture are very often unaware of the nature of cultural differences. So how exactly does culture affect leadership?

Culture influences our notion of leadership and helps determine whether the style is participative or autocratic. In countries like Japan, Holland and Scandinavia, leadership style involves consensus. Some Latin and Anglo Saxon countries tend to favor a more charismatic style of leader. Other countries – Russia and Saudi Arabia are good examples – tend to favor a style based on centralized decision making. Hence, perhaps the first attribute of a “global leader” (in addition to commonly accepted notions of what makes a leader) is a keen understanding and deep respect for cultural differences.

Global Leaders & Ethical Dilemmas

In the practical world of international business, the ability to understand and respect differences is necessarily tied to the ability to reconcile the ethical dilemmas that can result from cultural differences. Business problems can be solved. Dilemmas, on the other hand, need to be reconciled. As long as we manufacture in low wage environments and sell the resulting products in high wage markets, we will be faced with culturally derived ethical dilemmas. So, can one be a global leader without knowing all the answers to cultural dilemmas?

A leader who truly understands and respects the dynamics of cultural differences will quickly become aware that a “global leader” knows – and accepts – that he or she does not have all the answers. This new breed of leader must know how to learn from this or her associates – and they must “learn to learn” in different cultural environments. Each day, the global leader has to ask: Where am I today? Who am I talking to? How can I be most effective here? Getting the right answers to these questions requires a well-honed ability to pick up on all the clues offered by the new international environment. Read more...

Being able to solve problems is not enough anymore

Culture is not something that we think about analytically. As Americans, living in a multicultural society, we are particularly prone to this strategic error. In our business model, managers are expected to solve problems - there is usually a “right” way and a “wrong” way. In the international arena our managers, more often than not, will be required to solve “dilemmas”. “Dilemmas” result when the nuances of different cultural approaches may mean that what is “right” in my culture may not be appropriate in my host’s culture. Global managers need to be taught how to “reconcile” dilemmas - how to develop mutually agreeable solutions based, more often than not, on interpersonal trust and respect for cultural differences. When we reconcile dilemmas we come up with a new solution resulting from the synergy of divergent viewpoints. The power of the new approach may amaze us. Read more...