Global roles require more than cross-cultural understanding, and there are a number of essential attributes of successful global leaders, writes Jennie Walker

Do your managers need to work with people from other parts of the world? Are some of your organisation’s opportunities, in terms of markets and supplies, outside of your country? If you answered yes to one or both of these questions, then your managers are going to need a strong global mindset in order to be effective.

As companies globalise, managers are required to think beyond what they are familiar with, and that’s not easy. It takes different management tools to get the job done well, while building strong business relationships across cultures.

What is a global mindset?
A global mindset is comprised of knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that allow managers to effectively influence others from a diverse range of backgrounds. It is not just about cross-cultural understanding. Culture is one very important element. It’s also an area in which organisations are quick to provide training. However, doing business globally requires a much deeper skill set. This is because global business deals with complexity on several levels.

Managers need to successfully think through and act on complexity both within countries and within different contexts. Organisations which simply provide cross-cultural training are essentially giving managers a paddle to steer a ship. Complexity within countries consists of differences in cultural, political, regulatory and economic environments. Cultural responsiveness is an imperative to form and grow business relationships; it is essential for management of human resources.

It also can help managers accomplish business objectives in cultures where relationships are the drivers of business operations. However, managers must also be able to deal effectively with government, legal and banking systems that may be quite different from what they have experienced. Different contexts include industrial, organisational and functional complexities. The way products are sourced, designed and manufactured can vary greatly in different regions.

Organisational operating norms and structures can also differ. Even if your managers are working with few cultural differences, the way they accomplish work in their function in a different region may be quite distinct.

Defining a global mindset
The good news is that the success factors for a global mindset have been defined. Through an extensive, international research project at Thunderbird School of Global Management, a global mindset was found to contain three main components: global intellectual capital; global psychological capital; and global social capital.

Global mindsets and performance
Managers who have high global mindsets stand out based on their performance. These managers tend to be better able to identify market opportunities and suppliers beyond their border. They are more successful at identifying talent across countries. They also are better leaders of global teams, as they are able to motivate diverse people toward the same objective.

The bottom line is that they produce better results for themselves, for their business unit and, ultimately, for the corporation. This is because they are able to see the world from multiple perspectives.

Five questions: How good is your management development?
As a HR leader, being familiar with global mindset will help you enhance your own and foster it in your organisation. The first step in developing a global mindset is to assess it. Here are a few questions you can use with your managers to determine where development may be needed:

  1. What is this person’s level of interest in engaging in global situations with diverse people and in new environments?
  2. What is this person’s preparation to work in this particular culture, environment and role, in terms of knowledge and skills?
  3. What is this person’s ability to analyse and problem-solve unusual, ambiguous or complex situations?
  4. What is this person’s level of resilience for overcoming the inherent challenges of doing business cross-culturally?
  5. What additional preparation is needed, and how will it be acquired?

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