Coaching For Results In The Global Ecomomy

PRESENTATION: See on www.slideshare.net

COACHING FOR RESULTS : HOW TO CREATE A HIGH-PERFORMANCE CORPORATE CULTURE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY

In this presentation I have summarized what is needed to implement a  good strategy globally:

1-People and Resources:  

• Aligned corporate culture with strategy
• Strategic leadership
• Concentrate resources on target
• Match resources and capabilities requirements

2- Fit:  Redesign the work and activities that serve the strategy. Leverage strengths, lock out imitators

3-Flexibility: All advantages are temporary:  Gather and use intelligence

Having the right people in the strategic leadership team is the very first step and the most important factor for successful strategy implementation.

Global leaders are asked more and more to be able to lead virtual and multicultural teams all around the world dealing not only with cultural differences but also with misunderstanding of work expectations, performance definition or differences in time zones.

In a previous post, I have introduced the concept of “Third Culture Teams” to describe how to create congruence of three cultures:

1-The Corporate culture: Company explicit and implicit rules and guidelines, leadership style, ethnocentric or diversity-centered, cultural traits of the country where the Headquarters are based

2-The local country culture: Language (verbal and non-verbal), religion, cultural values and norms, communication style

3-Each individual team member’s own culture, values, beliefs, set of norms

Choose your global team leaders for their ability to federate people under one concept of a third culture team with well-developed active listening skills,emotional intelligence and mentoring capabilities as well as cultural fluency.

The idea of third culture teams is based on the human need for belonging: People like to feel that they can relate to someone and those who share similar interests.

Related articles

• Wanted: True Global Business Leaders !
• What Skills To Look For Hiring Global Executives ?
• Strategic Leaders-Challenges, Organizational Abilities & Individual Characteristics 

• Don’t Hire Individuals – Hire Teams Instead

Zumba Fitness: The Global Branding Machine Behind The Fun

Zumba ?  That’s more than just another fitness routine. it’s all about having fun, feeling energized, happy and emotionally connected with other people in the room. Zumba is about passion and lifestyle. It is also an incredible business story. Zumba Fitness was Inc. Magazine’s company of the year for 2012 and in January the same magazine nominated Alberto Perlman, 35, one of the top 5 CEO to watch in 2013. 

Since I took my first Zumba class in Atlanta in 2006, it has become a household name with 14 million people taking classes in 186 countries.! This is a great global business model.  In the US and Belgium where I lived before and now in Russia, the music, the choreography, everything is the same except languages of course but the instructors are highly qualified and they love what they do.

 ”Best Employees Have More Passion, Less Experience”

United by their passion for Zumba and committed to very personal causes, five extraordinary Zumba instructors are making a difference for the larger community. Listen to their stories here

Zumba Fitness makes money by licensing instructors and by keeping the instructors tied into the Zumba system. They also make video games like Zumba Core. It has also  a line of clothing and sell Music on iTunes and CDs. It is also important to notice their global trademark strategy:  ZUMBA^®, ZUMBA FITNESS^®, ZUMBATOMIC^®, ZUMBA GOLD^®, ZUMBATHON^®, ZUMBAWEAR^® and ZLIFE^® are registered trademarks of Zumba Fitness, LLC

For more Listen to Zumba co-founder on success of international fitness craze – CBS News Video.

What Zumba Fitness Teached Me ?

1-For me as an expat, I enjoy doing Zumba regardless of countries. It is familiar and it helps relieving the stress of the move and fighting the blues when culture shock strikes..

2-This is a great place to meet like-minded people and if you are happy and smiling you will connect more easily and make friends faster.

3-If you are passionate you can even become a Zumba instructor, isn’t it a great portable career ?

4-Global branding has to be consistent in term of delivering value. It can be about your personal brand or your business, but the “core” should be strong and the same everywhere you go. The idea is about discovering your true values and passion and start from there to grow.

Is Zumba For YOU ?

Please share if you get inspired by this story

Davos Man and his defects. How to Define Global Leadership ?

THE two most popular words in the business lexicon are probably “global” and “leadership”. Put them together and people in suits start to salivate.  Read more about this article : See on Scoop.it - Global Leaders

Anne Egros‘s insight:

The cult of the global leader is spreading ! But more responsibilities come with the job.

Globalization is not a static concept. What you knew about fast developing countries like Russia and its cultural differences in term of consumer taste, regulations, politics or technology is obsolete after one year or two, so how do you monitor those changes in more than 60 countries if you are the top executives of true global companies ?

Global leaders need to live abroad at least 2-3 years in key countries to really understand local cultures, traveling is not a substitute for being an expat.

I cannot agree more with this statement:

“If leadership has a secret sauce, it may well be humility. A humble boss understands that there are things he doesn’t know. He listens: not only to the other bigwigs in Davos, but also to the kind of people who don’t get invited, such as his customers”

Related article

What makes a business leader a true global business leader?

https://zestnzen.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/wanted-true-global-business-leaders/

See on www.economist.com

 

Are “Transnationals” The New Global Executives ?

English: transnational global interconnectedness (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just read this interesting article about the impact of globalization on education and job market and the rise of the ‘transnationals”. 

With globalization, doing business across multiple countries simultaneously is the new normal for global executives who must have international experience gained through performing work with global responsibilities and cross-cultural exposure. Companies need managers and leaders who understand various markets and cultures and able to develop local talent by sharing corporate values and best practices across all levels of the organization. Living in one or more different countries is now  considered mandatory for executives working for transnational corporations.

In the past, emerging economies like China or India had massive exodus to Western countries but in the current economic climate, many of these expatriates are returning home.

The “transnational ” executives face different career and personal challenges than the traditional expatriates or those who remain in their home countries. The  new “global careerists” need new tools to manage their international careers and life abroad

Some definitions:

Expatriates lived in one or more country but they identify with their native nation. The word “expat” is often used to caricature people who have a certain social and economic status sent abroad by big global companies. They typically stays 3 to 5 years in the same country and have much more benefits and salaries than “locals”. I wrote in another article that this type of expats have a tendency to disappear for  the “new expat executive”, a kind of hybrid combining the low-cost local manager with advanced knowledge of cross-cultural issues and global leadership including technical expertise usually brought by a traditional expatriate executive.

The “Third Culture Adult” or TCA: David Pollock and Ruth Van Reken describe in their book “Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds”, children who grow up in a land that’s not their parents’ homeland. They become a part of a third culture that sets them apart from others without this experience. A global executive should be able to build a third culture among multiple cultures including corporate and local ones and develop competencies that bridge different social groups in terms of management style, cultural sensitivities and social networks.

Transnationals lived in two or more countries but  don’t consider being part of one nation in particular, borders don’t exist in their minds. Those cross-border migrants consider more than one place ‘home’. Transnational corporations operate in more than one country or nation at a time, so does a “transnational” executive. Transnationalism refers also to cross-border social networks, diaspora, political or religious groups and organisations. Transnationals may be able to plan their career abroad without the help of a company based “home”. Transnationals typically speak at least two or more different languages and are aware of cultural differences from various social groups.

The term “transnationals” is very seldom used compared to the term “expatriates” but I think the definition is becoming closer to the “new global executive” that multinational companies need today.

What do you think ?

Related articles

• How To Lead Highly Effective Third Culture Teams 
  
• Make Yourself a Global Asset (zestnzen.wordpress.com)
• Expat definition maze (expatsincebirth.com)

Make Yourself a Global Asset

Slogan of the SKOLKOVO Executive MBA (Moscow RUSSIA)

Read “Make Yourself a Global Asset” via Scoop.it – Global Leaders

In this article, Anna Tavis, head of talent and development at Brown Brothers Harriman champions global experience over education as the key to success in global business.

I agree with her an international executive MBA program is not enough to make you a global executive, the same way that you don’t learn swiming by studying how world champions win a gold medal at the Olympics. You need to get wet and get tough challengers.

You can’t stop globalization even if you close borders and build walls made with bricks and mortars ! The internet, and social media make the world more and more connected everyday. Maybe your company is based in the U.S. but  vendors might be in India, and customers in more than 40 countries. That’s why multinational companies need employees able to think globally but communicate locally with cultural sensitivity. I like to use the term “glocalization” to instill the idea that global products and services need to be designed in the early stages of research and development with cultural sensitivity too.

Do you want an international career and become a global executive?

You need a vision, a purpose and a road map: This is valid for career planning in general but most specifically if you want to win the global talent war you need to plan ahead, learn new languages, get exposed to different cultures via international working assignments. Be prepared to shift every 3 years and chose emerging markets before expats become a commodity in those countries.  No matter how old you are you need to give permission to yourself to have dreams, explore your possibilities and identify your options. We all have choices but we need to use our imagination to see them. Once you know where you want to be, then put your strategic thinking at work to identify your goals strategy and action plan to get you there.

If you are still in college, learn key languages maybe Mandarin, Spanish, Brazilian or Russian will be a good choice in today’s economy. Find an internship or a job abroad for minimum one year.

If you are already a manager employed in a multinational companies, become the first on the list to be picked-up for an international assignment by participating in global projects and working with multicultural teams.

Learning a new language should not depends on age, you don’t need to be fluent but it is important to understand how a language is structured to get some clues about cultural values and unspoken social rules or business etiquette. You can learn about the fundamental cultural dimensions from colleagues or local intercultural clubs and online through many specific forums.

Keep learning in a large variety of topics every day is also key to become a global asset as you need to be highly flexible. Switching job functions from R&D to marketing and operation management is mandatory as much as living in various countries.

Related article: Why White Men Can’t Lead ? (zestnzen.wordpress.com)

See on blogs.hbr.org

2012 – The Year Social Media Bubble Will Eventually Burst | Smedio

Today I liked this article from Douglas Idugboe, Digital and New Media Marketing Strategist,because it is clear and has no technical jargon.

If you are a non believer comparing social; media today with the 2000 dot.com bubble burst,  here some numbers that helps put things in perspective :

To reach, the 50 million users mark,

• Radio took 38 years
• TV took 13 years
• Internet took 4 years
• Facebook took less than 6 months

Read More here: 2012 – The Year Social Media Bubble Will Eventually Burst | Smedio.

American Culture: The Non Vacation Nation

Who get the most paid vacation ? Check this list Minimum Employment Leave By Country

France is one extreme with minimum 5 weeks vacation up to 8 weeks when combined with various holidays and compensation time when you work more than 35 hours /week.

United States is the other extreme, being the only developed economy that does not guarantee its workers any paid vacation or holidays. As a result, 1 in 4 U.S. workers do not receive any paid vacation or paid holidays.

How does this translate in term of productivity ? You can see in this table compiled by the OECD on Labour productivity levels in the total economy  that France is very close to the US with GDP per hour worked as % of USA (USA=100) = 97.9

But does GDP a good indicator of well-being, quality of life and  happiness ?

What You Measure Affects What You Do-Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize in Economics

The OECD has developed a tool called the Better Life Index using various parameters such as housing, jobs or health. They have designed an interesting interactive map that you can use to select the parameters that are important to you and compare how various countries perform: http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

So if you just take one parameter such as “life satisfaction” , the results are better for the U.S. than for France:

For the United States, the self-reported life satisfaction has been rising over the last decade. In recent polling, 70% were satisfied with their life and 80% believe that their life will be satisfying five years later. 76% of people in the United States reported having more positive experiences in an average day(feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc). This figure is higher than the OECD average of 72%.

For France, in recent polling, 51% were satisfied with their life and 64% believe that their life will be satisfying five years later. This is however a very low ranking when compared to other high-performing economies in the OECD. 73% of people in France reported having more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc). This figure is close to the OECD average of 72%.

The self-evaluation has some biases however as French are more critical and less prone to give positive feedback than the Americans.

You can also see the ranking of countries for work-life balance :  People in France people work 1554 hours a year, lower than the OECD average of 1739 hours. People in the United States work 1768 hours a year, higher than the OECD average of 1739 hours. In theory the less hours you work the better you can balance your life but this is not counting the fact that working more and getting paid more can help you buy some time and the United States has a great culture of services to individuals.

In Conclusion: Don’t rely on simple numbers to decide your next international assignment. There are so many cultural factors to include on top of economical data, that you better talk to people who have lived or are working in the country you are interested in to get some information. If your company does not provide pre-departure cultural training, you may need to hire an expat coach to help you make your decision. Here the link to the Expat Coaching Directory.

Personally I think the quality of life in the U.S. is better than France but lower than Japan

Real experience is what matters, can you tell your story about living abroad ?

Related Articles:

• “Do You Work Too Hard ? Some Cultural Perspectives” 
• Stiglitz: GDP Blinded Us to the Crisis
• OECD: France Needs More Austerity To Reach Deficit Targets (forexlive.com)

How To Understand Cross-Cultural Communication ?

This blog has been inspired by an article published  by Rana Sinha , How to understand cross-cultural analysis?. I have summarized Rana’s key ideas and added my own sources of information

Origins and Evolution of Cross-cultural Communication.

 Typically anthropologists and social scientists tend to study people and human behavior among exotic tribes and cultures living in far off places rather than do field work among white-collared literate adults in modern cities. Advances in communication and technology and socio-political changes started transforming the modern workplace yet there were no guidelines based on research to help people interact with other people from other cultures. To address this gap arose the discipline of cross-cultural analysis or cross-cultural communication. The main theories of cross-cultural communication draw from the fields of anthropology, sociology, communication and psychology and are based on value differences among cultures. Edward T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars, Shalom Schwartz and Clifford Geertz are some of the major contributors in this field.

[The popular 'Iceberg model' of culture developed by Selfridge and Sokolik, 1975 and W.L. French and C.H. Bell in 1979, identifies a visible area consisting of behaviour or clothing or symbols and artifacts of some form and a level of values or an invisible level.]

What is culture ?

 A simpler definition is ‘the unwritten rules of the social game’.

Generally culture can be seen as consisting of three elements:

• Values - Values are ideas that tell what in life is considered important.
• Norms - Norms consists of expectations of how people should behave in different situations.
• Artefacts - Things or material culture – reflects the culture’s values and norms but are tangible and manufactured by man.

Most of people working with cross-cultural communication and intercultural training and coaching  have heard about the Five  Hofstede’s Intercultural Dimensions (http://www.geert-hofstede.com/).

Geert Hofstede defines culture as “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another”. The “category” can refer to nations, regions within or across nations, ethnicities, religions, occupations, organizations, or the genders.

What Are The Five Hofstede’s Intercultural Dimensions ?

1. Power Distance : Measures inequality
2. Individualism: is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups
3. Uncertainty Avoidance : indicates to what extent people  feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations.
4. Masculinity/Feminity: Masculinity versus femininity, refers to the distribution of emotional roles between the genders
5. Long-Term Orientation: Long term oriented societies foster pragmatic virtues oriented towards future rewards, in particular saving, persistence, and adapting to changing circumstances. Short-term oriented societies foster virtues related to the past and present such as national pride, respect for tradition, preservation of “face”,  and fulfilling social obligations.

What about the 5 Cultural Dimensions For the USA? 

If we explore the US culture through the lens of the 5-D Model, we can get a good overview of the deep drivers of American culture relative to other world cultures.

Power distance: The United States score low on this dimension (40)  this translates the focus on equal rights in all aspects of American society and government. Within American organizations superiors are always accessible and managers rely on individual employees and teams for their expertise.  Both managers and employees expect to be consulted and information is shared frequently.  At the same time, communication is informal, direct and participative.

Individualism: The United States, with a score of 91 on this dimension, is a highly individualistic culture.Individual freedom  is the most basic value that all Americans share. Individuals have control over their own destiny and they want to have free choices on every topics. Personal success is priority number one. Americans are expected to take initiative regarding education, employment, personal development or well-being. As a consequence, Americans are assertive and straightforward while interacting with others and sometimes labelled as arrogant by other cultures who value group interests over individual success. In the business world, employees are expected to be self-reliant and display initiative.  Also, within the exchange-based world of work, hiring and promotion decisions are based on merit or evidence of what one has done or can do.

Masculinity/Feminity: The United States score 62 on this dimension and is considered a “masculine” society driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by the “winner” or “best-in-the-field.” This value system starts in school and continues throughout one’s life – both in work and leisure pursuits.
There are strong shared values that people should “strive to be the best they can be” and that “the winner takes all”. As a result, Americans will tend to display and talk freely about their “successes” and achievements in life, here again, another basis for hiring and promotion decisions in the workplace. Typically, Americans “live to work” so that they can earn monetary rewards and obtain higher status based on how good one can be.  Conflicts are resolved at the individual level and the goal is to win.

Uncertainty avoidance: The dimension Uncertainty Avoidance has to do with the way that a society deals with the fact that the future can never be known: should we try to control the future or just let it happen? The US scores 46 on this dimension and therefore, American society is what one would describe as “uncertainty accepting.” Consequently, there is a larger degree of acceptance for new ideas, innovative products and a willingness to try something new or different, whether it pertains to technology, business practices, or foodstuffs.  Americans tend to be more tolerant of ideas or opinions from anyone and allow the freedom of expression.  At the same time, Americans do not require a lot of rules and are less emotionally expressive than higher-scoring cultures.

Long-term orientation: The United States scores 29 on this dimension and is a short-term oriented culture.  American businesses measure their performance on a short-term basis, with profit and loss statements being issued on a quarterly basis.  This also drives individuals to strive for quick results within the work place.  There is also a need to have the “absolute truth” in all matters.

How France Compares with the US ?

Power distance: In France, hierarchy is needed the superiors may have privileges and are often inaccessible. The power is highly centralized in France. In management, the attitude towards managers is more formal, the information flow is hierarchical. The way information is controlled is even associated with power, therefore unequally distributed.  

Individualism: France scores high on the individualistic index but lower than the U.S.  This means that the French favor individual and private opinions, taking care of themselves and immediate family rather than belonging to a group. In the work environment, the relationship with work is contract based, the focus is on the task and autonomy is favored. The communication is direct  but much less than in the U.S.

Masculinity/Feminity With 43, France is a relatively Feminine country and so very different from the U.S.With its famous welfare system (securité sociale), their 35 working hours/week and 5 weeks holidays per year, France cares for its quality of life and focuses more on work in order to live than the reverse. Competition amongst work colleagues is usually not favored. Material signs of success, especially flashy ones, should not be too visible.

Uncertainty Avoidance: France has one the highest scores on the Uncertainty Avoidance Index. Certainty is reached through academic work and concepts. Teachings and trainings are more inductive. In management structure, rules and security are welcome and if lacking, it creates stress. Therefore planning is favored, some level of expertise welcome, when change policies on the other hand are considered stressful.

Long-term orientation: At 39 France is a short-term oriented society. This means a great respect for tradition as well as a need for norms and absolute truth as guidelines. In terms of business this short-term orientation focuses on quick results. Consumption is driven by immediate gratification, sensitivity to social trends and rituals.

Managing and organizational culture

Managing international business means handling both national and organization culture differences at the same time. Common organization cultures across borders are what holds multinationals together.The cultural differences between nations are especially found on the deepest level; i.e. on the level of values. In comparison, cultural differences among organisations are especially identified on the level of practices. Practices are more tangible than values. Organisational Culture can be defined as “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one organisation from others”

Read more about building third culture teams: http://zestnzen.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/how-to-lead-highly-effective-third-culture-teams/

Aims of cross-cultural analysis

Cross-cultural communication or inter cultural communication looks at how people from different cultural backgrounds try to communicate. It also tries to produce some guidelines, which help people from different cultures to better communicate with each other. Culture has an interpretative function for the members of a group, which share that particular culture. Although all members of a group or society might share their culture, expressions of culture-resultant behavior are modified by the individuals’ personality, upbringing and life-experience to a considerable degree. Cross-cultural analysis aims at harnessing this utilitarian function of culture as a tool for increasing human adaptation and improving communication.

Cross-cultural management is seen as a discipline of international management focusing on cultural encounters, which aims to discover tools to handle cultural differences seen as sources of conflict or miss-communication.

Beside Geert’s model, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) model expands the core level of the very basic two-layered model, rather than the outer level. In their view, culture is made up of basic assumptions at the core level. These ‘basic assumptions’ are somewhat similar to ‘values’ in the Hofstede model. Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner use seven dimensions for their model of culture:

• Universalism vs Particularism (what is more important – rules or relationships?)
• Individualism vs Communitarianism (do we function in a group or as an individual?)
• Neutral vs Emotional (do we display our emotions or keep them in check?)
• Specific vs Diffuse (how far do we get involved?)
• Achievement vs Ascription (do we have to prove ourselves to gain status or is it given to us just because we are a part of a structure?)
• Attitude to Time
  • Past- / present- / future-orientatedness
  • Sequential time vs Synchronic time(do we do things one at a time or several things at once?)

• Internal vs External Orientation (do we aim to control our environment or cooperate with it?)

Criticism of current models

One of the weaknesses of cross-cultural analysis has been the inability to transcend the tendency to equalize culture with the concept of the nation state. A nation state is a political unit consisting of an autonomous state inhabited predominantly by a people sharing a common culture, history, and language or languages. In real life, cultures do not have strict physical boundaries and borders like nation states. Its expression and even core beliefs can assume many permutations and combinations as we move across distances.

There is some criticism in the field that this approach is out of phase with global business today, with transnational companies facing the challenges of the management of global knowledge networks and multicultural project teams, interacting and collaborating across boundaries using new communication technologies.

Some writers like Nigel Holden (2001) suggest an alternative approach, which acknowledges the growing complexity of inter- and intra-organizational connections and identities, and offers theoretical concepts to think about org

Invent Your Future Job: Be Unique, Be Social, Be Global

The fast-paced changes of our societies have affected all industries and is changing the nature of work for the next 10 to 15 years. There are three major challenges for the workforce of the future increasing pressures on organizations to become innovation centered, highly productive and a magnet for global talent :

1-Shifting demographic patterns: Over the next 10 years, the world population is expected to rise from the current 6.83 billion to approximately 7.7 billion, with most of the growth in emerging markets generating  high economic growth. We already see an aging and declining population in developed countries with slow economic growth.  U.S. and European businesses are dealing with the challenges of a multi-generational workforce with three distinct generations Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Employers will need to develop highly individualized solutions to accommodate the career needs of each generation. We will not see long careers of 10 or more years in one company but maybe 6 years with either functional or geographic changes every 2 years. The youngest  generation  will probably have 15 to 20 jobs during their career and multiple jobs at the same time because that is what they want to do.

2-Rapid technology changes: From nanotechnologies to neuroscience discoveries, many new technologies will be developed and globalization will continue to drive the utilization of advanced mobile technologies reshaping the workforce with increased telecommuting,  virtual  teams and overall more work flexibility.

3-Economic globalization  In our information overloaded global work environment, knowledge is not a competitive advantage anymore as it goes out of date extremely fast and anybody on earth with an internet connection has access to it in real-time. The critical skills to be successful in the new working environment are vision and  foresight.to anticipate or respond to change very quickly, make wise decisions and take action now to create a better future.

More than a year ago,  I had the chance to listen to Seth Godin “live” in a promotional event in Antwerp about the launch of his book “Linchpin”. I collected about 10 very interesting new ideas from his speech that I posted on a blog : “TOP 10 Seth Godin’s Quotes Made in Antwerp, Belgium. April 1, 2010”

Seth Godin is the bestselling author of more than seven books. He writes about marketing, the spread of ideas and managing both customers and employees with respect. His idea about our current economy is that the current recession is a “forever recession” because it’s the end of the industrial age, which also means The end of the average worker (Read more : article )

Nobody will ever be the only one on the market AND people have an infinite ways to access information. Humans evolved from Hunters, Farmers, Workers and now they have to be Artists-Seth Godin

HOW DO YOU BECOME UNIQUE  ?

1-You don’t need to become somebody you are not. Your uniqueness has to be authentic, you need to know who you really are, what is your dominant character, talent, personality, skills, strengths, what motivates you, what’s your passions in life ? How is your  business acumen and leadership style ? Can you summarize all those information in a compelling story for potential employers or clients?

2-You need to remove blocks that prevent you to excel at being truly you: fears, unmet needs, negative self-talk, lack of training and anything that is holding you back.

3-You need a vision, a purpose and a road map: No matter how old you are, how life has treated you in the past, how much money you have or how many debts, you need to give permission to yourself to have dreams, explore your possibilities and identify your options. We all have choices but we need to use our imagination to see them. You need to let your right brain expresses emotional intelligence and free the artist in you. Once you know where you want to be, then put your strategic thinking at work to identify your goals strategy and action plan to get you there.

BE SOCIAL, BE GLOBAL !

You can’t stop globalization even if you close borders and build walls made with bricks and mortars ! The internet, and social media make the world smaller and smaller everyday. Maybe your company is based in the U.S. but  vendors might be in India, and customers in more than 40 countries. That’s why multinational companies need employees able to think globally but communicate locally with cultural sensitivity. I like to use the term “glocalization” to instill the idea that global products and services need to be designed in the early stages of research and development with cultural sensitivity too.

You cannot claim to be a global leader if you have visited many countries as a tourist. It is like learning swimming in a book, you need to get into the water and get wet .

If you are still in college, learn key languages maybe Mandarin, Spanish, Brazilian or Russian will be a good choice in today’s economy. Find an internship or a job abroad for minimum one year.

If you are already a manager employed in a multinational companies, become the first on the list to be picked-up for an international assignment by participating in global projects and working with multicultural teams.

Learning a new language should not depends on age, you don’t need to be fluent but it is important to understand how a language is structured to get some clues about cultural values and unspoken social rules or business etiquette. You can learn about the fundamental cultural dimensions from colleagues or local intercultural clubs and of course online through many specific forums and social media.

Continued learning in a large variety of topics every day will become mandatory.

Where do you see careers heading in 2012 and beyond ?

 Have you invented your future yet ?

Related articles:

• How Is Technology Impacting the Changes in the 21st Century Workplace?

• Can we find new love for an old job? (lisamtetzloff.wordpress.com)

Beyond Motivation: How to Engage Employees To Boost The Economy

According to the latest Gallup survey on American employee’s productivity conducted in 201,  only 29% of employees were engaged or involved and enthusiastic about their job. In contrast 71 % of full-time workers, were “not engaged” including 20% miserable or actively disengaged. These findings are really shocking  and very disheartening. Miserable employees are simply ignored, they are disconnected from the company’s goals, often scared to lose their job, taking sometimes additional workload from a colleague who has been laid-off.

Can sustainable organizations ignore employee’ s morale ?  Cutting costs has direct impact on the bottom line but not necessarily in the desired way:

“miserable employees create miserable customers” 

For the most part the recovery of the American economy is dependent on the innovation capacity of America Inc.  If employees are not intrinsically motivated chances are very high that they are not creative as well. and won’t work hard enough as passionate people do according to  Steve Jobs in a video about the rules for success.  I cannot agree more and I have observed the power of passion in people at any level and any function of organizations and across cultures.

Passion is putting you in a state of “flow” where you ignore fatigue or hunger because you are so engaged by what you do that you ignore the time you spend on a particular activity, you are intrinsically rewarded by what you do and truly happy. The concept of “flow” has been introduced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi a psychologist making connections between satisfaction and daily activities in his book: ” Flow: The Psychology of the Optimal Experience“.

Being passionate is coming from the inside-out. You can break somebody’s motivation  very easily but it is very hard for leaders to inspire people to give happily the best of what they have to offer if they don’t want to and don’t have trust in the management.

High performance organizations know that engaged employees drive customer value and business performance. Good examples of such companies are Google or Zappos with its CEO’s vision of putting his people first.

HOW TO BOOST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT ?

Gallup measures employees’ engagement by collecting the answers of the following 12 survey items listed bellow.

If you want to engage people you need to provide what it takes for them to say YES to a maximum of the questions:

• Q01. I know what is expected of me at work.
• Q02. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
• Q03. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
• Q04. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
• Q05. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
• Q06. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
• Q07. At work, my opinions seem to count.
• Q08. The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.
• Q09. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
• Q10. I have a best friend at work.
• Q11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
• Q12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

The Three ‘E’s of Engagement: Engage, Empower, Enable:

• Engage: leaders must provide a clear view of the company’s future, connect the company values with the individual life purpose,  identify individual contribution to a higher level than self .  Employees who feel good about themselves and think they belong to a team get the intrinsic motivation  to deliver performance.

• Empower: Let people decide how to set goals, how to  get the expected results.  Increase their personal power in making decisions at all level of the organizations. The leaders’ role  is  to coach and mentor individuals and teams to remove self-limiting beliefs, provide immediate feedbacks and develop strengths while minimizing the impact of weaknesses

• Enable: Provide highly personalized support and enough resources.  Lead  teams based on matching  personal communication, behavior and management styles of each team member. Provide talent development programs.

How Do You Measure Employee’s Engagement and Creativity ?

What Is You Recipe To Stimulate Creativity and Innovation In Your Company ?

Related Articles:

• Who-are-the-most-attractive-companies-for-a-global-career/
• Motivation-why-people-dont-do-what-you-tell-them-to-do/
• Engaged Employees Love Their Work, But Love Their Lives Even More (socialmediatoday.com)