Global Leadership

26 Chief Learning Officer • December 2013 • www.CLOmedia.com

Chief Learning Offi cer • December 2013 • www.CLOmedia.com 27

What Does It Take to Be a

Global Leader?

On THE WEB there aren’t enough global leaders to go around, but there is a framework available to ensure global leadership development efforts produce the pipeline businesses need: CLOmedia.com/ articles/view/4841.

BY SANDI eDWARDS

change is afoot for both the substance and constituency of global leadership development programs.

On THE WEB there aren’t enough global leaders to go around, but there is a framework available to ensure global leadership development efforts produce the pipeline businesses need: CLOmedia.com/ articles/view/4841.

F or nearly two decades top organizations have expanded their leader- ship development programming to respond to the growing demands of globalization. The goal is being able to ensure employees at all levels build the skills needed in an increasingly global environment.

For years these programs received high marks and support from senior management. However, a recent study suggests that change is necessary to sustain both the substance and constituency of global leadership development programs.

In 2013, the American Management Association, the Institute for Corporate Pro- ductivity, or i4cp, and Training magazine conducted a review of global leadership development programs. (Editor’s note: The author works for the American Manage- ment Association). The review sought insights from nearly 1,200 practitioners in organizations characterized by broad thinking and deep analysis in leadership devel- opment. Their responses reveal a fi rst glimmer of sobering criticism of — as well as shrinking tolerance for — a lack of results from these programs.

Organizations offered tempered self-assess- ments of leadership development program ef- fectiveness compared with previous years. In particular, while the proportion of respondents reporting effectiveness in the top two ratings rose — from 42 percent in 2010 to 47 percent in 2011, and then to 51 percent in 2012 — it fell in 2013 to 40 percent. These fi ndings sug- gest there is work to be done to improve global leadership development.

Retooling Content The study examined 26 competencies and probed the extent to which the major-

ity of leadership teams demonstrated mastery. By and large, organizations reported less mastery of leadership development competencies than last year. In fact, com- pared with the top nine competencies in 2012, organizations in 2013 reported less mastery in nearly every competency, with the largest decreases being in strategy

28 Chief Learning Officer • December 2013 • www.CLOmedia.com

by Catherine J. rezak

Leaders need to be discerning, think clearly and wisely, and be accountable for their impact on the business. Learning leaders can play a key role in developing these skills by:

1. Ensuring the company’s leadership development curriculum aligns with corporate strategy and helping leaders understand how their actions and decisions affect organizational success.

2. Incorporating a business acumen focus into curriculum offerings so learners develop a deeper understanding of the business, including financial drivers and strategic objectives.

3. Providing ample opportunities to engage in critical thinking during learning, applying it to real-world situations and analyzing the consequences.

4. Making leadership development delivery active rather than passive by incorporating small-team activities, challenge scenarios, simulations, game techniques, post-session action projects and other discovery learning exercises.

By assessing leadership development initiatives through a lens based on what’s required from the next generation of leaders, learning leaders can exercise their own brand of critical thinking.

Catherine J. Rezak is chairman and co-founder of Paradigm Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

DEVELOPInG CRITICAL THInKInG

execution, strategy development, ability to influence and build coalitions, and leading cross-cultural teams.

The study also looked at competencies that reflect the greatest needs, with the biggest shortfall in global competencies. Participants reported low mastery levels in most of the global competencies studied, includ- ing language fluency, multi-country supply chain management, leading cross-cultural teams, execution of global strategy and knowledge of specific cultures in other markets. Further, to the extent that fluency in social media and virtual technology are an essential global competency, respondents reported lack of acu- men there as well.

While it would be easy to assign blame for falling mastery at the feet of participants in global leadership development programs, the data indicate the problem may be in program content. Kevin Martin, chief re- search and marketing officer at i4cp, said one of the more surprising findings in this research is the absence of curriculum related to anything global. He said just one of the eight global competencies studied — em- bracing diversity — made the overall top 10 list of competencies included in global leadership develop- ment programs.

“This void becomes even more pronounced and disturbing given only 40 percent of organizations

indicate that geographies or markets where their company has operations is a significant factor that drives their process. With an increasingly borderless world, organizations must build leaders who under- stand and embrace the cultural, regulatory, political and personal nuances prevalent in their workforce and the markets they serve.”

What seems clear is today’s global leadership devel- opment programs were designed for yesterday’s global business environment. For these programs to succeed, content needs to be retooled to address the reality of the global marketplace.

“Learning for global leadership used to be just an innovative frame of reference, a buzz term or a desir- able objective for many large organizations. But in- creasingly global competitiveness has become an ur- gent imperative,” said Stephen Parker, global director of partner development at management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

The Changing Nature of Leadership It’s also likely that organizations are not including

employees who have the potential to be global leaders as participants in their programs. Program selection is based on position and title, and in today’s flatter orga- nizations the definition of “leader” has begun to move away from title-based designations.

When asked how they define “leader,” 45 percent of study participants responded that an employee must be “in charge of a group of employees or a func- tion.” But 39 percent believed that a leader is “anyone whose role allows him or her to influence a group, re- gardless of direct reporting relationships.”

The global leadership skills hidden in employees who would not traditionally be considered leaders is a huge potential source for new approaches or solu- tions to challenges in the global marketplace. Some of these leaders undoubtedly possess the skill sets such as expertise in social media that, while less recognizable in traditional leaders, are tailor-made for the global environment.

Measure Results That Matter The emphasis on results pervades every area in a

business, and global leadership programs are no excep- tion. Based on the aforementioned study data, evalu- ation measures have begun to shift away from the fa- miliar, “smiley-face” stamp of participant satisfaction ratings toward more business-oriented performance measures. Though the top two metrics for evaluating the success of global leadership programs in 2012 also topped the list in 2013, there is one key difference: “observable changes in the specific behavior of partici- pants” rose to the top slot, while “participants’ satisfac- tion ratings” fell to second place.

Chief Learning Officer • December 2013 • www.CLOmedia.com 29

READER REACTIOn What traits and characteristics are most crucial in global leadership development?

@lodtrain: Intercultural awareness is key to global leadership — trait of willingness to see global viewpoints.

@rkiker: A flexible set of competencies that avoid defining your role in black and white is crucial in global leadership!

@Decision_Strat: Strategic leaders consistently demonstrate six key traits — the ability to anticipate, challenge, interpret, decide, align and learn.

@nabomita_smiles: Humility and the fact that there is no failure. Learning curve can often be synonymous to motivation!

@SteveKovacic: Aside from the obvious strategic mindset: open-minded, innovative and bravado with a mix of humbleness.

Karen Mishra: Global leadership development needs to understand the strengths each leader brings to his or her team, then help the team

learn how to communicate well with each other and bring out the best in each other. The ability for leaders to prove they are trustworthy is critical. They must prove they are reliable and can be counted on; they need to learn how to share information; and they need to prove they care as much for the team as for their own career advancement.

Shirley Forsyth: Help individuals see the differences between global vs. domestic leadership. Leading globally means under-

standing how you come across to others and what you need to change behaviorally to acculturate to different cultures. Leading globally also indicates an understanding of how to best leverage local talent vs. parent company talent to grow businesses in distinct geographies. I have found the GLOBE studies to be a wealth of information for individuals on how to lead and acculturate, but the best teacher is experience living and working in a different culture; it can bring insights no classroom ever could.

What do you think? Join the discussion at tinyurl. com/jww5l9e, follow us @CLOmedia or join our Chief Learning Officer LinkedIn group.

The use of more systematic measurement to as- sess the effectiveness of global leadership programs was inevitable. But it does put greater pressure on such programs. It likely will be increasingly unac- ceptable for senior management to endorse such ef- forts out of an intuitive sense that they are a good idea. Instead, programs must respond to an organi- zation’s legitimate global needs.

The shortcomings revealed in the study should serve as a wake-up call for those who run global leadership development. Higher expectations bring scrutiny and a demand for measurable effectiveness. Here are some important steps for the learning lead- er to consider:

• Continually review the content in global lead- ership development programming. Assess for relevance and alignment with the organization’s strategic workforce needs.

• Widen the net for programs by promoting self- selection. Any manager who expresses interest in global leadership development should be encour- aged to participate. The study found this to be a sound contribution to program effectiveness. Such an initiative may help an organization un- cover individuals who have a penchant for broad- ening their knowledge and sharpening their glob- al leadership skills.

• Senior management should be encouraged to become more involved in global leadership pro- gram design and delivery. The study found that specific requests or direction from the senior management team are almost always beneficial.

• Review global leadership development program performance with the management team at regu- lar intervals to ensure correlation with program effectiveness.

• Use credible metrics to evaluate program effec- tiveness.

• Seek input from external thought leaders. • Share success consistently and frequently to build

program visibility and stature within the organi- zation. Greater transparency about participant selection is also constructive.

As organizations seek to compete globally, they are raising expectations for global leadership programs. Although many components in these programs have remained constant over the years, there is growing rec- ognition that to work beyond borders content must be continuously retooled to meet the emerging needs of the global environment. CLO

Sandi Edwards is senior vice president at AMA Enter- prise, a division of American Management Association. She can be reached at [email protected].

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