In the modern-day age of globalization, where companies are aggressively looking to expand and build their presence in newer, unknown territories, developing a Global Mindset becomes the need of the hour. Employees, managers, their bosses, and everyone involved in a company with a global reach must develop a mindset that’s approachable and acceptable globally. Not only is it a benefit in the workplace, but it is increasingly becoming a necessity.
Such is the extent of Globalization today, that International Business is a highly sought-after field in the corporate world. This has made the world a smaller place metaphorically. Different employees are getting hired around the globe, or transferred to a foreign land where their company has a presence. This requires skills beyond one’s technical capabilities.
This global expansion has further led to the boom of another related field – International Marketing. Employees, even before they start work, are taught about the various tactics and methods of International Marketing during their MBA. They learn more about it when they start working. How to promote a product or service in a foreign market, how to capitalize on the newer market, identify potential consumer demographics, intermingle and learn the existing culture there to garner trust, etc., are just some of the many things employees learn in this field.
All of these factors hint at the prized nature of being a global company with a global presence. Naturally, it is now upon employees to cash in on the opportunity and build their careers in this global atmosphere. So, how do they do that, and what challenges they may face in this path?
Building a Global Mindset is first and foremost the most important thing. People around the globe have been traditionally raised in homes, schools, and surroundings with one objective in mind – How to fit into their community. It was always about building your worth inside your known circle and to try and make your presence felt in a known work atmosphere. This has remained the staple for years for logical reasons.
There wasn’t much global presence, so to say, in the past centuries for any company or employee to work internationally. However, things have changed swiftly now, and employees need to find the yearning from within to go global. A Global Mindset comes from a desire to go and do something beyond boundaries.
What are the Key Factors for Developing a Global Mindset?
1. Self-Awareness
Identifying and working on your flaws can be a difficult task, but it is an important stepping stone to developing a Global Mindset. This practice fosters learning new things, improving upon pre-existing knowledge and manners of doing things, and helps take and implement positive feedback without criticism. All of these factors are important for going global.
2. Be Curious
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it can only benefit you in life; especially if you are in a foreign workplace. There will never be an end to learning new processes, new ways of approaching different tasks, adapting to environments, finding solutions to problems that one didn’t know existed, etc. The only way to keep learning all of them and advancing is by being curious.
3. Open mindedness
Cross-cultural environments are always tough to settle into. But with an open mind, it becomes easier over time to accept other’s cultural and traditional values without compromising one’s own. People from India, China, the USA, Japan, and European countries might all have different ways of approaching work and performing their duties. Instead of seeing that as a roadblock, employees can be flexible enough to accommodate all and instead grow from it. Eventually, everyone’s end goal remains the same within the organization – to get results.
4. Learning a new language
While this isn’t a compulsory need, and nor is it the biggest roadblock to progress globally, learning a new language can go a long way in developing connections, and relations, and easing up one’s workplace environment. It is an additional task, one that requires added commitment. But it reaps heavily in benefits.
Since our education system hasn’t oriented us traditionally in having a Global Mindset, people often find themselves struggling for answers after they are situated abroad for work reasons. Therefore, besides learning about the many benefits of developing a Global Mindset, it is also important to learn about the many challenges that may or may not arise when communicating and dealing with people of different cultures.
Take, for example, the different ways people communicate or relay a piece of information to one another. Some people are more direct and blunt, saying it how it is without any filter or mincing words. Others are a bit more layered, softening the blow of a tough information piece with sweet words coddled between it. Both ways are professional and don’t cross the harmonizing undertone of a suitable work environment.
However, as is generally accepted, Americans tend to take the prior approach of being blunt and to the point. Whereas, people from Eastern countries are far more layered and overprotective in their approach. This creates a huge difference when companies from both sides of the world engage in a negotiation. This is where trust-building plays a huge role in mending both cultures.
Understanding specific skills to build trust and enable collaboration is critical in a successful multicultural business.
A similar problem arose when a style of evaluation was introduced into the work component of the corporate world – The 360 Feedback Process. The 360 feedback process is an evaluation method that gathers information from multiple sources to get a detailed and comprehensive view of an employee’s performance and abilities. In other words, every employee in an organization gets to evaluate every other employee in their workplace irrespective of the hierarchy i.e. juniors evaluate seniors, employees to their bosses, and vice versa.
This found some success in American companies. However, when the same was replicated in multinational corporations, it was met with an overwhelmingly negative response. In countries and cultures that value indirect communication, hierarchy, and saving face, employees were unwilling to give honest feedback about their superiors.
Some of these challenges are so embedded in society at large, that it is hard to replace them any time soon. However, being aware of these challenges can help one prepare better to tackle foreign problems that may occur.
One must constantly keep finding ways to build trust and skills that will help them influence others in the workplace. Community building also helps an individual find comfort in a foreign society. A constant desire to engage more with local culture and accept cultural differences is a positive and constructive attitude toward diversity.
Finally, one should never lose their eye from the ball – being aware of the global business in their industry and the broader macro environment. Eventually, this might become a norm among employees to develop a Global Mindset.