A
recent “Idea Watch” article in Harvard Business Review reported on some new
research that Carol Dweck and her colleagues are conducting. As some of you are aware, Dweck popularized
the concept of “growth mindset” (versus a fixed mindset). People with a growth mindset, according to
her early research, enjoy challenges, strive to learn and consistently, and see
potential to develop new skills.
Now
she has been exploring the idea whether organizations can have growth or fixed
mindsets. So far, her research seems promising.
She and her team have developed a survey that has been implemented among
employees at seven Fortune 1000 companies.
Employees rate the extent to which they agree with a series of
statements, such as “When it comes to being successful, this company seems to
believe that people have a certain amount of talent, and they really can’t do
much to change it.”
Dweck
concludes that there is a great dal of consensus about what the prevailing
mindset is in these employees’ organizations with regard to growth. Her research shows that employees in growth
mindset companies are:
·
47% likelier to say that their
colleagues are trustworthy
· 34%
likelier to feel a strong sense of ownership and commitment to the company
· 65%
likelier to say that the company supports risk taking
·
49% likelier to say that the company
fosters innovation.
Similarly,
I believe that organizations can be assessed on whether it has a global mindset
culture, above and beyond the presence of employees who have the traits or
qualities of an individual global mindset.
Of course, hiring and developing such individuals in your company is helpful,
but can be inefficient since it may take companies a long time to reach the
critical mass needed. Another approach therefore
is to develop an overall strategy to build or improve the organization’s global
mindset culture. The first step in
developing this strategy is to diagnose your company’s current state with
regard to its global mindset culture. So
here are eleven key indicators that will help you assess your company’s current
global mindset culture.
1.
Top
management commitment to building a global mindset culture. How regularly do the senior executives in
your company reinforce the importance of thinking globally and recognizing the
importance of markets other than the home market? How often do executives travel overseas to
learn about the importance of these markets – especially from their overseas subsidiaries? How frequently do managers and executives
from overseas subsidiaries come to headquarters to participate in
meetings? Are key executives from
overseas represented in important task forces and corporate initiatives?
2. Structures and processes for global
alignment and coordination.
What formal and informal mechanisms has your company put in place to
facilitate efficient and effective coordination across countries where your
company does business? How well defined
are your company’s formal structures, such as matrix relationships, global and
regional roles, and roles and responsibilities of headquarters and
subsidiaries? When global teams are
created, how well represented are subsidiaries from relevant countries?
3. Infrastructures for global
communication. Has your company
invested in the necessary technologies to enable efficient communication across
countries? And how much training and
support is being provided so employees can take advantage of these new tools?
4. Assessment of global mindset
potential. How important does
your company consider global mindset in selecting internal or external
candidates for positions that will require cross-cultural interactions? Is cultural fit one of the criteria used
before assigning individuals to global roles?
5. Use of development assignments to
build global mindset.
When setting development plans for individuals who may have high
potential, what opportunities are provided for them to learn and acquire
experiences in working across different markets and cultures?
6. Reducing the headquarters ‘center of
gravity.’ Has your company
considered relocating some key functions out of headquarters into one of its
key markets overseas? Are at least some
of your company’s centers of excellence or expertise located overseas? Are regional heads and their staffs still
based in headquarters or have they moved out to the regions?
7. Cross-cultural awareness and
sensitivity as a key element in the company’s learning strategy. How available and accessible are resources
for employees to improve their cross-cultural awareness (e.g., on-line courses
on doing business in different cultures, reimbursement for language training,
etc.)?
8. A global talent pool. How inclusive is your company’s global talent
management process? For example, when
considering internal candidates for key positions, does the slate of candidates
include highly qualified employees from different locations?
9.
Recognition
and rewards for those with global mindsets. How valued are those individuals who have
proven themselves in overseas assignments, not just in improving business
results but also in being recognized as someone who has worked effectively with
different cultures? When these
individuals complete their assignments, to what extent does your company
leverage their experience? Does your
company’s competency model and performance evaluation system include global
mindset behaviors as a key element?
In a recent study by Price Waterhouse Coopers (Wang, 2014).
4,108 return migrants from 81 countries of origin who had spent between three
months and two years in the U.S. at some point during the years between 1997
and 2011 under a category of the J-1 visa designated for professional
training completed a survey. These
respondents all had bachelor’s or master’s degrees, and had work experience in
many industries with companies such as Google and JPMorgan Chase, as well as
thousands of small startups and midsized companies.
What did they find? While
almost all of the respondents reported having learned about practices overseas
that they could implement in their home countries, only 67 percent reported
having shared any of this knowledge upon their return. And only 48 percent
reported having shared knowledge and then having seen this knowledge
implemented. The study concludes: This means that on average, for every two
workers with international experience hired by a given firm, only one will
successfully share knowledge from overseas at some point during his or her
tenure.
Interestingly, countries like China, India and Brazil are
creating incentives to entice their foreign-trained nationals to return. A recent Wall Street Journal article
described the emergence of these “sea turtles,” the term used for a Chinese
native who is returning home after several assignments in the West. The article mentions several such Chinese
businessmen who, after working for multinationals like Coca-Cola and Nike in
the U.S., have decided to return to China, often in much larger roles and with
much greater compensation than they had in their former companies’
headquarters. Aside from these
considerations, there is the perception that the opportunities with a Chinese
company are greater, as are the psychic benefits. For example, Guo Xin, a sea turtle who joined
a Chinese recruiting firm, said, “You’re making global decisions rather than
having these decisions made for you” by Western headquarters.
10. Support for individuals on overseas
assignments. Does your company
provide ongoing support for individuals on overseas assignments – before,
during and after the assignment is over?
In Ernst & Young’s Global Mobility Effectiveness Survey (2013), they
found that on average, 16% of assignees left the company within the first two
years after repatriation, and a further 41% returned to their pre-assignment
position. Does your company require some
form of cultural training for the individuals and their families prior to an
overseas assignment. For example, BASF
works with an outside vendor that helps international assignees adjust to their
new surroundings. The vendor also provides
“cultural attaches” who will help BASF employees with the day-to-day logistics
of settling in a new country, e.g., finding apartments, completing mandatory
state registrations, setting up bank accounts, etc.
In another company, I helped develop an expatriate
mentorship program whereby international assignees were assigned to senior
executives as mentors, with the condition that these senior executives had to
be outside these individuals’ functions.
For example, the CIO volunteered to mentor two individuals in Marketing
and two managers in Finance who were all in overseas locations. He kept in contact with them throughout their
assignments, and helped facilitate their transition back to their next
assignments.
11. Formal and informal processes for
sharing best practices globally.
When he was CEO of GE, Jack Welch was relentless in promoting knowledge
management, and he held people accountable to make sure that they were
proactive in communicating and sharing best practices. How much sharing of information and best
practices goes on internally in your company, and are there formal and informal
mechanisms for facilitating the dissemination of these best practices? Somewhat belatedly, for example, GM has just
begun to implement this. In an interview
with the Wall Street Journal (November 2, 2014), President Dan Ammann described
what the company has started to do:
“A couple months ago we brought
about 25 of the top sales leaders from around the world together in Charlotte,
N.C. We conducted workshops where each
discussed the tactics they are using in their home markets to drive sales, work
with dealers and interact with customers.
This is the first time anyone can remember that happening.”
Perhaps next time they should meet in
Beijing, Sao Paolo, or Mexico City.
Once you’ve done your assessment, then
you’ll have a better understanding of where the gaps are, and your organization
can begin to prioritize actions to narrow these gaps, taking into account the
organization’s overall strategic goals and where the best payoffs are. For example, if the organization is planning
a major expansion into China over the next three to five years, then assessing
cultural fit among high potential employees (#5) and establishing an office in
one of its cities (#6) should be high on the list of actions.
Bennett, J. (2014).
GM’s Ammann Drives for Change.
Wall Street Journal, November 12.
Chu, K. and
Lublin, J. (2014). Chinese firms bring more natives home. Wall Street Journal, September 3.
Gupta, A. and
Govindarajan, V. (2002). Cultivating a Global Mindset. Academy
of Management Executive, 16(1), pp. 116-126.
Idea Watch. (2014).
How Companies Can Profit from a Growth Mindset. Harvard
Business Review, November, pp. 28-29.
