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Finding Global Leaders

Brought to you by the Human Capital Institute.

I applaud the recent efforts organizations like Development Dimensions International (DDI) and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) have paid to managerial competencies for leaders in global services and outsourcing. No doubt, there is a great deal of work remaining to be done in this field before we can say that we truly understand the skills, competencies and traits of successful global managers and outsourcing professionals, but we are making progress.

As we begin to understand more about the attributes of global leaders, what do we do with that information? One obvious answer is that we apply it in our recruiting efforts. The more reliable and valid the competencies and the more directly we can tie them to on-the-job performance – the more they can be used in sourcing and selecting talent for applicable positions.

An obvious use of competencies is in building leadership talent pools (in advance of need) within organizations – succession planning and leadership development, in other words. There is already a dearth of managerial-level global services and outsourcing talent and that shortage is rapidly becoming more pronounced. In February, DNL Global (a Dallas-based recruiting firm) and the Human Capital Institute (HCI) conducted a survey among senior Talent Management executives from organizations in Singapore, India, Sri Lanka and South Korea. Respondents ranked their organizations, on average, 4 out of 5 in project management capability. Yet, when it came to global perspectives and abilities, the average rating across a series of questions was just 2.5. In a 2006 poll conducted by HCI and Development Dimensions International (DDI), 91% of over 750 respondents agreed or strongly agreed that “competition for talent with global skills will become more fierce”. Clearly, organizations must focus their attention on developing global talent internally along with their efforts to recruit externally.

A proactive and long-term solution for leadership identification and development starts with a rigorous review of organizational and leadership competencies. The methodologies are no different when nurturing that special brand of leaders for global assignments and to manage multi-million dollar outsourcing projects. External competency roadmaps are important, but in order to create a deep reservoir of hi-potential and job ready global leaders within any particular organization, they must be combined with internal competency analyses so that those selected also possess the skills and exhibit the traits of leadership (and values) important to success in that organization.

Succession Planning

With competencies in hand, the next step is to use the roadmap to create a pipeline of potential leaders. Central to the process are collaborative roundtable discussions – a talent review process – from unit to unit, including all key positions and individuals. Assessments based on the competencies should be used to identify those who most closely fit the profile.

Career discussions with high potential global leaders should follow, in which their preferences for next career moves are discussed. Despite much global services and outsourcing work being virtual today, there is most likely relocation and travel involved in next career moves – especially in these categories – so it is often a significant decision for both the company and the individual when someone is selected for succession and development into a career in global leadership and/or outsourcing management.

Those in the leadership pipeline should be developed aggressively, especially considering the growth in global business and outsourcing (even among small companies) and the growing shortage of talent described above. Internal and external training programs and workshops, attendance at seminars and trade shows, stretch assignments, simulations, job shadowing, international travel, case studies and the continued use of assessments are all applicable tools in development and should be used in combination. Development gurus recommend that roughly 70% of training should be “on-the-job”, 20% should be coaching and mentoring-based and just 10% should involve formal, classroom-style instruction. One-to-one coaching and mentoring is the most often overlooked but is vital to ensure that high potentials, as they are being groomed for potentially pivotal (and stressful) roles, have a confidential relationship with someone more senior in the organization and are coached by someone with real-life experience in the type of assignments they are being nurtured toward. A typical goal is to have two ready successors for every critical global leadership position, both those roles that exist today and those that are anticipated in the near future.

No new approaches to competencies or succession planning need to be invented for the global services and outsourcing arenas. Solid time-proven practices in leadership identification and development powered by a commitment to maintaining rigorous methodologies will put most organizations in good standing.

View Finding Global Leaders, Part II coutesy of the Human Capital Institute.