Last week our HRoundtable groups met with Alison Eyring, CEO of Organisation Solutions (http://www.organisationsolutions.com/ ). Our Emerging Leaders group focused on how to recruit, retain, and foster global talent. Growing a global business can be difficult; especially in emerging markets. Skilled and knowledgeable leaders who understand the organizations mission are paramount to success, but those leaders sometimes struggle to adapt to the change in culture, work practices, or team dynamics. Many of our HRoundtable members indicated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find globally mobile people. Whether it is the desire to stay in the same place for their children or assist aging parents, less people seem to be willing to move globally for assignments. Do you find that to be the case with your organization?
Our Executive group tackled the idea of preparing for growth in all markets. Many organizations are just trying to operate and achieve in the present, but what happens when you don’t prepare for imminent future growth? Most of the time, unprepared growth causes a pile up that drastically reduces productivity and capabilities.
Alison offered a wonderful metaphor for leading for the future based on her own experiences in the dark jungles of Singapore. A future thinking leader is someone who points there headlamp up and out in a dark tunnel to illuminate the path in front for themselves and those behind them, while a leader focused on the now points their headlamp down towards their feet only illuminating one step ahead of them. When a leader points his head lamp down, he/she may be able to see their next step, but those behind him have no way to seeing now or in the future. Are you in an organization with their headlamps up and out or down on the ground? If your organization is looking down, it may be time to lift their head up and look towards the next steps.