Pic: IMAGESBAZAAR

As organisations are diversifying and expanding their footprints across the globe, organisational tasks are being accomplished by a set of individuals sitting across the world. Under such circumstances, immense amount of coordination among teams is essential as the scope for friction is high.

An able global leader is required to lead the teams. Since international business demands are more complex than domestic, international talent management works best when it relies on processes, assignments and knowledge training.  In the lack of such ready-made leaders, companies are forced to create/groom them.

Building an internationally competent workforce whose members know the business and are flexible and open-minded can take years. Multinational organisations can no longer rely on just a few managers with multi-cultural experience or a few experts on a particular country to succeed. "Multinationals need to invest in developing leaders who can manage global enterprises and take advantage of strategic opportunities around the world. At Virtusa, we believe that global leadership is not really about doing business abroad. It's about managing an integrated enterprise across borders where you encounter different cultural, legal, regulatory and economic systems. At a managerial level, teams from our technology centers from across the world work together and this helps us in identifying those who can fit in to a global position with ease," says Dr. Roshan Joseph, associate director – training & development, Virtusa on how do they identify managers to lead global teams.

So what are the common traits of a global leader? Faiyaz Shahpurwala, senior vice president, Emerging Solutions and Advanced Services, Cisco highlights "Apart from cross cultural awareness, high emotional quotient (EQ), and an ability to listen, Cisco looks for those with an innate sense of respect for other cultures and different perspectives. Self-confidence and emotional maturity enable leaders to be more self-aware and accepting of different styles and ways of thinking which is essential for a global leader." A global outlook is a process of moving an organisation's structure, process, people, and culture from a set of highly autonomous business units to one that becomes an integrated and effective global network.

"The special leadership quality that is vital in identifying global managers includes a good knowledge of individual as well as team psychology. One must possess a high degree of patience when it comes to managing people from different parts of the world to achieve a common goal. The leader must be able to encourage people to acclimatize with their mutual differences and channelise their efficiency towards achieving the organisational objectives," states Prashant Bhatnagar, director-hiring, Sapient India on the special leadership qualities that companies look out for in such managers.

Such global leaders/managers mighthave a number of mindsets that range from the domestically-oriented defender, the explorer, the controller or the globally-oriented integrator. Each of them would have a different leadership style. While adding onto this thought Navita Srikant, managing director, Kroll Consulting Services Group, India states "I think we need to  always look at a big picture approach, no shortcut to success- as a leader you are constantly being watched. You may or may not be a favourite of all but it's about what you deliver and how you deliver and "do it yourself" philosophy which gets you support gradually. We often make the mistake of being driven by numbers and customer focus. It is important but not in entirety."

Eighty  per cent  of the world's population now lives in cities, and emerging  markets  in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America and have the potential to bring positive change impacting the quality of life for  tens  of  millions  of  people. Organisations need to help their leaders gain global exposure to excel. "Corporate Service Corps (CSC) and its variant the Executive Service Corps (ES) have deployed more than 250 teams of IBM's top talent from more than 50 nations on projects in more than two dozen countries.  The  effects  have  been  transformational,  both  for  local leadership  and  for  the  participants," says Sukanya Choudhury, business and technical leadership, lead, IBM India.

Global leaders must be those who possess the capability and capacity to synchronise the workforce from a diverse geographical and cultural background. S/he must be cognizant of the differences that persist between people from different locations and cultures so that s/he may strategise accordingly to ensure maximum efficiency.

- Manoj Reddy