Global Leadership – It’s About the Team

Showing the World a Human Face

Global leadership is broadly similar to “domestic” business leadership, except it happens across national boundaries. There’s a global leadership team working with different cultures, customs, languages, laws and regulations. But you’re still leading and motivating human beings. With the UK’s increasingly diverse workforce, leaders and managers here are increasingly familiar with working with multicultural teams. The same skills needed for that will also help with leading global businesses.

This article looks at what’s involved in global leadership. The same principles apply if you have a single overseas operation or you’re trading in many countries.  You’re leading people and getting the best out of them. You show the world your business has a human face.

Why is Global Leadership Important?

Global leadership is important because it’s about leading people in different places and respecting their cultures. We’re all familiar with globalisation, global brands and far-flung manufacturing operations in low-cost countries. Global leaders and teams are the folks who pull it together and make it happen.

What is the Difference Between Global Leadership and Leadership?

Global leadership engages diverse, geographically scattered groups of stakeholders and colleagues. They develop strategic business plans, set budgets and negotiate at senior level. Global leadership teams do this across borders, while leadership teams do the same thing in a single country.

What is Global Leadership Theory?

Global leadership is about more than simply achieving global goals and boosting the bottom line. The ideal global leadership style is inspirational leadership, upholding local teams in different countries and bringing them together. And servant leadership is in the mix too. Global leaders hold the reins but shouldn’t be arrogant. Think of our late Queen’s relationship with the Commonwealth leaders, and you’re on the right track.

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What are the Ideal Global Leadership Traits and Characteristics?

As we’ve said, global leadership needs much the same qualities as leadership in other situations. Key traits for global leaders include:

• Resilience: You’re able to adapt well and recover quickly after stress and setbacks and help others to as well.
• Integrity: This means being honest and having strong moral principles. Not content with doing things the easy way. Global leaders stand out when they decide to remain ethical in their business and management practices.
• Ability to inspire people: Global leaders inspire by generating action, not by manipulating or coercing. They don’t micromanage, they listen.
• Emotional intelligence: Global leaders are aware of their emotions and can control and express them. They can handle interpersonal relationships with judgement and empathy.
• Adaptability: Global leaders are proactive, adjusting and changing course based on the facts in front of them. It isn’t what happens, it’s how you react, that counts. Steven M. Covey writes about proactivity as Habit #1 in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
• Humility: Know who you are, and what you’re capable of, without being arrogant and treating people poorly. Global leaders recognise their personal responsibility and use their authority to inspire the team. Ideally, they should see themselves as servant leaders. Again, think about our late Queen. How do YOU want to be remembered?

Global Leadership by Numbers – Know the Score

Here are 5 critical skills for aspiring global leaders:

1. Able to manage multiple viewpoints and perspectives from different countries.
2. Flexibility.
3. Able to balance short and long-term objectives.
4. Responsive to differences in problem solving in different countries.
5. Willing to learn from mistakes.

What are the Keys to Effective Global Leadership?

Here’s a list of recognised soft skills for global leaders. They’re assets for leadership in any business. It’s all the more so in global business, where the potential for misunderstanding is so much greater. You can read more about these in our blog articles. The important thing to remember is, you can always develop these further:

1. Personal communication.
2. Presentation skills and public speaking.
3. Problem solving.
4. Self-management.
5. Vision and strategy.
6. Delegation.
7. Networking.
8. Team management and team building skills.

Top Tips for Global Leadership Teams:

1. Increase communication.
2. Make sure you are visible and accessible.
3. Build trust.
4. Develop connections.
5. Make resources available to all members.
6. Promote organisational goals.
7. Lead frequent conversations with team members.
8. Establish a regular schedule to talk to the entire team.
9. Persevere through challenges – keep going!
10. Make use of common platforms.
11. Use the same applications across the business.
12. Invest in project management tools.
13. Prioritise inclusiveness.
14. Provide training opportunities.
15. Encourage open discussions.
16. Coordinate a structured workflow.
17. Deliver constructive criticism.
18. Identify people’s emotional needs.
19. Address, and work with, cultural differences.
20. Stay curious and interested to learn what makes people tick.

You’ll notice these are all external facing, except the last one. Curiosity is a desirable state of mind, standing you in good stead as you develop your global business. Make life enjoyable for people around you, and it’ll be good for everyone.

Elements of a Global Leadership Style

The ideal global leadership style is a combination of inspirational leadership and servant leadership. Like ‘domestic’ leadership, global leadership is ideally about empathy and compassion, as well as getting the job done.

• Empowerment: lead your team to realise their contribution matters. Make them feel they own their part of the business. Empowering teams leads to increased productivity, creativity and higher morale.
• Passion: Being excited about your area of expertise is guaranteed to inspire others.
• Bigger picture thinking: This makes you more decisive and confident. It also means you can see whether all operations under your control are working together.
• Commitment to creativity and innovation: This attitude is what keeps global leadership – and business leadership generally – fresh and exciting for the people doing the leading. Global leaders enjoy drawing out their teams’ ideas and perspectives and working with them to achieve their goal. Co-creation is Habit #7 in Steven M. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Lost in Translation? Different Leadership Styles Work Differently Around the World

Here are some insights into what global leaders can expect, working with teams in different countries. Business psychologists Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Michael Sanger argue that successful leadership is about “personality in the right place.“ They identify six major leadership styles which are prominent in different regions of the world. You might feel as you read that these insights fit with what you know of these countries’ cultures. But remember, they’re generalisations by psychologists!

Synchronised Leadership

These leaders seek consensus on decisions and get others on board. This style gets you ahead in Northeast Asia, Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE and much of Latin America. Synchronised leaders tend to be prudent, and more focused on potential threats than rewards.

Opportunistic Leadership

These people initiate goals and are flexible about how they achieve them. They are individualistic, ambitious risk-takers, thriving on “ambiguity.” Chamorro-Premuzic and Sanger say this style fits in well in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and ‘Anglo’ countries. It also works in Asian countries with institutions based on the British model. However, checking in frequently with your teams is advisable, to ensure they’re up to speed with the plan!

Straight-shooting Leadership

In many parts of the world, employees prefer their bosses to be direct with them. In Northeast Asia and countries like the Netherlands, successful leaders don’t skirt around issues, they get to the point quickly. The Dutch even have a word for it, ‘bespreekbaarheid,’ or ‘speakability.’ No messing.

Diplomatic Leadership

In other countries, leaders are expected to fine-tune their communication skills, to get on with colleagues and climb the ranks. In New Zealand, Sweden, Canada and much of Latin America, employees want their bosses to keep business conversations polite and agreeable.

Kiss Up/Kick Down Leadership

People commanding subordinates, issuing fiery directives or refusing to compromise. And people “reporting up” show excessive deference and attention to detail, because they’re anxious and fear criticism. It’s stressful for everyone and doesn’t make for a supportive business culture! This kind of behaviour is tolerated more in Western Asia, as in Turkey, India and UAE, Serbia, Greece, Kenya and South Korea.

Passive/Aggressive Leadership

Some leaders become cynical, mistrusting and overtly resistant under stress. This is especially when they’re forced to pursue a goal or carry out a task they’re not convinced about. Chamorro-Premuzic and Sanger say this style is more acceptable in Indonesia and Malaysia but doesn’t seem to stop people getting on.

The message is clear. Global leaders can do much to change their business culture. Look out for these archetypal leadership styles and show your own style as appropriate.

What is Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness?

If you want to look into this important subject more deeply, the leading piece of research is the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) study, published in 2004. Carried out over 10 years, it looked at how the recognised global leadership dimensions were seen in 62 different societies. The world’s changed a lot since 2004, but these dimensions remain consistent.

What are the Six Global Leadership Dimensions?

1. Charismatic or value-based: Inspiring others, motivating, expecting high performance, visionary, trustworthy, decisive.
2. Team-oriented: Team building, sharing a common purpose, collaborative, integrative, diplomatic, benevolent.
3. Participative leadership: Democratic, involving, and inclusive of, others.
4. Humane-oriented: Supportive, considerate, compassionate and generous, modest and sensitive.
5. Autonomous: Independent and individualistic, autonomous and unique.
6. Self-protective: Ensuring the safety and security of the leader and the group: self-centred, status-conscious, face-saving, and conflict-inducing.

The GLOBE project reveals that in the ‘Anglo’ world and Nordic Europe, people rate charismatic leaders higher than participative ones. Meanwhile, in Germanic Europe, people expect leaders to be autonomous first, then charismatic. In Eastern Europe, people look to leaders to be autonomous first, then self-protective. By contrast, in Latin Europe and Latin America, they expect them to be more charismatic, than team-oriented. In the Middle East and Southern Asia and Confucian Asia, people expect leaders to be self-protective first and foremost, then either humane, charismatic or team-oriented. And in Sub-Saharan Africa they look to leaders to be humane first, then charismatic.

The GLOBE study covers attitudes toward business leaders. But it’s pretty clear that people in these regions have much the same attitudes to their politicians and governments. And you could say their histories have contributed to it. But don’t let stereotypes blind you to what’s actually happening in your local teams, or with your country managers.

And Finally:  The Professor’s Guide to Global Leadership Theory and Practice

There are various global leadership courses you can attend. If you like keyword searches, there’s an event in August 2023 called the Global Leadership Summit. However, it turns out to be run by an American Christian organisation. So that may not be quite what you want! For the best outcome when you’re ‘in country,’ you should combine knowledge of global leadership theory with recognised best practices.  Whoever you are, it’s worth looking at Professor James G. Clawson’s book, Level Three Leadership: Getting Below the Surface. Here are the key points:

Overseas Experience

You understand what doing business in a ‘flat’ world is like. Start by realising you need to see beyond yourself. Park your cultural perspectives and be willing to learn how business is done in different contexts.

Deep Self-Awareness

We’re back to understanding, this time how your personal beliefs and attitudes may differ from other people’s. Without this key characteristic, you won’t be able to adapt to, or even tolerate other people’s deep-seated beliefs. And business opportunities will disappear.

Sensitivity to Cultural Diversity

Are you prepared to eat the local food and adjust your eating and sleeping habits? Are you interested in people’s lives and cultures? You’re the boss, but your culture and background don’t automatically make you superior.

Humility

You need to be interested in other cultures and how different people do things in business. That means being open to and fascinated by, what they have to say. This takes a willingness and ability to listen well, and with real intention.

Lifelong Curiosity

The world’s changing all the time. Unless you’re curious and want to learn, you won’t be able to converse or keep up with your peers. Going back to humility, you need to recognise you can’t know everything.

Cautious Honesty

People need to know they can count on you. If you don’t deliver on your promises, your reputation will suffer. But you must judge it finely. Effective global leadership involves being cautious in different contexts while demonstrating you can follow through.

Global Strategic Thinking

You think strategically about managing your business using the best people from around the world. This means understanding your business locally and globally.

Patiently Impatient

You’re in a hurry to achieve your goals, but realistic about letting local and regional processes unfold. Things don’t happen at the same speed in every country. Give it time!

Well-spoken

This doesn’t mean talking like the Queen. Or having the perfect accent in a given language. But whichever language you’re speaking, you need to be able to say clearly what you mean.

Good Negotiator

Doing business across boundaries requires strong negotiation skills. That’s obvious. But if you can combine those skills with enjoying the games people play in different cultures, you’ll become highly effective.

Presence

As a global leader, you have a certain charisma in people’s eyes, that comes with the role. But it’s only partly about your job title. Developing a personal presence also involves focusing on some specific factors. Here’s a ‘to do’ list to consider:

• Your dress and personal presentation.
• Self-confidence.
• Consistent energy level (watch the jet lag!)
• Interest in other people.
• Comfort with the challenges at hand (it’s the relationship, not the transaction).
• Respecting other people’s identities and affiliations.

Global leadership is different to “domestic” leadership because it works across borders, rather than a single country. But you’re still leading and inspiring people and achieving goals. Even if you haven’t got years of experience, you can master these skills, and be more impactful than you could possibly imagine.

Action: For even more useful content on leadership, check out our ultimate guide on Leadership Skills.