Welcome back to Leadership Across Boundaries & Borders! I can be reasonably sure, most of you would tell me that you are efficiently managing your resources – cutting costs, increasing productivity, etc. – all good and honorable duties respectable leaders are expected to perform. However, For the next several weeks I will be discussing resource maximization of a specific type – Human Resources… People Potential – and your ability to leverage your resources across the organization and across the globe for all-encompassing corporate and interpersonal success.
Many of us like to believe that, with a good plan, we can direct an action, change a process, standardize the business, etc., but if that is all you are focused on, your likely percentage of success is very low. The reality of any business situation is that you need people to DO something in order for your plan/action/change/etc. to succeed. How, in a globally dispersed environment, you inspire employees to bring their talents, initiative, imagination, and passion to work every day is the very delineation between success and failure. It may seem like a lofty concept, but it is absolutely essential to your long-term success – first and foremost, never forget PEOPLE are absolutely essential to your success.
A significant contributing factor to global success comes from the fact that organizational adaptability, innovation, and employee engagement can only thrive in a high-trust, low-fear culture. The role of the leader has changed – command and control from Headquarters is no longer an effective or efficient way to grow a global business. If employees feel that information is shared openly, controversial opinions are expressed and debated, and risk-taking is encouraged, they are far more likely to be personally vested in both YOU and the organization. I encourage you to ask yourself, “How effective am I in facilitating a high trust, low fear environment – specifically for those leaders or employees that are not geographically located with me or those that may be from a different culture?”
Finally, unleash human potential and create communities of passion and commitment. If you are truly interested in maximizing ALL of your resources for global success, you must nurture innovation from all geographies and cultures and realize that passion for what you do, and what you ask your employees to do, is a significant multiplier of human accomplishment. Despite this fact, our research shows that most employees are emotionally disengaged at work. You, as a leader, must encourage value-creating communities of passion by facilitating an organizational understanding of the importance of each person and the part that s/he plays within the whole system in order to transcend organizational boundaries.
I encourage you to energize and enlarge your global community of employees rather than manage them from above. Success truly depends the development of new approaches to mobilizing and coordinating human potential across boundaries and borders…So, Are You Maximizing ALL Your Resources?
Please do not hesitate to contact me at SheriLMackey@gmail.com. Check back next week for part 2 of the discussion on leveraging your global resources on Leadership Across Boundaries & Borders.
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