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What globalisation means to employment – flat world employees who succeed

(Qatar Academy, 24

January 2009, Nicole van Hattem)Good evening everyone and thank you for this opportunity to provide some thoughts from the enduser perspective - the future employer of the students of the flat world classroom.Our world is shrinking and fast. Globalisation is a reality. And the employee of the present and futureare very different employees to the ones of yesterday.If you are an employer in this fast changing world, what are you looking for in your next generation of employee to give you that competitive advantage?If you are in the workforce at the moment, what do you need to focus on to ensure that your skills andcapabilities remain relevant?If you are an educator, what changes need to be made to academic environments to ensure we areequipping the next generation to be successful in this new world.If you are yet to secure your first role in the global economy, what will you be expected to be able todeliver from day one on the job and how can you ensure that you are developing these through your life and academic experiences?Last night at dinner with friends we discussed how quickly our world is changing. We laughed thateven though we are only 40 years of age and grew up in modern countries, we could still remember the first colour tv arriving at a house in our street and that the screen was less than 20in, the firstmobile phone we saw was the size of two house bricks and we doubted that the idea would catch onbecause who needed to be contactable 24/7, that if you needed to do a school assignment on theRoman Empire you took a book out of the library and the word internet didn’t even exist.If you wanted to talk to a friend in another town you had to ask for permission to use the house phoneor wrote a letter a few times a year to catch up on the latest news. You went on holidays by car to thenearest beach and when you played tennis it was with a racket and ball on a real life court.Now we have a 60inch plasma screen in the TV room, colour tvs in each room in the house and onebuilt into the dashboard on the car. I can get a tan on the beach in Doha, surf the internet to preparean assignment on organisational change management for my Masters degree through an Australianuniversity, check to see how many grammy nominations The Dark Knight received, update a friend inLondon about what happened in my life last week, and send off a quick happy birthday sms to familyin Johannesburg, all the while Pink’s latest cd plays in the background – from a mobile device nobigger than the palm of my hand. When I go on holidays I get on a plane and when I play tennis Iswitch on the WII.The pace of change is accelerating.In my parents’ working lifetime high academic scores were essential if you wanted a skilled entry levelrole.It was common place for an employee to have a MAXimum of 2-3 employers in their working life andcradle-to-grave employment was not unusual.You became a technical specialist and worked for many years from an entry level role to a role whereyou were you were respected mainly for your technical expertise and telling others what needed to bedone.You grew personally and professionally very slowly.Often you accepted that if you were female, not from the “right” family or class group, had specialneeds, or didn’t attend the “right” educational institution, that your chances of progression within thecompany were likely to be limited or non-existent.Your goods or services were sold locally and you could most often see your competitors faces in theflesh.Innovation was low and things changed very gradually.Access to corporate information was highly restricted and disseminated on a need to know basis.Work was fairly repetitive and task orientated.

Your levels of interaction with senior management and in many cases your direct manager, was low.Managers were directive.Moving country to continue career growth in the organisation was a rarity and your colleagues andyour customers were mostly from your own city or the same nationality as yourself.You required only one language to operate effectively in the workplace.Your employer skilled you for the tasks needed to be done now.“Why” was not a question you were encouraged to ask.Hours were regimented and you clocked-in and out.Your opinions and views were generally fixed for your lifetime.Let’s contrast that with today’s work environment. I’ll use HSBC as my real life case example

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Within HSBC Qatar we have 31 different nationalities. 75% of our employees are expatriates. Morethan 50% of our workforce are female.Working hours vary:some teams begin the working day late morning to early evening to ensure access tointernational markets4 day weeks and part-time employment is available to allow for post graduate studies or taking care of family commitments such as returning to work after maternity leave or caring for elderlyor special needs family members.Laptops with remote access to the corporate network are made available to enable employees towork offsite – researching the internet, strategy papers, preparing communications, visitingcustomers, making presentations, catching up on corporate reading, attending meetings, strategising,project planning, can all be achieved remotely. Even managing teams and team tasks, responding toemails, being accessible to certain customer groups and brainstorming ideas with virtual teams canall be done from your living room, local coffee shop, airport terminal or at your child’s school play

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Blackberry’s, Iphones etc make it possible for employees to contribute while being completely mobileand for the organisation to access knowledge wherever it may be stored – digital even biological(brain).We can also leverage the human talent, skills and capabilities wherever they may be located,efficiently, cost effectively, to the greatest competitive advantage and highest level of service to our customers. With 330,000 employees spread across 85 countries – the solution to any businesschallenge could literally be a phone call or a mouse click away.Corporate information sharing is key to ongoing innovation, problem solving, engaging withemployees, serving customers and must be readily accessible.Customers are from all walks of life, all locations across the globe and you may never meet them inthe flesh or hear their voice.Career opportunities are endless and there are avenues for everyone. Race, gender, age, formaleducation level, language, family circumstances, mobility, and many other issues traditionallyconsidered restraints, need no longer be to employment or success.The organisation structure is quite flat and you have an open door policy which includes access to theheads of businesses and functions and even the CEO, regardless of your own level within theorganisation.Managers are expected to work consultatively with their team members, to seek feedback and inputfrom all contributors, to look for collective solutions and to challenge the status quo. They arerequired to coach their teams to success, provide environments for self development and continuallearning and be open to a diversity of viewpoints and approaches. To act as role models and leadersand not simply manage tasks. To alter where possible job designs to match the employees talentsand skills to greatest collective effect.Employees are encouraged to ask the all important questions of “why” and “why not”, to takeownership for their own development, career path and learning. Manage their own time and