Local Roots, Global Vision: Navigating the cultural Paradox of Modern Enterprises

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Local Roots, Global Vision: Navigating the cultural Paradox of Modern Enterprises

Barclays

@barclays

June 7, 2024

Global Capability Centers

104

Anyone who has spent time in an organisation with multi-country operations knows the importance of staying aligned with the global vision, while staying relevant in the local market that they operate in. I have had the joy of working across multiple geographies in global roles with wonderful colleagues and have attempted to summarise my learnings in navigating the cultural paradox.

Avoiding the Extremes
A senior leader that I worked for had a clear list of ‘How not to run a global organisation’. Topping the list was the message to avoid being ‘mindlessly global’ or ‘recklessly local’. Being recklessly local drives costs and increases complexity, becomes more challenging in terms of corporate governance and makes living the organisation’s purpose and values more difficult. On the other hand, being ’mindlessly global’ ignores cultural nuances to win the marketplace, makes the organisation vulnerable to nimble competition, reduces speed of responsiveness to consumer /customer needs and builds a cadre of ‘order takers’ in the markets.

Not Confusing Central for Global
Most global organisations tend to look at the world from the lens of their ’headquarters’ and extrapolate what works there to the rest of the world. This creates an illusion of benefitting from global scale when in reality it is just too simplistic. Firms that have distributed global leadership and where the ‘Design for the globe’ truly includes inputs from around the world are far more successful in navigating this challenge. And this requires a culture of co-creation with the markets rather than just from HQ.

Being clear on the ’Power sharing construct’ and linking it to Product / Channel /Customer / Talent strategy
Organisations can learn from the federal/state structures and power sharing present in several countries (including India) to make sure there is a clear organisational understanding of what gets done globally and what gets devolved to the markets, so long as this construct avoids the extremes as stated earlier. There is no single formula for success here so long as it is aligned to the product strategy (is it global / regional or local), channel strategy (what it takes to win across channels in the country) and talent strategy (what does it take to excite top talent for the organisation). On the technology front, scalable global platforms and processes but with local autonomy for transactional outcomes can help build the best of both worlds.

Talent strategy and grooming culture carriers
I have immensely benefitted from having managed country/regional roles before I took on global roles, and global roles before I took on country leadership roles. This has helped me (and several colleagues of mine) avoid the extremes, and truly build a talent base that appreciates the nuances of leading a global organisation. Talent mobility (both ways), especially for future leaders and those identified as high potential can really drive a positive culture to truly build a cohesive global organisation. Country leaders thinking global, and vice versa very rarely happens without them experiencing both ends of the spectrum. This also helps avoid creating country footprints full of ‘order takers’ without the competence to influence global outcomes.

Non-negotiable alignment to purpose, values and mindset
If there is a clear red line on the topic of global / local, it is alignment to the organisation’s purpose, values and mindset. These act as clear cultural glue across the organisation, strengthens the brand, ensures that autonomy does not drive dilution of corporate governance standards and supports talent mobility across the firm.

by Arun Krishnamurthy, Head of HR India, Barclays

Global Capability Center Glocal culture

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