Strategy Global Mindset
The Global Mindset: Revealed
What is all the fuss about global mindset? Can it really be that important? Charlie Reeve, Head of Early Career Programmes, Arriva, says “yes, it can, and I can prove it...” He explains below…
…we look at how graduates
respond to changing and/or stressful situations, how they cope with being out of their comfort zone…
media on the mindset of a nation. And because a mindset takes a long time to develop and form, it can also take a long time to change. So it stands to reason that graduate recruiters want to recruit people who have more of a tendency towards a global mindset rather than a fixed or local mindset.
T
he Financial Times offers this definition for global mindset: “…an openness to and awareness of diversity across
cultures and markets with a propensity and ability to see common patterns across countries and markets.”
Okay, but this really doesn’t get to the nub of it. After all, a well-travelled person can still be hopelessly parochial in their mindset. The key points here are that those with a global mindset are more open to different things (experiences, cultures, learning) and can spot trends. Critically, they make and take opportunities where others cannot. And the term “global” in this sense can also mean international, regional and another business unit. After all, diversity across cultures and markets can exist when comparing a bus depot in Durham and a train station in Birmingham.
At DB Arriva, we have three ways to tell if a graduate has a global mindset: 1. They can clearly articulate who and what motivates and inspires them.
12 Graduate Recruiter |
www.agr.org.uk
2. They try different things fearless of ambiguity – they truly believe their potential is unknown and unlimited.
3. They are excellent at forging meaningful relationships and make use of support networks.
Finding candidates with a global mindset In my opinion recruiting only for mindset is the wrong approach. It needs to be integrated into a recruitment process and used alongside other traditional competency and behavioural indicators. Recruiters can glean a certain amount of information from interviews, but the best indicators are seen at an assessment centre. At DB Arriva we look at how graduates respond to changing and/or stressful situations, how they cope with being out of their comfort zone, and how they react to failure.
Why it is increasingly important Mindset is formed over time and is influenced by many different things: personal experiences, parents and teachers, work experiences and even the country you live in, they all affect mindset. Just look at the influence of the
Impact on performance We recently did a survey of 65 graduates who had joined our business from 2005 to 2013. Our research findings clearly show that graduates with a strong global mindset are progressing better in their careers, are more productive in their job and are more engaged at work. The research findings show there is a clear link between positivity and mindset, however we found no correlation between a tendency towards extroversion/introversion and mindset.
Implementing a global mindset on a daily basis
One global mobility expert says having a global mindset in day-to-day activities means “the ability to avoid the simplicity of assuming all cultures are the same, and at the same time, not being paralysed by the complexity of the differences.” What I see is that graduates with a global mindset are very good at being comfortable with being uncomfortable in uncomfortable environments. They tend to put their hand up for new projects, frequently trying new things. Their innate curiosity means they generate new ideas and concepts and then take it a step further by implementing those ideas in a way that engages all the stakeholders effectively. Their actions tend to inspire and motivate others. n
www.arriva.co.uk Additional reading recommendations: Bounce by Matthew Syed. Mindset: how to fulfil your potential by Carol Dweck.
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