circumstances of the business. In this way organisations can achieve optimal business outcomes. Assessing the balance between best practice and
best fit is like balancing the weights of items on an old- fashioned set of scales. Too much emphasis on best practice may result in a solution that is benchmarked to industry standards but may be inappropriate to the organisation’s specific circumstances; too much emphasis on individual tailoring and best fit can result in a bespoke approach but potentially this may be out of alignment with competitors leading to a company’s potential disadvantage. So getting this balance right is a juggling act for all organisations. There will be no standard solution to weighing up
“Assessing the balance between best practice and best fit is like balancing the weights of items on an old-fashioned set of scales.”
Above: Host, Jayne Constantinis at the Innovation Festival for Global Working
INNOVATION: BEST PRACTICE AND BEST FIT FOR THE FUTURE The 2023 Think Global People and Relocate Awards took innovation as the over-arching theme with the aim of highlighting excellence across a range of global people management and mobility areas. Its objective was to showcase excellence in the leadership of people and delivery of mobility services. Dr Sue Shortland explains.
LEARNING FROM THE AWARDS: BEST PRACTICE VERSUS BEST FIT A best practice approach suggests that organisations will be following the most forward-thinking, relevant and appropriate solutions in managing their people. Typically, a best practice approach involves benchmarking against other organisations deemed to be appropriate comparators, distilling the information on their practices to extract the best approaches and to incorporate these within an organisation’s own policy design and implementation. However, benchmarking against others – although
helpful and potentially able to provide an appropriate solution – may not necessarily represent the specific conditions under which any particular employer and its employees operate. By its very nature, a best fit approach involves tailoring solutions to the particular conditions of the organisation and its situation, be that economic, political, financial or geographical. As such, approaches to international leadership and global mobility should encompass both best practice in the marketplace as well as an individual, best fit, approach linked to the exact
6
the merits of a benchmarked versus a best fit approach. So this is where innovation in international leadership and global mobility comes to the fore. And that is why the 2023 Think Global People and Relocate Awards focused on innovation this year, it being particularly important given the unstable economic, financial and geopolitical climate.
THE AWARDS AND JUDGING PROCESS This year’s awards provided the framework for organisations of all sizes to demonstrate exciting and novel approaches contributing to best practice as well as tailored, best fit solutions to management and mobility issues. This year, there were the following categories: • Excellence in global mobility, global policy design or implementation
• Destination services provider of the year • Best serviced apartment provider • Excellence in technology or analytics • Excellence in talent development, deployment, diversity and inclusion
• Excellence in education – schools or education consultancy • Best research contribution or book • Excellence in environmental, social and governance issues • Excellence in global leadership and innovation
The entrants were required to present evidence under the following headings: • to provide a unique, exceptional quality mobility experience;
• a responsive, resource-efficient and cost-effective service, differentiated from others in the field; and
• being supported by your leadership team to deliver innovative and inspirational service in an increasingly global and diverse marketplace.
In judging the categories, the independent judges focused on evidence provided within the entry statement given, supporting documentation and accompanying video material, commenting specifically on each entrant’s contribution to knowledge and advancement of understanding of management of global people, the impact and implications for practice, and innovation and best practice. Each of the categories was judged by two or three judges working as a panel.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98