AIM Newsletter - Winter 2008

WELCOME to our Winter 2008 e-Newsletter. Globalization has impacted our current business environment and will continue to do so rapidly. This challenge is not daunting to the effective GlobaLeader™ - it provokes innovation. What are the needs of global leaders? How will global leaders align their skills with the increasingly rigorous demands of the global business environment?

AIM Strategies® decided to find out and towards the end of 2007 piloted our GlobaLeader™ (GL) Assessment with a selected group of 50 global leaders from various types of industries and diverse organizations. This e-Newsletter highlights key findings from the GL Assessment Report.

Questions and further information about this GlobaLeader™ Assessment (Suite) or about AIM Strategies® may be addressed to info@aim-strategies.com.

Yael Sara Zofi, CEO AIM Strategies®
Applied Innovative Management®
T: (718) 832-6767 / 6699, F: (718) 832-6660
www.aim-strategies.com yael@aim-strategies.com

Introduction

In this fast-paced global economy, the quality of your leadership and how well you are able to continually increase your intellectual bandwidth will keep your company’s bottom line ahead of the competition. "Being a global leader is no longer an option - it is a requirement for maintaining a strong and secure place in the global market," says Yael Zofi, CEO. As dramatic shifts occur, with far-reaching consequences across the globe, organizations find themselves functioning in one interlocking system, sharing resources, labor markets, and consumers. Think of the world as a system comprised of inputs and outputs across boundaries, which constantly interact with each other in a dynamic process that ultimately creates value. From this perspective, organizations cannot afford to think and act only on a local level. Within this context, AIM Strategies® developed and piloted a unique GlobaLeader™ Assessment prior to launching our complete GL Suite, a program to help leaders align their skills with the increasingly rigorous demands of global business. This GL Suite, developed after a decade of researching leadership issues, consists of the self-assessment, which introduces the program, a development guide, training and development modules, and an executive coaching package.

We greatly appreciate the contributions of those that participated in this pilot; their thoughtful responses helped us reach several interesting results and conclusions, which follow. It should foster a healthy conversation about how today’s global leaders and senior business management teams can develop new approaches to tackle their 21st Century leadership challenges.

Key Finding 2: Balanced GlobaLeader Skillset

The incoming workforce (Ages 20-29) had a lower total GL score compared to more seasoned peers. Also, compared to older respondents, their scores showed less uniformity between the Seven GL Dimensions. Specifically, younger respondents had higher scores in Diversa, Edu and Innova-Leadership and lower scores in Adapta, Communi and Collabo-Leadership.

Key Finding 3: A Fast Learning Curve

Global Leaders achieve a viable comfort level communicating with direct reports in dispersed locations after being in their position for six months. However, leaders who were in their positions for six months, two years, ten years or more, had remarkably similar levels of confidence when communicating with their remote direct reports.

Key Finding 4: Connecting The Dots

As the number of direct reports increased, leaders scored significantly higher on the Innova-Leadership Dimension.

Effective Leadership propels organizations along a Global Superhighway, with its hairpin turns and blind curves that extend further and further out from core business. The 21C leader will be at the hub of a wide network of connections that enable him or her to achieve competitive advantage. These effective communicators who can motivate teams to master the intricacies of the ‘new’ will rise to positions of leadership, working across cultures and time zones. The conditions that arise from our global ‘neighborhood’ represent a paradigm shift; not surprisingly, this paradigm shift gives rise to new leadership roles.

Guiding effective organizations will require nimble leaders with the skills, abilities and knowledge to master the ‘new’. Those who are going to be the innovators are going to be the leaders, just as those who are most astute at working across cultures will be successful. This may be a paradigm shift and requires 7 new global leadership roles (or Dimensions, as AIM Strategies® refers to them).

For more information and to get the complete GL pilot results please click here.

Written by: Susan Victor, Yoko Ichihara, Jasmine Sasanian and Yael Sara Zofi
Research: Ilgi Gur, Yoko Ichihara and the AIM GL Assessment Design Team

AIM's services are related to transformational change, including practical consulting, innovative training and hands-on coaching. Find out how AIM Strategies® can support you (call 718-832-6767 / 6699 or e-mail info@aim-strategies.com). See www.aim-strategies.com for more information about how AIM offers a personal, no-nonsense approach through the proprietary experiential learning methods (FOCUS™ Consulting, 5D's™ Training Methodology and the ACT™ Coaching Process). In upcoming issues of this newsletter, we'll update you on tips and techniques related to raising your innovative management IQ. Please forward this newsletter to your associates!