The 3 Essential HR Skills Required to Succeed in Emerging Markets - How Many Do You Have?
Nowadays, 80% of the world's employees work in emerging markets.
For many people, that number is just a fact, but for you, it's a reality: HR goes global - so you have to, too.
In our competitive world, knowing your HR job well is not enough.
You also need a world of knowledge beyond that.
No matter where you are in your HR journey, you have to develop the following 3 must-have skills rather quickly - if not, you may not last long in the global HR arena.
Trust me.
Must-have HR skill #1 - Being cross-culturally aware is vital.
As explained in my "If You Don't Improve Your HR Knowledge About Emerging Markets Now, You Will Hate Yourself Later.
Here's Why", many companies are increasing the number of people they hire in countries like China, India and Brazil.
As a result, the workplace tends to be more and more multicultural.
As an HR professional, you will be likely to find yourself recruiting, managing or working with people from different cultural backgrounds.
For those of you whom work on HR projects with global aspects - you will discover that diverse cultures create new HRM challenges.
Needless to say that everybody in the company will ask you advice on how to overcome them and deal with these diverse and global teams.
After all, it's part of your job to cope with these kind of issues, isn't it? Must-have HR skill #2 - The more languages you speak, the better.
According to Frank Smith: "One language sets you in a corridor for life.
Two languages open every door along the way".
In a world without borders, being able to communicate in multiple languages is a great asset for your HR career.
It will give you a means to better manage a multicultural workforce composed of employees coming from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
And that's exactly what companies operating overseas are looking for: HR facilitators with a strong understanding of local workers and capable of building successful relationships with them.
So, if you speak only English, or Spanish, or French or whatever else.
It's time to wake up! Seriously.
Must-have HR skill #3 - Keeping up on world news is crucial.
That sounds obvious but you would be surprised to know how many so called HR professionals don't actually do it! Not because it's difficult to stay up on politics, economics or HR global trends, but because they don't understand the benefits of reading newspapers from around the whole world.
Figuring out how what's happening in the world affects the success of your daily HR tasks is one of them.
Nowadays, companies want to work with strategic HR professionals who can open up new ways to combine global thinking and local work.
To go even further, I suggest you reading newspapers from outside your own cultural context and in as many languages as possible.
It will help you open your mind to different solutions and be adaptable to diverse cultural, political and regulatory systems.
And if you don't speak the language of the foreign country, look up online for an English-language newspaper published by journalists living there.
Getting different points of view is always better! And keep in mind that working in Emerging Markets as an HR professional means having the ability to recognize, read and adapt to cultural signals.
In others words: you have to employ a "Think Global, Act Local" approach in your day-to-day HR job.
For many people, that number is just a fact, but for you, it's a reality: HR goes global - so you have to, too.
In our competitive world, knowing your HR job well is not enough.
You also need a world of knowledge beyond that.
No matter where you are in your HR journey, you have to develop the following 3 must-have skills rather quickly - if not, you may not last long in the global HR arena.
Trust me.
Must-have HR skill #1 - Being cross-culturally aware is vital.
As explained in my "If You Don't Improve Your HR Knowledge About Emerging Markets Now, You Will Hate Yourself Later.
Here's Why", many companies are increasing the number of people they hire in countries like China, India and Brazil.
As a result, the workplace tends to be more and more multicultural.
As an HR professional, you will be likely to find yourself recruiting, managing or working with people from different cultural backgrounds.
For those of you whom work on HR projects with global aspects - you will discover that diverse cultures create new HRM challenges.
Needless to say that everybody in the company will ask you advice on how to overcome them and deal with these diverse and global teams.
After all, it's part of your job to cope with these kind of issues, isn't it? Must-have HR skill #2 - The more languages you speak, the better.
According to Frank Smith: "One language sets you in a corridor for life.
Two languages open every door along the way".
In a world without borders, being able to communicate in multiple languages is a great asset for your HR career.
It will give you a means to better manage a multicultural workforce composed of employees coming from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
And that's exactly what companies operating overseas are looking for: HR facilitators with a strong understanding of local workers and capable of building successful relationships with them.
So, if you speak only English, or Spanish, or French or whatever else.
It's time to wake up! Seriously.
Must-have HR skill #3 - Keeping up on world news is crucial.
That sounds obvious but you would be surprised to know how many so called HR professionals don't actually do it! Not because it's difficult to stay up on politics, economics or HR global trends, but because they don't understand the benefits of reading newspapers from around the whole world.
Figuring out how what's happening in the world affects the success of your daily HR tasks is one of them.
Nowadays, companies want to work with strategic HR professionals who can open up new ways to combine global thinking and local work.
To go even further, I suggest you reading newspapers from outside your own cultural context and in as many languages as possible.
It will help you open your mind to different solutions and be adaptable to diverse cultural, political and regulatory systems.
And if you don't speak the language of the foreign country, look up online for an English-language newspaper published by journalists living there.
Getting different points of view is always better! And keep in mind that working in Emerging Markets as an HR professional means having the ability to recognize, read and adapt to cultural signals.
In others words: you have to employ a "Think Global, Act Local" approach in your day-to-day HR job.