SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from 250,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our newsletter.
How global is your immediate team?
- Very — We have many team members from all corners of the world. 18.5%
- Somewhat — We have a few team members from other parts of the world. 17.6%
- Not very — We have very few people from other countries on our team. 17.1%
- Not at all — We’re all from the same country. 46.8%
A worldly perspective. While the vast majority of you (80%) have little international representation on your team, a healthy chunk of you do have colleagues from other countries. In an increasingly global economy, you can’t ignore the impact of having a diverse, global perspective. If your team isn’t very worldly in composition, explore opportunities to bring in those global perspectives. Invite colleagues from other countries to join your project teams. Schedule knowledge/culture sharing calls. When out of town colleagues are visiting, go out of your way to include them in team meetings and meals. The better you’re able to see the world through other people’s eyes, the better you’ll be able to meet global competitive pressures. Plus, it’s fun meeting new people from far-off lands!
Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS. Before launching his own company, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He’s the author of three leadership books: “One Piece of Paper,” “Lead Inside the Box” and “The Elegant Pitch.”