Interaction orientation and firm performance

1. What confirmed my thinking?

The global mindset is an important element in leadership that allows people to learn how to influence others who are different from them. Since the business environment has changed from local to global, there is need for leaders to adapt their intellectual, psychological and social capital to adapt global perspectives (Li, 2017). The assessment gave me an insight on my intellectual, Social and psychological capital. My prior thinking before the test was based on my ability to have a strong social capital present within me. The assessment indicated that I have a higher social capital status as compared to the other two. Personally I am comfortable building relationships with people that I meet despite the differences that exist between us. I also possess leadership abilities that allow me to command respect and attention from others. All these characteristics arise from three elements of; intercultural empathy, interpersonal impact and diplomacy (Andresen & Bergdolt, 2017). This can be confirmed from the detailed mindset profile which lists interpersonal impact, diplomacy and self-assurance as the highest abilities.

1. What I was surprised with

From the results, what surprised me is that my scores from the three social capital profiles were not highly different. The results had a difference of less than 0.6 which means that I possess a balance of the three profiles both in social capital and global mindset (Li, 2017). The results indicate that I may have uniform abilities if I can work on all the three scores to achieve a balance. The abilities will give me advantage when handling different situation since I can utilize the strengths of every measure and use them to improve my performance.

1. What I gained from the assessment

The AHA results that I gained from the assessment are a mixture of different scores across all the three dimension. Each dimension had three components which were scattered across the chart when ranked from the highest to the lowest indicating a balance in the abilities (Javidan, Hough, & Bullough, 2017). These scores indicate that the measures can be improved across the spectrum to gain better advantage and improve leadership abilities. Through training and coaching, a leader can improve abilities and become a better person who can meet the needs of the organization. The leader can balance personal attributes and professional attributes to form a new blend of leadership.

1. Steps that can be taken to improve leadership practice

Leadership is an ability that can be improved through learning. The GMI tool allows an individual to assess areas that need attention and at the same time the ones that need to be improved. According to the Oracle (2012) the first step in improving leadership practice is identifying strengths and weaknesses from the report. This allows developing of better abilities through minimizing weakness and improving strengths.

Exploring the role of leadership in corporate social responsibility

The second step to improve leadership practice is develop a plan a plan on key skills that need to be developed. From the GMI analysis, there are areas that score lower like self-assurance and global business savvy. Such areas need to improve through skills development like coaching or training.

The next step is to work on team management strategies to develop group consciousness. This includes working in people’s skills and ways of relating with others within the wok environment. Since global management requires diversity skills, then it is important to work on how to relate well with others.

The next step is to align individual abilities with organizational requirements. Every organization has a set of standards that every employee needs to observe to work well (Newton, 2015). Such requirements may include an organizational culture, skills and attributes for holding a particular position.

Lastly, there is need to perfect on all the abilities that have been acquired. The best way to utilize an ability is to improve it every day. As the world keep on changing, skills and attributes also need to evolve to meet the changing needs of the environment that they are applied to (Morgeson, DeRue, & Karam, 2010). For example, customer behaviour patterns vary across different segments, thus leaders need to ensure that they perfect their skills to meet these ever-changing needs.

1. Your marketing exposure
2. a) Marketing 1.0 product-centered approach

The product-centered approach focusses on what is being produced and requires leaders to use the linear supply chin model when managing the workplace.  The method is based on the notion that any natural system like people is considered to be a resource where the distribution of raw materials and labor are distributed in a linear form (Sifaqui & Meibner, 2002). The actors within the organization are aligned to one direction and seek linear growth to capture the largest market within the industry that they operate in. By using the product-centered approach, resources are distributed equally to balance the requirements. For example, people need to fill roles that are assigned to every position but they need to be grouped according to their qualifications and the role that they play.

Randmaa, Howard, & Otto (2012) suggests that product-centered leadership is based on delivering required results within the market. As a global leader, organizational efforts have to be aligned along one line production to ensure that they deliver the required products to the consumer. To meet these standards, quality management is used to ensure that products supplied meet the requirements of the market. As a product-centered leader, I use functional structuring of the organization and activities to divide people into small functional groups that are assigned specialized tasks (Bass, 2008). Each task is aligned to the end product that the organization or department seeks to accomplish. One advantage that specialization offers is quality products that fit the needs of the organization and the market.

1. b) Marketing 2.0 consumer-orient approach

Leadership in Teams: A Functional Approach to Understanding Leadership Structures and Processes.

Consumer-oriented approaches focus on customer satisfaction at the core of each business decisions.  Such approaches align all the resources of the organization to meet the long-term needs and wants of the customer (Semenov, Kubakhov, & Malkova, 2009). Such organization have a leadership that works for everyone that the business deals with and ensuring that every activity that takes place meets the needs of the consumer (Nguyen & Umemoto, 2009). The end result is to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty thus leading to increased profitability. The leader ensures that employee actions are aligned to meet the needs of the consumer and are constantly evaluated to improve or exceed the expectations. Rumani (2008) adds that through use of feedback, customer requirements are identified and suggestions used to improve the process. From the feedback, the organization engages employees in developing customer solutions as a way of aligning them to the approach.

As a consumer centered leader I work as a coach rather than the boss with my subordinates. This approach makes it easy to recognize the capabilities of the people under me and putting strategies in place to support them in achieving higher levels of performance.  Such employees are empowered through assisting them to set goals, providing a positive environment and delivering useful feedback (Rozhkov, 2008). Further, the achievements of each individual have to be recognized and achievements celebrated to make employees meet their needs. The leader ensures that customer focus is the driver of every activity through organizing and directing responsive needs to increase contact between the customer and employees to demonstrate genuine commitment to the consumer.

1. c) Marketing 3.0 values-driven approach

Business leadership has been slowly evolving away from the classical paradox of leadership where everything focused on outputs.  However, the values-driven approach is based on the notion that business and leadership are full of contradictions thus requiring stewardship and accountability through giving service to others (Kazakov, 2012). The values-driven approach is a leadership strategy that allows the organization to gain competitive advantage and protect the market position through delivering high quality, durable and reliable products at low costs.  This is the key strategy to surviving the global economy since there are many players.

The approach is used to design quality programs with environmentally and socially responsible solutions. The strategies are defined by ISO standards that cover different areas that organizations need to focus on. The approach is maintained through a continuous improvement mechanism that recognizes quality as a continuous process (Gottlichova & Soukalov, 2015). This strategy implies that leaders have to develop quality-based approaches that are based on improving the value of products that they develop every time. Thus value driven mechanisms must exist within every activity that the leader and the team engage in.

Essential skills for leadership effectivennes in a diverse workplace

The leader plays a crucial role in the value driven approach through connecting organizational values to the products and services that are offered. The approach seek to institute quality in every aspects of the business and aligning the values of the individual to every need of the business (Bass, 2008). Value driven leaders analyze their experiences and use them to improve and promote integrity in processes. Through inculcating certain aspects of behaviour in employees, leadership is inculcated into the organizations culture thus making it part of employee life.

1. Marketing 3.0 10 credos
2. How does your leadership experience and practice align with these 10 credos

Leadership is the process of taking control over a situation or others within the organization. This entails making certain decisions and putting mechanisms in place to meet the conditions that exist. Every day the leader is faced with critical situations that need to be addressed. Such situations affect the organization at the present and in future (Chuang, 2013).. From the GMI analysis, the leader has three major areas that can be measured to determine the areas of strength that they have. Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan (2010) suggest that these strengths influence the way decisions are made and choices made in difficult situations. Leadership entails organizing and aligning of organizational resources towards meeting the established goals. To develop goals, the leader must identify the stakeholders that the business works with and ensure that their needs are met. In each stakeholder scenario, the strengths of each of them must be defined and ways of satisfying their needs met.

 Through identifying customers and competitors, the leader puts mechanisms like means of production and proper marketing to reach out to all the stakeholders. Since prices are used as a factor in competition, then the leader has to develop efficient production processes that reduce the overall cost of products thus leading to a cheaper product in the market (Fader, 2012). Companies like Toyota have managed to stay in the market due to adopting lean management systems that entail minimizing the cost of production while maintaining quality at all costs (Strand, 2011). Therefore, quality management leads to development of the best products at a fair price that can compete with other products in the market.

Another way that the leadership is aligned to the ten credo is the ability to have global mindset based on intellectual capital, psychological capital and social capital that are almost balanced and have the similar scores. Such skills lead to formation of a leadership identity that is respected by those that I work with. Kotler, Kartajaya, & Setiawan (2010), argue that the marketing game is changing every day and thus the need to appreciate more spiritual and deeper innovations. Customers are no longer passive consumers since they have tools that they can use to interact with production organizations.

The global mindset and its role in leadership effectiveness

Lastly, changing the leadership approach to a service approach is the only way that today leaders can manage organizations. Since customers have evolved and understand their role in the business value chain (Nguyen & Umemoto, 2009). Then the way leaders approach organizations need to move away from the classical approaches to human strategies that seek to fulfill the needs of every stakeholder.

1. What are your areas of alignment with the credos

In the social capital, I scored highly in diplomacy which is a business element that can be used well in global negotiations. Fader (2012) suggests that this helps to engage in meaningful conversations with actors within the globe for the good of the organization. Such ability relates to credos 3, 4 and 10. Which imply considering every option that I engage in and the ramifications that it has on the organization.

In the psychological capital aspects, I scored highly in passion for diversity which means leadership abilities that encompass recognizing the uniqueness of every individual and stakeholder within the society. This score relates to credos 1, 4, 7 and 8.

In the intellectual capital segment, I scored highly in cognitive complexity which is a way of assessing situations and developing solutions that meet the needs of the organization (Verma, 2010). This is my best ability since it cuts across all the credos and the remaining four.

1. What are the areas that are not aligned but could be improved going forward

The areas that are not aligned with the ten credos but can be improved are inter-culturalism, self-assurance and global business savvy. These areas scored the lowest in the measure but can be improved and used to gain a positive score. As a leader I need every skill in the GMI tool to function well and meet the ever-changing needs of the organization.

1. What improvements steps could be taken to improve your leadership practice

To improve my leadership abilities, I need to work on coaching and training. In coaching, I will seek the services of a personal coach who will assist in addressing the weaknesses in the report and improving my abilities. The best way to improve my leadership is to suppress the weaknesses and improve the strengths. On the other hand, a mentor will assist me in understanding how to approach business situations at all times.

Training helps in empowering me with special skills that cannot be addressed by the coach.  Training sessions assist in focusing on key areas that are crucial to leadership and assessing the progress after sometime. For example, I need to work on other areas that are beyond the GMI report like communication skills but are crucial in boosting leadership abilities (Field, 2008). Despite having personal attributes and abilities, a leader can be trained to focus on specific areas that relate to the responsibility that they hold within the organization.

Observation one: assessment of the need to possess a global mindset five years from now

I believe that a global mindset as a new attribute that every leader needs to possess. Since the business environment is evolving and consumers are becoming more informed due to the presence of information. As the society advances, globalization requires leaders to have global skills that are relevant to meeting the attributes of today’s customer.

Observation two: consequences of doing nothing further on the global mindset

Lack of developing the global mindset limits my global abilities and the way to deal with organizational challenges. Since the business environment is changing rapidly, lack of such skills will compromise my leadership abilities and limit the way I approach any leadership situation. The business organization evolves every day thus the leader is also supposed to ensure that their skills evolve with the changing environment.

Observation three: areas of relative strength

The areas of relative strength arise from my ability to interact well with others. Such strengths cover several aspects of the global mindset which are relevant in managing the organization of today.

Observation four: areas of development opportunities

Despite scoring low in self-assurance cosmopolitan outlook and global savvy, I believe these areas can be used as points of strength in improving my global mindset. Working on such areas can improve my personal abilities and ensure that I have better skills that can be used to develop better skills. A global mindset requires covering all the required areas within the GMI report.

Observation five: my priorities in the next 6 to 12 months to leverage my strengths.

Priority number one is to work out with a personal coach who can assist in improving my skills. The coach will assist in strengthening my abilities and suppressing my weakness to have an all-round mindset.

Observation six: priorities over the next 6-12 months for improving areas of development opportunity

• Improving my abilities.
• Working on weaknesses.
• Improving other leadership areas beyond the global mindset.

Observation seven: action plans

• Perfect my global mindset.
• Work on other areas that are beyond the global mindset.
• Upscale my leadership abilities beyond my current profile.

References

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Fader, P. (2012). Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage. Philadelphia: Wharton University Press.

Field, A. (2008, February). Customer-Focused Leadership. Havard Business Review.

Gottlichova, M., & Soukalov, R. (2015). Options for innovation of marketing approaches to the market in the non-profit sector. International Conference on Strategic Innovative Marketing, IC-SIM 2014, Se. 175, pp. 334-342. Madrid: Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 1.

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Li, B. (2017). Thunderbird Global Mindset®. Thunderbird School of Global Management.

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Newton, P. (2015). Managing a Project a Project Team. London: Penguin.

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Randmaa, M., Howard, T. J., & Otto, T. (2012). rom product centered design to value centered design: understanding the value-system. . 8th International DAAAM Baltic Conference . 

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Rumani, G. (2008). Interaction orientation and firm performance. Journal of Marketing, 72, 8-19.

Semenov, I., Kubakhov, P., & Malkova, T. (2009). Client oriented approach – research theory and practice. Marketing and marketing research, 360-378.

Strand, R. (2011). Exploring the role of leadership in corporate social responsibility: A review. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics,, 8(4), 84-96.

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