Global Mobility in Succession Planning Part 1: How Expat Assignments Can Drive Leadership Development

Organizations looking to develop global leaders within their teams are beginning to take a different approach to the challenge, with many now requiring expatriate assignments for promotions into enterprise leadership positions.

Experiential learning is the key to success here, as it takes at least three months of fully living in a new geography for a person to genuinely appreciate the nuances of values, politics and history of a new culture—and how those affect the business. Living abroad also improves creativity and abstract thinking.

“DECISION MAKERS IN ORGANIZATIONS RECOGNIZE THAT THE KNOWLEDGE GAINED LIVING AND WORKING ABROAD PROVIDES INVALUABLE EXPERIENCE THAT CAN’T BE ATTAINED IN OTHER WAYS.”–DANIEL RUSSELL, RHR INTERNATIONAL

A panel discussion at the 32nd Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology earlier this spring found that while many HR and talent leaders are struggling to manage global mobility as an executive development tool within organizations, there are some who are doing it well.

The organizations that have found success in this area first clearly define their global leadership development goals for specific roles, then start thinking creatively about the global experiences where these goals can be met.

Click here to read RHR International partner Daniel Russell’s complete blog post on how expat assignments can help develop global leadership skills.