What the experts are saying: Global Fluency is the framework for international growth

Only 14% of multinational companies have local market expertise for every country they operate in. This is a shockingly low number, and it impacts businesses at every level because small and medium-sized organizations today have better access to the global talent market than ever before.  

This knowledge scarcity leaves the door wide open for new companies to enter and perform well in international markets. But knowledge is only the first necessary component. Success depends on how you use that knowledge to develop strategy and make decisions that impact the company’s bottom line. This is the crux of Global Fluency—a framework that supports companies’ use of workforce data to drive successful international growth.  

We teamed up with HR Leaders for a series of panel discussions about Global Fluency. The first discussion was all about effective strategies for attracting and acquiring top international talent. We invited a few of the top experts and leaders in the field to share their thoughts on how Global Fluency informs their own work and gives businesses the framework to expand quickly into global markets. 

The recording of “How to build a talent acquisition strategy that accelerates expansion into new markets” is a great resource for dialog about diving into the international talent market. If you’re short on time, check out a few highlights below and bookmark the panel discussion to watch later. 

Pete Tiliakos
Principal Analyst at NelsonHall

I like to think of [Global] Fluency as a skillset that multinationals
need to develop in order to be more competitive and thrive
as globally focused firms. Fluency provides a tremendous
framework for the kind of attributes that modern,
growth-oriented firms [must] attain. There’s a ton of emphasis
on re-skilling workers for the future, but multinational
firms can really benefit from re-skilling organizations around agile capabilities.

James Baker 
Global Head of Talent Acquisition at Jaguar Land Rover

Because of the big shift to digital, everyone is going after the
same talent. The critical skills list is very, very common
across a number of organizations. When you’ve got the
kind of big tech company saying everyone can work from
home, then that kind of flexible working policy
becomes required. You’re just not
competitive unless you’re offering that.

James Cheng
Global Head of Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion & Talent Acquisition at Zimmer Biomet

We are now in an environment where [organizations] must
meet commitments to our patients, clients, and
shareholders through innovation.
This includes diversity of experiences, perceptions,
thoughts, and ideas driven by people.

Elke Manjet
Global Head of Talent Acquisition at SAP

I don’t think we will see something like [office-only work
environments after Covid]. I can’t believe that is happening
[because] that talent has choices, and the pool will
not increase short term. So, there is no reason for that
to happen. [The question] that poses is, “How
are you building a culture and how are you leading people
in such an environment that might be totally remote or
mixed remote/present to give people choices?

Brian Dames
Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Safeguard Global

Knowledge is constantly changing.  Data proficiency is the skill to connect
data, normalize it, view it in a common way across nations, and
distribute it to stakeholders across the organization.
It’s the know-how for relating to the data.