TRANSEARCH: Why Global Executives Are Being Watched…Closely

Written by TRANSEARCH International 2016

If you’ve ever walked the halls of your company and felt you’re being watched, your organisational instincts have served you well.

Now more than ever before, executive leaders in every industry space are being put under the microscope of mission-driven enterprises whose employees, investors, customers and boards of directors are looking to them to define the corporate brand, and more importantly, its values.

Board directors are looking for signs of competitive strength and the attainment of ever-more-escalating goals tied to shareholder returns, market share and strategic alignment between global business units.

Customers are ratcheting up expectations for value-driven products and service experiences that go above and beyond the competition.

Investors want sales growth. They want increasing profits and they want them now. Yet it may be the expectations of employees that raises the most important bar for today’s executive leaders. For starters, employees want leaders they can trust, follow and who represent not only the future objectives of the company but whose character distinguishes them among their industry peers.

They also want leaders who take the time to engage with them, personally. Employees want leaders who are approachable and affable. They want people who are “down to Earth,” and who don’t have their heads in the clouds. They want someone who will listen, and then act as and when they can to improve products, service and process.

One example of the kind of leadership employees want – and one of the primary reasons they are continually watching global leaders – centres on how they decide the fate of middle-managers who often berate subordinates, complain about upper management and generally fail to play by the rules when it comes to their own department or corporate function.

It would be easy for senior executive leaders to pass such employee concerns off as sour grapes, overblown or even without merit.

Yet in many cases, employee concerns about bad actors who may be poisoning the well of corporate culture may indeed be valid, and worthy of immediate action to separate those who shouldn’t really be there in the first place from the rest of a truly dedicated workforce.

Sometimes, leadership comes down to a choice. Often, it requires change. Still more frequently, especially in light of how closely today’s executive leaders are being watched by people inside and outside the walls that house the corporate headquarters, it requires tough decisions that serve the greater interest of those who cry foul when others aren’t living the organisation’s values.

With the eyes of the organisation on you, as a global executive leader, how will you act? What will you tolerate? And when will you act?

Your decisions increasingly define you in the eyes of your employees. Don’t take that reality lightly.