Becoming global, a systemic transformation

Globalization is everywhere in economy, business, art, education etc…. So why in France do we prefer to use the word « mondialisation » instead of globalization? This seems to be a detail, a simple difference in vocabulary, something not worth an argument. I personally tend to have another opinion. It is for me the illustration of the way we French are approaching power. In fact among the people I meet as prospect or client, some of them are managing groups that are expanding worldwide to find fast growing markets. For them becoming a large group spread on several continents questions the model of governance. And they don’t like it even if they don’t say so. They are expanding their business worldwide , but they keep the decision power and control.This is « mondialisation ». France is a country with a strong central power tradition and often companies have  a specific model of capitalism, more family business type than publicly traded organizations. In this model top management keeps the decision power and control the local execution. The question becomes then, how to mobilize, how to engage local management in a model where all what drives important decisions is centralized in a single place? the answer is rather simple , you can’t.  If you look at groups that are becoming global, they tend to chose a « distributed »governance model. This distributed model is changing the way the power is exercised. It is more and more often characterized  by decision centers headquartered in different geographies, each of them in charge of different global responsibilities. There is not anymore a single decision center, it is replaced by a powerful network of decision and execution. What could then be a solution for our French groups to help them become more global? Subsidiarity principle could be considered as a way of functioning. It is the way of trust, fostering creativity and personal initiative together with a culture of cooperation. But continuous changes are generating permanent uncertainty and it takes a lot from a leader to be able to accept not to interfere in everything. It requires not only to be smart, but also to accept to lose personal power. Conditions of success are then organizational – each part of the whole has a role to play globally- but not only; information management tools are also key to allow a high level of communication. At personal level, empathy and emotional maturity of the global leader are facilitating elements in this deep transformation. Becoming global is not natural, it’s a systemic transformation process for the entire organization.