The world is flat, boundaries are left in the physical realm only, and the internet has connected the world like never before. Social media platforms like Facebook, micro-channels like tweeter connect all and sundry on one platform. Welcome to the era of global thinking. Welcome to the new ear of the hyper-connected genuinely globalized world. We live in a super-connected world. Everything is interdependent and interconnected everything; nothing stands alone.
This has a profound impact on companies and their employees. They can no longer make decisions without looking at the big picture. You are not alone anymore.
What does this mean for you? You can no longer remain insular to globalization; you have to imbibe globalization in your thought process and actions. One of the ways to absorb globalization is by thinking globally, i.e., thinking beyond one’s immediate area and give respect to the system as a whole, remember you are the system, so better take care of it. Curiosity, clarity, compassion, choice, and courage are the critical building blocks of a global thinker.
Global thinking is focused on the future and integrating components and systems into a holistic framework. It’s a long-term, big-picture approach. You are mistaken if you believe, that global thinking is the responsibility of senior management alone, if everyone in the organization is aligned towards it, your company will progress much faster in the global arena.
To be adept in global thinking, you need to shift your mindset from linear to circular; everything is interconnected. Nothing is isolated, and every decision results in a ripple effect. Now the intelligent people know how to use the power of ripples created by a small decision. The second significant shift in mindset is to move from isolated analysis to synthesis. In synthesis, we combine of two or more things to create something new. So, start thinking, how you can combine seemingly different parts to build a new and novel solution.
Global thinking shapes you to see situations from a much broader perspective when you look at a small part of something; it’s common to miss most of the intricate interactions and links to the other part of the system. This results in a shortsighted approach to solve problems or taking a decision. Here are some questions that will get you started on this journey.
- What are the long-term effects and consequences of the decision that you are planning to take?
- What parts of the system will be involved?
- What are the long-term goals of the company?
- Are your current actions moving your company towards the long-term goals?
- What is the company’s vision for future, is your action aligned to it?
- What will the company look like, or what will be the impact after your work is implemented?
When using global thinking, you will have to choose from unlimited possibilities and see implications beyond the current situation. You would be leveraging creative and logical reasoning to arrive at a decision. For example, creative thinking will kick in, when you are formulating a vision, in parallel logical thinking kicks in to check the long-term consequences of the vision.
As a global thinker, you attune yourself to see a situation holistically, to acknowledge that we are interrelated, to comprehend that there are often multiple interventions to a problem. It’s not tricky, Innate systems intelligence is present from our very early years. If nurtured, it can develop to surprising scope and depth.
