The 'Asianisation' of Global HR Leadership

The Asia Pacific region is becoming an increasingly important focus in the global strategies and investment plans of the world’s biggest and most successful corporations. No longer an afterthought, the region is now expected to be a very visible contributor to, rather than a recipient of, the decisions made by global leadership. As a result, the bar continues to rise in terms of the demands being placed on the Asia Pacific Human Resources function, especially in terms of its ability to help drive regional and global HR strategy and decision making. As a result, we are now seeing some very interesting trends developing in the HR recruitment marketplace. These are discussed in this short article.

The Allure of the Asia Returnee

More than ever, we are seeing Asian or Asia-experienced HR talent sitting outside of the region (especially in the United States and Europe) being targeted for recruitment by multinationals wishing to beef up their Asian HR capability. These potential returnees have a particularly attractive blend of international HR knowledge, cross-border business experience, cultural understanding and language skills given their exposure to other regions and/or corporate headquarters.

Within the Asia Pacific regional environment, many HR professionals have had the opportunity to manage across borders from a relatively early stage in their careers. So these regionally-experienced Asians have an inherent understanding of the complexities of multiple local (“multi-local”) businesses. This affords regional Asian HR talent the ability to work across borders in a way that someone who has not lived outside of a global HQ or large domestic economy doesn’t have. These individuals – particularly those who have had some experience in the U.S. or Europe – are now particularly prized candidates for ‘returnee’ roles, where they would be able to bring a global perspective, leverage a sophisticated toolbox of HR skills, and be able to easily slot back into a familiar business and cultural territory to ‘hit the ground running’.

Asia Pacific as a Fast-Track Career Destination for Global Talent

Another particularly exciting trend we have noted is that multinationals are now seeking senior talent who have worked in Asia Pacific as candidates for key global headquarter jobs. Several leading U.S. multinational corporations have recently asked us to keep a watching brief for Americans (or those who are legally qualified to work in the United States) who are currently located in Asia Pacific and who might want to return to the United States for two to three years in a headquarters job. After they’ve been assimilated into the company, the plan would be for them to be groomed for a senior HR leadership role in another region. This is a clear sign that Asia Pacific credentials are seen as a legitimate and desirable route to the C-suite. Over time, we expect that Asia Pacific experience will increasingly become more of a ‘pre-requisite’ for candidates for CHRO and other top global HR positions. Already, professionals with Asia Pacific experience are being viewed as having an advantage on today’s global stage given the growing importance of the region.

Regional HQs as Centres of Excellence

As companies wrestle with how to drive global standards with higher levels of local expertise and autonomy, we are seeing the role of the Asia Pacific regional headquarters beginning to shift away from ‘administrative hub’ status into a more strategic headquarter or ‘Centre of Excellence’. As an aside, there are two opposing schools of thought on the role of regional HQs: one group which thinks they are unnecessary and inefficient; and another group which thinks they are vital for a number of reasons, not the least of which is to protect local markets from na„ve global decision-making. Whatever the answer, most agree that regional HQs, if indeed they exist, need to play a pivotal and strategic role, and not act merely as an additional layer of administration.

We hear from many multinational employers that they are recognising the need for a more effective ‘bridge’ between global headquarters and the various local markets in the dynamic Asia Pacific region. We continue to see the investment dollars of leading corporations being channelled to this part of the world, so that the regional operations can benefit from state of the art technology and world class talent. As part of this change, the HR function is (thankfully) being looked at more and more as a strategic business partner. Thus, we are seeing an increasing need for Asia Pacific HR talent with world class strategic skills to drive long-term organizational development and talent planning initiatives for progressive organisations.

Conclusion : We’ve Moved On From the “War for Talent”

In our view, the factors driving these trends above are bigger and more complex than just a talent shortage, or Asia’s long discussed ‘war for talent’. Rather, we see these trends as being indicative of companies recognising the need to take a more strategic, long-term approach to the HR function both globally and in Asia Pacific. Business leaders are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the notion that key global roles should be occupied by executives who have no real living and working experience outside of their country of origin. And among the same group, there is also a growing feeling that regional HQs must operate more autonomously and effectively in managing business and HR issues. For many companies, these two issues have been linked in the past.

Today we are seeing an increasing awareness among companies of the need to grow and deploy global thinkers who can adopt a multi-local approach through drawing on their practical cross-cultural experience. For this reason, the top global HR talent pool is becoming progressively more ‘Asianised’ as leading organisations embark on the long-term tracking and development of top HR talent. In future, we can expect to see that increasing numbers of those HR Leaders who are fast tracked to the C-suite will have substantial Asia Pacific experience featured on their resumes.