Strategic Talent Alignment!
Global mobility has become an essential component in addressing the workforce needs of organizations operating across borders. This area plays a key role in ensuring that businesses remain agile, adaptable, and compliant while addressing the challenges of relocation, international assignments, and workforce management. As the demands on mobility programs increase, there is a growing emphasis on creating frameworks that manage logistical concerns and align with broader talent management strategies. The success of these programs relies heavily on balancing risk management, compliance, and employee experience to ensure smooth transitions and operational continuity.
Nicelle Galeano, a seasoned leader in the global mobility space, demonstrates the qualities needed to overcome these challenges. Known for her inclusive and communicative approach, she places significant importance on understanding team dynamics and cultivating a culture of trust. Her leadership is rooted in adaptability and collaboration, as she believes in empowering her team while considering cultural differences and providing a safe environment for continuous learning. Nicelle’s ability to engage with her team and build flexible solutions has enabled her to lead successfully in a fast-paced environment, ensuring that each member is part of the journey toward achieving organizational goals.
Nicelle’s vision for the future of global mobility is centered on aligning mobility strategies with broader organizational objectives. She aims to enhance the employee and stakeholder experience by streamlining compliance measures and focusing on risk management. Nicelle is dedicated to evolving global mobility into a more integral part of talent management, with a focus on governance frameworks and mitigating risks in tax, immigration, and regulatory compliance. Her goal is to create mobility programs that move talent efficiently and contribute to long-term organizational growth.
Let’s explore Nicelle’s inventive leadership journey in global mobility:
Transitioning from HR to Global Mobility
Nicelle began her career in Human Resources with a focus on the well-being and development of employees within an organization. Early on, she had the opportunity to transition into the global mobility space due to her diverse skill set in problem-solving, strategic planning, and compliance.
She quickly developed a passion for this field and has never looked back. Being a mobility professional is a niche skill set that allows for the development of a broad range of transferable skills across HR, workforce planning, finance, tax, security, and health and safety.
Her career has had its ups and downs over the past few years. Like many others, she was unfortunately made redundant from a Global Head of Mobility role at an engineering and social infrastructure company during COVID. Although this was a challenging time, it provided her with the opportunity to explore roles and companies to extend the breadth of her experience.
Inclusive and Communicative Leadership
Nicelle’s leadership style focuses on inclusivity, communication, empowerment, and adaptability. She is a collaborative leader, ensuring that she understands the team dynamics and is flexible and adaptable based on needs. She considers cultural aspects, understands different ways of working and learning, provides flexibility, and creates a safe environment where questions can be asked. Nicelle also believes in having a bit of fun.
Enhancing Employee and Stakeholder Experience
Managing international and domestic mobility programs requires navigating various complexities. Therefore, it is essential to implement strategies that effectively address these challenges and create positive experiences for both employees and stakeholders.
For Nicelle, the priority is understanding the organization and how the Global Mobility program aligns strategically with the broader business and Talent Management strategies. This alignment creates a purposeful program that adds value to the organization.
Other strategies that she employs are:
- Ensuring that there are comprehensive policies and procedures, so all employees and stakeholders understand the organization’s position, expectations, and how to implement them.
- Establishing a governance framework and developing strategies to mitigate risks associated with non-compliance.
- Keeping up to date with relevant legislation, best practices, and geopolitical influences.
- Focusing on the employee and stakeholder experience.
Balancing Risk Management and Positive Experiences
According to Nicelle, finding a balance between proactively managing the risks associated with global talent mobility and cultivating positive employee and stakeholder experience can sometimes be challenging.
It is vital for Nicelle to partner with senior leaders across the organization to ensure the relevant risks are understood and the organization operates consistently.
It is also important for her to develop a clear Global Mobility governance framework that covers tax, immigration, regulatory compliance, and health and safety to ensure the protection of the organization and its employees.
This helps in aligning the mobility strategy with the overall business objectives.
Assessing Workforce Needs and Impacts
Nicelle believes that aligning the global mobility strategy with the organization’s overall goals is crucial for the success of the program. This involves partnering with key leaders to understand the organization’s long-term strategic direction, such as expanding into new markets, as well as identifying short-term priorities. It is important to identify how these priorities impact workforce needs and engage with stakeholders to validate approaches and gather feedback.
Staying Organized for Productivity
According to Nicelle, maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be challenging, but it is essential for long-term well-being and productivity. Some key strategies are:
- Set clear boundaries: Communicate these boundaries and stick to them as much as possible.
- Stay organized: She often starts off her week by clearing out her inbox as much as she can, planning what needs to be achieved during the week, reviewing her calendar, and preparing for meetings.
- Communicate effectively and proactively manage expectations.
- Empower your team: Delegate where possible.
- Practice self-care: Prioritize activities that promote well-being.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all approach; it’s about finding the right balance for you!” Nicelle states.
Importance of Networking and Vendor Relationships
Networking, leveraging vendor relationships, reading legislative updates and trend reports, and benchmarking are all very important to Nicelle and the success of the mobility programs she leads as well as her professional development.
It is important to recognize that while all Global Mobility professionals have their individual superpowers (e.g., immigration, tax, policy, etc.) and experiences, they can support each other in navigating the complexities they are faced with.
Nicelle is a champion of Global Mobility networking within Asia Pacific and plays an active role in various forums including but not limited to, the Global Mobility Forum (Australia), Brisbane Jasper GM network, Global Mobility Journeys, Global Mobility Executive, and Global HR Executive. She is also on the Advisory Board of Global Mobility Executive and therefore, has opportunities to contribute her insights to the development of thought leadership, content and events; as well as learn from the other advisory board members who are experts in the field.
Embracing New Opportunities for Skill Expansion
A career in Global Mobility is extremely rewarding and offers a unique blend of opportunities and challenges. Nicelle’s advice to professionals aspiring to build a career in global mobility is:
- Adopt an Agile mindset: An agile mindset helps navigate the constantly changing global mobility sector.
- Build a network: Networking is invaluable! Make a conscious effort to connect with other global mobility professionals, attend networking and information webinars/conferences, and seek out mentors.
- Stay informed and updated: Keep up to date with regulatory changes, latest trends, and best practices.
- Embrace new opportunities: Have an open mind to taking on new opportunities to expand your skill set and provide you with diverse experiences.
Future Goals for Impact in Global Mobility
Nicelle’s future goals are to broaden her portfolio to encompass Talent Mobility, Talent Acquisition, and Workforce Planning so that she can truly support an organization’s strategic build, buy, and borrow efforts.
She plans to continue making an impact in the field of global mobility by championing networking opportunities and taking the time to mentor those who are new to the field.
