With Global Mobility hubs in Welwyn Garden City and Bangkok, the global applicability of MyGMPD is important to the Tesco team, as is “the ability to gain breadth and leverage tools” on an individual basis.
Global Mobility Lead, Elly Winder, explains that as much as there is a team approach to the GMPD programme, it is very much about the individual too. On the one hand, MyGMPD is something which the team can do together, much of the learning content can be accessed online and for global colleagues, where English is not their first language, they are each taking specific articles to debrief and discuss collectively. Additionally, the programme is also a great way for teams to celebrate success and the Tesco gang are making continual efforts to congratulate one another on points achieved.
Elly goes on to recognise that she and her team are also all unique in their needs. Their development plans identify specific requirements and exactly what GMPD content is needed or indeed appeals will differ across the board. So too will the way in which the team learns best. Elly herself is registered for the programme and her focus has included duty of care and strategies for helping GM win approval for change initiatives.
Ten other members of the Tesco team in four countries are actively involved in MyGMPD, with hours and hours of learning undertaken between them. Seemingly, hearing how Aviva have used MyGMPD to facilitate their organisational change and resulting training needs has really brought the programme to the forefront for Tesco. We spoke with some of the wider team, including Janine B, who has worked for Tesco for 20 years+ but took on her role as Global Mobility Specialist less than two years ago. She tells us that she has come at Global Mobility from scratch, so the Essentials training modules have been key to her understanding of the function. She feels MyGMPD as a whole has given her some direction and she’s happy to have been able to tailor her learning and also mix up the method in which she goes about it. Janine picks out articles on the assignee experience and spousal support as being of particular interest to her. She has enjoyed learning via WebEx and podcasts but also gets a lot out of the face to face events too (back soon we hope!). Impressively, on top of her day job and MyGMPD, Janine is working towards CIPD and she has found MyGMPD has helped to support this.
One cycle of GMPD learning was clearly not enough for Kristen W, Global Mobility Manager and Immigration Lead! With an accreditation to her name and a modesty to go with it, Kristen has carried on learning and has now embarked on her second cycle of learning, accumulating points and knowledge. Her log shows a variety of learning from Posted Workers clinic, to Bite Size Briefing, Expat Academy Round-up and successfully managing business travellers post-COVID. Kristen enjoys learning from new topics and appreciates the prompts that are given via the MyGMPD home page and newsletter with the odd newsflash in between.
Spousal support and assignee wellbeing are clearly high on the priority list for the Tesco team because Chonnapa T, Global Mobility Manager in Bangkok, is also drawn towards this best practice and is keen to hear what other companies are doing in this regard. Being based where she is, it is not so practical for Chonnapa to get to live events so the fact that she can access learning resources online and read reams of articles is hugely beneficial. Chonnapa refers a lot to the empathetic and softer skills that make for a first-class Global Mobility team and we’re pleased that this is an angle that can be explored via GMPD as well as the technical ins and outs. She refers to the “human touch” and having frequent conversations with her assignees, so her personal interest lies in the assignee experience, helping them cope with stress and also in stakeholder communications. Chonnapa likes the fact that MyGMPD “takes them out of our working world” but also gives them opportunities to improve at work, whether that’s knowledge or job effectiveness.
Yet again, it has been really satisfying hearing how the programme is working for another global team and their individual reasons for being GMPD Believers. Thank you and well done Tesco!