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H e s s e l b e i n & C o m p a n Y

U p to 40 Pfizer Global Health Fellows per year spend three to six months on vol-unteer assignments with nonprofit organizations to improve health care services in the developing world. one team is training research scientists in Uganda to

use complex instruments to test the effectiveness of aIdS vaccines.

accenture development Partnerships has undertaken more than 200 projects in 55 coun-tries where its professionals, at 50 percent salary reduction, work in partnership for up to six months with oxfam, UNICeF, Freedom from Hunger, and other nonprofits to bring business solutions to humanitarian problems.

IBM has sent more than 1000 employees on 100 teams to 24 countries on one-month assignments through its Corporate Service Corps. In Ghana, IBM teams collaborated with entrepreneurs, small business owners, and the government agencies tasked with support-ing them to expand beyond local markets and become part of the supply chain of large multinationals.

a new era of international volunteerism and service is taking shape. the three companies just mentioned and a growing number of others have found an innovative way to de-velop their next generation of leadership, make a strong hands-on commitment to social responsibility, and expand business knowledge and opportunities in emerging markets. they are implementing global service programs that enable their employees to provide technical and managerial expertise to small businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and universities in specialized pro bono assignments throughout the world. 

by Phi l ip Mirvi s , Kevin Thompson, and John Gohring

toWard NeXt-GeNeratIoN LeaderSHIP: GLoBaL SerVICe

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A new era of international

volunteerism and service is

taking shape.

er’s Global Health Fellows program has the company loan its employees to nongovernmental organizations (NGos) to address local health care, to date primar-ily in asia and africa. GlaxoSmithKline launched its program in 2009 and about half of its volunteers serve in emerging markets while the other half share their health care expertise closer to home. the local option enables employees to serve society while still fulfilling their family or child-rearing responsibilities.

Employee EngagementEmployee Engagement

Who signs up for global service? Hundreds (and at IBM, thousands) of employees are competing for assignments from companies sponsoring these programs. Younger employees who want to serve society through business? Surely, but also midcareer managers and junior execu-tives looking for something more from their job, long-service employees wanting to give something back, and up-and-comers who want to hone their multicultural and global leadership skills.

applicants come from many disciplines and from all over the world. dow Corning’s first 10-person citi-zen service team, for instance, included technologists from the United States, a business development expert from Mexico, a financial specialist from Belgium, a sales manager from Korea, and a structural engineer from India. In 2010, the team assembled in Bangalore, India, to work with a local NGo and technical insti-tute to develop more energy-efficient cook stoves for street vendors and with the local chapter of ashoka to

Who else is in this game? International nonprofits such as Care and Save the Children that work arm-in-arm with corporate volunteers to fulfill their own missions; development partners and USaId that pro-vide infrastructure, logistical support, and training; and thousands of people in local organizations facing development challenges who gain new capabilities and learn from the volunteers. and, of course, there are the corporate volunteers—who say they learn as much or more from assisting their newfound partners around the world.

Design of Global Service ProgramsDesign of Global Service Programs

Major corporations have sponsored employee volun-teerism for many years. typically, they support their employees by providing time off to volunteer, spon-soring all-staff community service days, and, more recently, operating skills-based programs that match employees with specialized expertise to charitable organizations in need of them. Cross-border service programs started roughly 10 years ago when Pfizer, accenture, and PricewaterhouseCoopers launched their programs. Since then ernst & Young, Cisco, HSBC, Starbucks, dow Corning, Intel, Mars, and others have launched programs of varied design, geographic scope, and employee participation.

IBM’s CSC program, for example, is modeled on the U.S. Peace Corps and engages teams of volunteers in three months of preliminary work, one month in coun-try, and two months in post-service where they harvest insights for themselves and their business. ernst & Young’s fellows program is much smaller and focuses exclusively on improving small business in Latin amer-ica. But its volunteers spend three months in direct service—enough time to personally deliver tangible results. accenture development Partnership operates as a nonprofit housed within a profit-making business. the parent company forgoes its margin and provides pro bono overhead; the client pays a small fee; and the employee takes a salary reduction.

Pharmaceuticals have built their global service on the model of the Nobel Peace Prize–winning doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). Pfiz-

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The selection process can be

daunting.

eco-tourism sector in Belize; worked with United Nations development Programme on the Lokoho rural electrification Project in Madagascar; and contributed to the recovery, employment, and Stability (reSPeCt) effort in conflict-ridden east timor by setting up a system to ensure accountabil-ity by all the stakeholders involved.

Benefits of Global ServiceBenefits of Global Service

Global service programs are proving to be a win-win-win: companies, their employees, and local clients all benefit from the partnerships developed, new skills learned, and the services provided.

Value for companies. Companies that institute global service programs benefit from staff with greater knowl-edge of countries important to business expansion, and they often see an increase in staff retention and per-formance. Companies also benefit from an enhanced reputation in the countries where programs are im-plemented—which improves their ability to win new business—and from being seen worldwide as a global corporate citizen.

Pfizer and GSK, for instance, report that their “li-cense to operate” in several african countries has im-proved by relationships developed with governments, universities, and throughout the health care sector. IBM’s work in Calabar, capital of the Cross river State in Nigeria, was at the request of and in partner-ship with Senator Liyel Imoke. one project funded by the World Bank provided support to pregnant women and to children under five. Senator Imoke was so impressed by the work that he personally requested IBM to continue the project management on a com-

promote renewable energy products for rural housing. Confronting myriad technical challenges, the team e-mailed and tweeted ideas with scientists and engineers in their home organizations—enlisting hundreds of fellow dow Corning employees to aid their mission in Bangalore.

How are participants chosen? Companies have different ways of soliciting and selecting employees for interna-tional volunteer assignments: some ask for nomina-tions from managers; others have an open application process. In turn, some use a multifunctional committee to select among the pool of applications; others have selections made by the Hr or CSr function that man-ages the program with guidance from top management. a survey of 20 companies involved in these programs finds that candidate selections are based on four cri-teria: a strong track record within the company, high potential for leadership advancement; personal motiva-tion, flexibility, resilience, and a demonstrated service ethic; plus project-relevant technical, managerial, or cross-cultural skills.

the selection process can be daunting. For example, when IBM launched its CSC in 2008, it expected 500 applications and received 5,500. Now it gets more than 10,000 annually from 60-plus countries, with the larg-est percentages, as a function of the local IBM popula-tion, coming from Latin america and India. at this point, it is easier to get admitted into an elite business school than into IBM’s program (on the order of 15 applicants per assignment at IBM)!

What do the volunteers do? Bonnie Glick, working with a local NGo in Brazil through IBM’s CSC, helped develop a funding strategy for a community-based or-ganization, Aprendiz, which works to keep disadvan-taged youth off the streets in the slums of São Paulo. “this isn’t just a São Paulo issue, this isn’t just a favela issue, this is a global issue,” says Glick. “the issues [Brazilians] are struggling with related to children and poverty are the toughest, most heart-wrenching global problems that we have today.”

Participants in PWC’s Ulysses program have, in turn, produced a professional evaluation of the growth and income-generation potential of the

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increased revenues, and improved networks and external relationships. In 2011, Becton, dickinson and Com-pany (Bd) sent 13 company employees, in partnership with Heart to Heart International, a medical aid hu-manitarian organization, to earthquake-devastated Haiti. the Bd volunteers and partners worked with National Lab of Haiti to develop standard operating procedures for medical laboratories, devised a “lab in a box” for clin-ics in rural areas to increase access to quality care, and created patient education materials on proper hygiene, nutrition, and combatting sexually transmitted diseases to help reduce the spread of disease.

Intel’s education Service Corps sends teams for two-week assignments to power up students with com-puting technology and know-how. Hear a student reflection from Uganda:

as an african, I am grateful for programs like this that can help bridge the gap not only between the developing continents but also within our own neighborhoods, communities, cities, and the continent at large. the greatest part of such pro-grams is the sustainability aspect that is attached to it—training the older ones or equipping the more knowledgeable ones to take charge of their own environment and be responsible. For the in-dividual volunteers, you do a great job by leaving your comfort zone to bring hope and increase the

mercial basis. this led to a $1.2 million services deal signed in March 2010—IBM’s first services deal in West africa.

Beyond immediate rewards, companies also cite the social capital that flows from their global service. Cor-porate websites featuring blog postings and videos pro-duced by volunteers tackling significant economic, social, and environmental problems around the world instill a sense of pride in the workforce overall and also attract the interest of job candidates, students, and the media. Meanwhile, program alumni often stay in touch with one another and with their former clients via e-mail and Skype chats. In so doing, they maintain connections with next-generation leaders in faraway lands who become not only potential future business partners but also lifelong friends.

Value for employees. employees who participate in global service programs benefit from new knowledge about operating in emerging markets, from gains in their ability to lead in ambiguous and demanding cir-cumstances, and from the experience of working with a diverse team of colleagues and local partners. In key respects, global service provides a boot camp in which employees are schooled on how to get things done with limited resources, how to work in complex, multistake-holder environments, and, of course, how to operate in another culture. they also learn a lot about themselves. a recent survey of 20 companies sponsoring global service programs found that personal development was the #1 benefit cited.

research studies find that global service projects can enhance employees’ self-awareness, interpersonal skills, and project management abilities. an evaluation by Chris Marquis of the Harvard Business School found significant increases in the cultural intelligence and leadership resilience of IBMers who participated in global service assignments. a study of PWC’s Ulysses program found, as well, that company participants gained greater cultural literacy, deeper understanding of responsible leadership, and enhanced community-building skills.

Value for local communities. Local organizations benefit from improved processes, enhanced staff performance,

Enhancing self-awareness,

interpersonal skills, and

project management

abilities.

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faith of others. this is the greatest service anyone can give to humanity and self.

Getting Started with Global ServiceGetting Started with Global Service

organizations thinking about starting a global service effort are well advised to do their homework. Some lessons learned from early movers:

• Align service projects to business priorities. align-ing country selection, local clients, and scope of work to a company’s core business makes the best use of employees’ skills and interests, enables participants to learn about areas critical for new business growth, and assists companies in identify-ing new partners and clients in emerging markets. Most companies tailor their programs to business interests—Pfizer employees work with healthcare NGos, Mars employees work with cocoa produc-ers, and ernst & Young employees work with entrepreneurs.

• Think team diversity. Volunteer teams that are diverse in geography, functional areas, genera-tions, and depth of work experience are stronger than homogenous ones. even as participants develop new skills working on challenges fac-ing their clients, they also learn about the work styles and cultures of their team members. They learn, too, about practices in industries or functions different from their own, and the junior- and senior-level employees are able to share experiences in management and in the use of new technologies. at IBM, most CSC participants report that the opportunity to work on a diverse team was one of the most beneficial parts of their assignments.

• Prepare and support volunteers. Because most global service programs involve a relatively short period in the field, pre-assignment training is essential to building a cohesive team, preparing participants for the cultural and technical aspects of the assignment, and allowing them to work with their clients to develop and refine project activities. at IBM, 50 hours of pre-work materi-

als are delivered virtually, in team-based settings, over 12 weeks to lessen the impact on day job responsibilities. These materials are managed by a learning software delivery platform. Because the team members are from many different countries and probably have never met, pre-work focuses heavily on team building. It also assists the par-ticipants in honing their cultural intelligence and their consulting and communication skills with respect to working in international teams and liv-ing in their host country.

• Work with NGO implementing partners. NGo partners (CdC development Solutions, digital opportunity trust, endeavor, australian Busi-ness Volunteers, and the rest) offer companies implementing global programs a range of impor-tant services. The partners have in-depth knowl-edge of key countries that span a firm’s business operations; understand the challenges and op-portunities for the private, public, and NGo sec-tors; and know the hot-button issues with which a company may or may not want to engage. They are also able to identify local partners and projects that provide maximum impact for em-ployees and local communities and that comple-ment a company’s culture, mission, and goals for a global service program. NGo implement-ing partners serve as a cultural bridge between corporations and local institutions, fostering an atmosphere of trust that is critical to working relationships in emerging markets, yet difficult to establish without a longstanding local presence and knowledge of development challenges.

• Customize. Finally, there is no one-size-fits-all global service program. deloitte, for instance, has partnered with CdC development Solutions to send newly hired consultants on global service assignments in Belize. Fedex is teaming up with IBM in a joint project in africa. and many global banks have partnered with the Grameen Founda-tion’s Bankers Without Borders initiative to send volunteers to work in microfinance and technol-ogy projects around the world.

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In response to demand in the international arena and pressures to scale up domestically, new models for cooperation and engagement are starting to take hold. “We certainly have seen an increase in partnership, and more and more the Peace Corps is recognizing the importance of strategic partner-ships, the importance of engaging with groups out-side of Peace Corps,” says Jennifer Chavez rubio, director of the Peace Corps’s office of Private Sec-tor Initiatives. For instance, the Peace Corps now collaborates with the U.S. agency for International development (USaId) to enable volunteers to par-ticipate with USaId in development efforts, help-ing implement small self-help activities in select countries.

While each sector is driven by its own unique in-terests, all share a common vision of service spurred by a spirit of global engagement. Business, govern-ment, civil society, and universities support volun-teerism because it develops stronger global citizens while providing needed expertise to groups in emerg-ing markets. For businesses, a new cadre of leaders is returning from experiences abroad with a perspec-tive that is critical to success in the international marketplace. For governments, a new generation of citizen-diplomats improves the national image and promotes cross-border bonds. Nonprofits recognize that achieving their mission on a global level often requires volunteer expertise drawn from each of these groups. and finally, universities see that promoting exchange is essential to their educational mission in a world where opportunities and challenges transcend national borders.

regardless of the type of engagement, what is clear is that the notion of community is becoming broader. So is our sense of where we can serve. In the new era of global engagement—as IBMer Bonnie Glick put it—“our efforts make the world smaller for all of us.”

Global Service: A Multisector JobGlobal Service: A Multisector JobIt is important to remember that the nonprofit sector has long played a critical role in facilitating the move-ment of volunteers into international assignments. according to a 2005 estimate by the Brookings Insti-tution, U.S. nonprofits send more than 40,000 volun-teers to serve abroad every year.

one of those volunteers is Khary dickerson, who served in post-conflict Southern Sudan with the MBa enterprise Corps for 15 months to create economic opportunities through business training and consult-ing. after earning an MBa from Indiana University, dickerson found that his passion for international development and africa spurred him to travel over-seas to build his career and to give back on an inter-national scale. on the ground, his work to support struggling businesses quickly bore fruit. “In some small way,” reflects dickerson, “we were contributing to the sustainability of the region because the more business comes into the region, the more stability comes into the region. We were helping to give the people a voice.”

a similar awareness of the importance of interna-tional exposure is visible in american universities, where an increasing number of students are choos-ing to study and work abroad to develop the tools necessary to compete in the global economy. the Institute of International education reports that the number of students studying abroad has more than doubled in the past ten years, with the larg-est growth occurring in emerging markets such as China, India, and Brazil.

Finally, there is considerable support in Washington, d.C., to scale up international volunteerism. to ad-dress the issues of poverty, poor education, and dis-enfranchisement that underpin extremism and global instability, President obama is promoting a renewed emphasis on international volunteerism, global citizen-ship, and service.

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Philip Mirvis is a researcher with the Global Net-work on Corporate Citizenship. He has authored 11 books, including “Beyond Good Company,” and leads teams of executives on global service learning journeys to Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Kevin Thompson is a senior manager at IBM and the creator and architect of the IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC). He credits Peace Corps ser-vice in Ghana (1996-98) and a stint in Kenya with the National Outdoor Leadership School as the core contributing experiences to the CSC.

John Gohring has been a program manager for global volunteering and local content development for CDC Development Solutions. He is now vice president of strategic development for Tamerlane Global Services, an emerging markets consulting and project management firm specializing in in-creased supply chain capacity.