April 5, 2016 | 1 minute read

Would a bit of "charm" enhance your global mobility team?

Get in touch

Chris Pardo

Vice President of Consulting

Get in touch

Chris Pardo

Vice President of Consulting

Coming up on 16 years at Plus, I have been living (professionally at least) under the mission to "deliver delight!" Never had I associated the word "charm" with the word "delight" until I read this article, "5 Ways To Charm Everyone You Meet."

So I looked the word up. As a noun, charm is "the power or quality of giving delight or arousing admiration." As a verb, charm is "to control or achieve by or as if by magic." While we all know global mobility can be complicated and consuming work that can drag you into the weeds of policy and process, those I have enjoyed most in this industry are the ones that combine strong knowledge with a big ol' dose of charm.

It then made me consider whether a bit of charm would enhance the effectiveness of a corporate global mobility team, maybe even take them to the next level of strategic guidance and leadership? Consider whether these 5 suggestions to upgrade the level of your own charm could help you with your own career in global mobility and how a little more charm on your team could make it that much more effective within your company.

Ask many a HR professional what their most desired qualities are and it is likely that being charming wouldn’t feature highly. Yet charm, that intoxicating ability to draw others in and draw them out, the skills to set another at their ease so completely that their nerves are eradicated and the know-how to make an individual feel like the most interesting person in the room, are surely integral to many of a HR’s undertakings. Charm doesn’t mean being overbearing or sycophantic, quite the opposite, but remains elusive to many largely because it is underrated, underappreciated and perhaps just a little misunderstood. It is an old school, rustic delight with simple ingredients of kindness, modesty, agreeableness and politeness that the modern palate dismisses in favour of the contemporary dish that is on everyone’s table.