LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS TO MASTER TO THRIVE IN THE LOCALIZATION INDUSTRY

The Localization industry is fascinating. It allows us to work at an intersection of technology, business, and culture.

We have the opportunity to work in companies that are framed in exciting sectors such as Saas, Pharmaceuticals, Gaming, and many others.

We have the opportunity to work with very diverse internal stakeholders. Financial controllers, Product Managers, Web Designers, the C-suite .... We interact with LSPs negotiating contracts, rates, deadlines, and we make use of a lot of skills that are valuable in the workplace ... and yet I think traditionally, traditionally... we, the professionals working in the localization sector, are doing worse than relatively similar roles in other sectors (congratulations, Marketers!).

One of those areas where we are doing worse is when it comes to the career path. It's not very clear how to progress and advance in the industry. In the beginning, evolution makes sense and is quite logical—many of us who start in this industry start as Testers, Translators, or Language Specialists. From here, you can move to Test Lead, Language Lead... then, we can evolve to Project Managers, Portfolio Managers, Localization Managers. Still, things can get complicated to continue developing as a professional.

What skills should we develop as a localization/globalization professional if we want to go further?

As I see it, it's not about knowing more about translation tools, terminology best practices, or the latest trend in the industry (hello Blockchain Localization).

No, I believe that the key for those professionals in our industry to move forward in the industry is not to accumulate more and more skills related to localization technology and processes (sophisticated skills) and focus on learning more and more about complexity skills and develop the right leadership behaviors and habits.

At various points in our careers, localization leaders will invariably reach a point where our skills, knowledge, experience, and behaviors no longer seem sufficient to perform with excellence at the next level.

I have experienced this phenomenon myself: I have helped create a localization department, and it went so well that the demands of the organization seem to have outstripped my leadership ability. How ironic!

Professional success is a double-edged sword. As managers advance in their careers, they master one new situation after another. But there will be a time when we get stuck, and when that happens, we often redouble our efforts to improve our skills and learn more about our industry and processes and loc best practices; rarely will doing that (alone) be the solution. It is necessary to have a plan on how to improve our "complexity skills."

In this post, I reflect on some of those skills that can help us have a higher level in our careers! And keep progressing to break those stall points.

I have divided this mindmap into three behaviors:

• getting things done

• leading change,

• personal capability.

Feel free to download the image and enlarge it for a better reading of this map.

Click HERE to download the image

To be effective as a localization leader and continue to grow, we must cultivate self-awareness and recognize when we need to reinvent the localization activities we do daily and our plan to lead ourselves and grow.

Have a great week, and I wish success to all of us in the localization industry growing our executive presence,"; which will hopefully lead us to level up in our career!!!!

@yolocalizo