Us versus Them - Vocabulary makes a difference

Vocabulary used when talking about intranets reveals a lot about an organisation's model and approach to becoming more international, or global. Which raises the question: what's the difference between global and international? I've included a snapshot of a slide on this point which I use in workshops.

These definitions are pretty much industry standard, but are not at all integrated into corporate-speak.

The distinction between globalisation and internationalisation is important for those who work on strategy and implementation. However there is an even more important distinction to make in the minds of the people in the company and the way they talk about being or becoming "international" or "global".

I was with a client a few days ago who often says things like "Our international subsidiaries need ...." or "We mustn't forget that we have international managers who need to understand..." and so on. "International" is used to mean "not at home". A bit like many American companies used to say "the rest of the world". I remember seeing  slides in presentations years ago where there were org charts that were actually labelled ROW.

This language indicates that the company is in very early stages of becoming global. There is probably a specific division or management structure to handle strategy and operations outside the home country.

The intranet probably has a special area called "International" that is distinct from the rest, most likely reachable through a link and not integrated into the navigation.

A company where people say "WE ARE an international company. WE work in many different countries " rather than saying "WE HAVE an international division. THEY deal with our operations in OTHER countries." has reached the point of being truly global in its mindset.

The intranet can play a driving role in helping a company move from the "they mode" to the "we mode".

The home page strategy is critical: what links, what stories appear there?

The high level user architecture influences where people go on the intranet, plays a role in determining who meets whom on the intranet.

Implementation of easy-to-use tools such as blogs and wikis make cross-company communication and collaboration much easier on a person-to-person basis.

Enough said! Intranet managers in organisations going global have their work cut out for them!