"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence
wins championships." Michael Jordan
The last post I have finished providing
6 challenges of global teams:
- Distance
- Time
- Technology
- Culture
- Trust
- Leadership
In this article I we will explore each
of these challenges. A lot of tips, techniques and frameworks come from “The
Handbook of High-Performance Virtual Teams” (see the picture for the whole
title and authors) and are supported by my own experience and examples.
DISTANCE
The main issue with
distance is lack of face- to-face interaction, which is crucial to build trust,
monitor performance, motivate and understand the cultural differences. Not sure
what’s your experience but I feel more connected to my local office and people
from my floor or building than my team, although all of them belong to
different teams and we have no work interaction at all. But we share the language
(not all of us speak Polish, as there are around 30% foreigners working in my
location but they try to learn the language and understand our culture), norms,
dress codes etc. It’s much easier to build team/community identity when based in the same building. I get involved in many
local initiatives and really feel as a part of this great community. Feeling
trust is about following the norms/ practices, willingness to share knowledge
and cooperate with others and desire to stay with the organization.
When team members are
dispersed communication is more challenging and you need to be more disciplined
about keeping in touch and sharing information as it does not happen
automatically! As I’m based off site have experienced it many times – changed
priorities that have impacted my project and I was not aware of, people leaving
the company – everyone knew except me! Tip: plan your communication carefully
when having employees working off site as they might feel isolated as I did on
many occasions!
TIME
The main issue with
the time when real time communication is required is restriction of time –
everyone trying to use 2 - 4 pm GMT time slot to invite people from 3
continents – Asia, Europe and US, so you need to schedule your meeting early in
advance and if need to reschedule might take a while! On the other hand the
advantage is 24 h workday.
Some tips:
ü Check where people you want to
invite are located and adjust the meeting time accordingly
ü Show respect – ask if you need
someone very early or late
ü Be careful when rescheduling at a
very short notice – someone from US might have got up very early to attend your
meeting and finding out it has been cancelled might be very frustrating –
happened to me once and now I’m more conscious about it.
TECHNOLOGY
Challenges:
ü must learn how to use it
ü might be incompatible (people from
different locations might use different technology).
Remember: Technology
is useful, but less important than techniques to interact!
CULTURE
"Culture
is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a
nuisance at best and often a disaster." Prof. Geert Hofstede.
Do not assume the sameness – what is normal for you might not be normal
for others. We are all different! There are regional, generational, departmental,
functional, organizational plus cultural differences, which increase with
virtual world as more boundaries need to be crossed. Additional to these a team
creates its own culture.
Tips:
ü Show respect and personal interest
to other cultures
ü Try to visit a country where you
have an employee at least once
ü
If
cannot effort a visit try to find out more on cultures through reading,
speaking to people or visiting a restaurant representing the ethnicity of a
team member.
TRUST
Teamwork depends on trust! Communication
(keeping people participating and informed) is a key element of trust. Trust is
connected with identity (following specific norms/ practices, willingness to
share knowledge and cooperate with others and desire to stay with the
organization). It’s crucial we know who we are working with to interpret the
behaviour and reactions.
In virtual teams fundamental cues
about personalities might be absent if you do not put enough effort to get know
each other. Trust is based on knowing and being known by one another and comes
from believing in the individual expertise and even most important from sense
of accountability, keeping commitments to each other Building trust takes
longer when we are not meeting every day and lack of social communication. We need
more time to identify team members’ habits and skills.
Tips:
ü Show interest in your team members
achievements, both work related and personal, support and promote them amongst
other team members
ü Make only commitments you can and
will keep!
LEADERSHIP
A virtual leader needs to be both a
leader and a member.
Challenges:
ü Ensure performance
ü Mentor and coach
Tips:
ü Do not control but coach individuals
how to control themselves!
ü Use appropriate technology - e-mail
is not the best tool!
ü Learn and respect other cultures –
plan a visit to a country where you have employees or organize a team meeting
where individuals are able to talk about their cultures. When I’m in UK I bake
or bring Polish bread and we eat it for second breakfast (around 10-11 o’clock)
–people in the kitchen not familiar with Polish eating habits usually ask:
“early lunch”? And hear my answer: “No, second breakfast”.
ü Build trust
ü Network outside a project or work
related stuff
A virtual leader is a mentor who shows a high degree of empathy towards
their team members and is able to use authority without being perceived as
inflexible!
