How to Manage a Global Team Successfully
By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)
Today’s companies are becoming more and more global, with teams spread across continents and time-zones, languages and cultures. As telecommuting becomes the norm, managers have to understand how to supervise teams that are spread across the globe.
In a recent working paper on designing virtual teams, INSEAD professor José Santos explains that managing a global team is becoming a core leadership competency. In fact, being able to work with colleagues who are very far away is even more common for those in executive leadership roles. He writes, “While companies use virtual teams in many areas of business, their most important function is in high-level management. The top management teams of many global business units are fast becoming virtual teams. Indeed, the hallmark of a globally integrated company is its virtual top management team.”
If you aspire to a top level role, being able to work well with people who are in a different location – and manage teams of people who are spread far and wide – could be an important skill to add to your resume. Here’s Santos’ best advice for managing virtual, global teams.
Get Organized
Based on research into the management of multinational companies during the rise of globalization since the 1990s, Santos has developed keen insight into how individuals throughout the corporate structure handle working with virtual colleagues. First and foremost, he says, it’s important to remember that virtual teams are not the same as co-located (in the same place) teams, so you can’t simply apply the same management style and structure to them.
Set up work flow systems. Since people on a global, virtual team are spread apart, working without the benefit of casual communication and social trust, information and processes need to be made explicit to make sure everyone is doing their part productively to achieve the same goal. It’s important for the manager to lay ground rules up front about how people will work together in a very systematic way and check in frequently. Santos explains, “A virtual team needs a manager, not simply a motivator or facilitator, and it also needs the support of a well-crafted information system. An effective virtual team will look more like a formal hierarchy than like an ideal classic team.”
Additionally, he says, make sure that times and deadlines are seen as critical. “Identify time and deadlines as critical. Determine convenient hours for conference calls, and schedule off-office hours calls evenly across the organization. Time is of the essence in virtual teams –and this poses a particular challenge for individuals from polychronic cultures,” he writes. The manager should also make sure the same reports and information are available to everyone across locations.
Designate communication norms. Communication is key for global, virtual teams, which span not only space and time differences, but also cultural and linguistic ones. The manager should set up specific guidelines on how people should talk to one another.
For example, while a sub-team in one location may speak their local language while working together, it’s important that they are sure to use a designated “team language” when communicating with the rest of the group. All email and verbal communication should be in the team language. Similarly, Santos says, it is inappropriate to use metaphors or idioms when working with an international team – they may not make sense to people who primarily speak a different language.
Additionally, managers should ensure that similar communications technology exists between different sub-teams. For example, if one group is unable to videoconference for some reason, the larger group should avoid videoconferencing.
Build trust between colleagues. Trust is important in easing communication between people, and developing an environment where people feel comfortable taking risks and innovating. But trust comes more easily to people working in the same location and with the same cultural background than it does to people who don’t know each other and don’t see each other outside a video conference. Santos advises managers to set up socialization initiatives between colleagues so that they can meet and learn about one another and build trust. He writes:
“Socialization initiatives should make team members aware of the various contexts in which the team operates, including national and local differences, as well as differences among units within the corporation. A session on cultural awareness for all team members is mandatory and should be complemented with individual coaching as needed. The point of these efforts is not to diminish differences among team members but to make members aware of the differences.”
Managers should also attempt to budget for opportunities for disparate colleagues to meet one another. Santos explains:
“Rotate face-to-face meetings among the various locations and make sure that time always is available for visits. Visiting team members also should have the opportunity to meet local suppliers and customers and to attend local cultural events. These exchanges will help team members see location-specific sources of knowledge, experience contextual diversity, and increase their ability to understand knowledge from a foreign context.”
Creating opportunities for team members to build trust between one another will ultimately make a team more successful. While it may seem superfluous under tight deadlines and limited budgets, making time and resources available for this aspect of teamwork will pay off, Santos says.
Changing Workplaces
Today represents only the beginning of what global, virtual teams look like. Technology will continue to improve and make people even more connected than before. But, Santos says, the basis for his advice won’t change. “We must remember that humans are local beings. We thrive on what is happening around us, not far away. Our senses and emotions, our instincts and intuition have evolved over generations to be effective when sensing and interpreting the nearby world, here and now.”
This is why good virtual teams don’t just happen. Managing virtual teams takes extra time and care to ensure people are able to work together and meet goals. Developing the processes and skills to manage global, virtual teams will be a valuable skill for anyone hoping to climb to senior levels within their organization.
