The Nuances Involved In Building A High Performing Global Team
Introduction
What does a global team consist of?
Well, it’s a team that works from different parts of the world while connecting with one another through technologies such as video conferences, webinars, Skype or via phones. Now, this comes with lots of challenges such as differences in time zones, cultural diversity and most importantly, geography. As noted by Savitz (2015), other difficulties include over-reliance on technology, lack of a shared sense of purpose, low trust levels, and lack of cohesion within the team. Worst of all, most team member from different geographical locations usually have the dissatisfaction that the other person is not doing enough. Therefore, this paper aims at examining and discussing the nuances involved in building a high performing global team. The paper looks at different leadership characteristics and skills that can help them come up with the best global team possible. Some of the aspects discussed in this include the ethical perspectives required by a leader; the cultural strategies that can help build a great team, and finally talk about communication, coaching, mentoring and team building.
Competencies Leaders Look For
For a team that is aimed at becoming successful on a global level, a leader must have a look at various factors. Some of which have been highlighted as follows: ü A leader ought to make sure that he or she possesses the characteristics that are able to move a team beyond a cultural difference, especially when it comes to establishing a common ground. It is without a doubt that some of the greatest companies today have moved beyond the cultural differences. Here, employees rarely look at each other from a cultural background, but more about their similarities.
A great leader must be able to develop and establish frequent contacts with his or her employees. Such contacts should involve both formal and informal communication. This way, the leader creates some sort of trust with the employees, which further promotes motivation within the firm.
The leader should make sure that work processes are formalized and automated. McFarland (2014) notes that automation helps create an easier way of communication and running of things within the organization. Despite companies operating from diverse geographical locations, an effective operational system is what can keep a contact team.
Since technological difference is a major disadvantage in a global team, it is important to balance off this issue. This is achievable if the managerial team discuss on adopting some of the latest and most effective technologies. A small glitch in technology can cause a huge problem for the company.
The manager should take advantage of geographical difference in distributing work and assignment of roles. That is, the best employees in different departments might be located in different regions. Therefore, the manager should take advantage of this and pick the best workers from all sides.
Finally, it is imperative for a leader to show some level of respect towards its team members. Carucci (2016) agrees that great and most effectual teams are formed based on respect, which normally translates to day-to-day actions. Moreover, a few aspects that bring teams together include the following:
Ensure the implementation of the right strategies and tools that will aid in overcoming the geographical distance. Some of these tools include video conferencing, content sharing, and messaging. Leaders can take a leap, hop on a plane, and meet the other workers on a face-to-face basis. Even though this might be expensive, and sometimes unnecessary, Hegarty and Moccia (2018) advise that it should be done on a more frequent basis. It would be very important for a leader to adjust his or her schedule to align with the time zones of the other team members. The reason for this is to create cohesion and make sure nothing ever goes unnoticed. It also helps create a trustworthy relationship with employees.
Leadership Strategies To Help Create Ethical Team Performance
According to Lippert and Dulewicz (2017), a successful global team ought to have a definable set of ethics to follow, whereby the leaders should lead by an example. For starters, it is worth noting that ethical leadership is to know and understand one’s core values. Leaders should not only introduce such values, but they should also be able to believe in them. This way, the other workers can follow suit and implement the core ethical values for the company. McFarland (2014) further notes that ethical leadership involves leading others with respect whereby everyone’s dignity and rights are taken into serious consideration. Moreover, ethical leadership requires a manager to be people-oriented whereby he or she is very much aware of how certain decisions can or might affect others. This goes hand in hand with the aspect of cultural differences within a global team. In essence, as explained by Kermit-Burley (2015), for a leader to be successful from an ethical perspective, he or she should use their power wisely. Instead of abusing it, a manager can take advantage of the power to serve and work with others peacefully. The desire to do good for others is what should act as the driving motivator to an ethical leader. With this in mind, a manager will never fail in creating an efficient global team.
Four (4) Ways Leaders Can Use To Encourage Ethical Behavior in a Global Team
For most leaders, they usually believe that whatever method they are using is ethically correct. This might be true. However, most of their ethical views always come to question the moment they start leading a globalized team. In such cases, ethical views become skewed and cultural differences usually take the center stage. Therefore, it is critical for a leader to examine this aspect of ethical behaviors and perceptions very carefully. Here are four ways a manager can encourage behaviors within a global team.
Make It Psychologically Safe To Speak
Most leaders preach the “open door” policy; however, rarely do they translate this type of preaching into practical reality. That is, even though leaders have the tendency of encouraging employees to feel free with them and air out any issues they may have, rarely do they mean it. On the contrary, most managers are nothing but very dissuading unto their workers, which tends to discourage them from discussing and addressing their problems. To curb this, Savitz (2015) advises managers to become more welcoming and friendly to those they lead. This is achievable if the leader can create a culture where anyone can speak freely. As a leader, one has to confront two main issues. The first one is to create an environment that discourages the feeling of futility; and instead make the workers feel like they bring lots of worth to the team. Leaders should avoid the feeling of being worthless. The second thing to confront is the feeling of natural fear of speaking out. According to Lippert and Dulewicz (2017), such negative feelings and thoughts have a tendency of leading to harsh reactions and retribution. Therefore, it is important for employees to feel appreciated and loved within an organization. A leader should encourage the feeling of being in a “family”.
Refrain From Applying Excessive Pressure To Achieve Unrealistic Targets
Any type of manager ought to understand the significance of having realistic goals, and that they should not force objectives and missions that are not achievable. It is worth noting that goals and objectives have the effect of causing some kind of tunnel vision on employees. That is, with specified goals, some employees will turn off their creativities and only focus on what they are supposed to achieve – the goal(s). However, DeRosa (2016) argues that this is dangerous since it can result in losses to an organization. Some people do not like the pressure that comes with unrealistic goals. The reason for this is that, when someone gets to underachieve in a certain goal, the next thing is to go into a “loss prevention” mode. In such scenarios, some of the workers might start the fear of losing their jobs, which results in low performance. Instead, Carucci (2016) gives the advice on how to deal with this, which is by reducing the pressure on employees.
Make Integrity And Ethical Behavior A Routine Conversation
Leaders should terminate the mentality that ethical speeches should only take place when there is a scandal ought to stop. Rather, such speeches are to be encouraged on a daily basis. It should not matter if the talks are boring or not, the leader is encouraged to discuss about different ethical scenarios. The importance of this is to inspire employees such that whenever they face certain tricky and dilemma-like situations, then they can always react in the best way possible. Such ethical talks are even more important if a manager is dealing with a global team whereby members consist of personnel from diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, it means that an executive will never lack an ethical topic to talk about, thus the routine-like conversations. Hegarty and Moccia (2018) support this argument by introducing the aspect of relativism on an ethical level. The researcher emboldens managers to consider teaching their global teammates on understanding the different ethical perspective and that different views can be relative.
Make Sure To Set An Example
Conferring to views by Kermit-Burley (2015), there is no better way to lead others than by displaying examples. That is, if a managerial executive is all about the common carpe diem, “do as I say and not as I do” then the organization is in serious trouble. Such a mentality usually results in double standards, which then causes stagnation within a firm. Any frontrunner needs to understand that they are the natural representation of any company. Consequently, it is highly significant to be ethically correct in whatever one does. Without such leadership skills, a company’s performance will be expected to crumble and fail mainly because its global team was not as highly effective as it could have been. In essence, McFarland (2014) takes note of the importance of a positive ethical behavior within a firm. The basis for this is to create an enough amount of trust among the team members.
Effective Coaching, Monitoring and Team Building
For a successful global team, various factors come into play, some of which have been mentioned above; however, it is implausible to ignore factors such as coaching, monitoring and team building. Let’s have a look at how these factors affect leadership in a global team.
Coaching
Managers should look at this from a sport’s coach angle, whereby employees, like players, need to understand the need of working together. None of the employees should ever feel special, thereby guaranteeing equal treatment within the organization. The objective of coaching is to treat the team as one person, whereby they are dependent on each other. If one fails then all of them have failed (DeRosa, 2016). This kind of mentality is a requirement in every company, especially if the firm operates on a global level.
Mentoring
The culture of mentorship is not only important in any organization, but the management should address it with great care. In essence, mentorship involves senior workers passing down their skills and dexterities to those who are not yet experienced enough. This way, if an employee goes on leave or something like that, then no process will be affected. Instead, mentorship is supposed to make sure everyone within the firm is well versed in something important.
Team Building
According to DeRosa (2016), team building is the best way to create morale within a firm. Team building is achievable in a manner that team members get to work together without the pressure of ever doing so. A manager can do this by carrying out occasional team building seminars whereby experts are hired with the intentions of teaching employees to work together. Secondly, a manager can decide to create a team building activity outside the offices whereby workers learn to work in teams. The outdoor activities need to be both fun and effective such that workers get to learn one or two things about teamwork. An example by Hegarty and Moccia (2018) includes outdoor challenges such as rope and obstacle courses and games. In such occasions, the workers are made to work or play as team members thus create the illusion of depending on each other.
Making It Work (Combining All Three)
Despite being divided into three aspects, coaching, monitoring and team building can only be effective if they are combined into one. That is, all three have been designed with the aim of helping workers grow and develop into efficient and useful teams. Therefore, Carucci (2016) proposes the use of programs or systems that are adhered towards to the firm’s goals and objectives. For instance, it would be imperative for an executive to employ the services of an expert coach or team builder. The advantage of an outside assistance is to come up with new and different ideas. Conclusion From the aforementioned strategic and effective perspectives, it is important to note the various criticalities involved in managing a global team. For instance, it is without a doubt that any business looking to grow a business on a global level, it should always take innumerable aspects into play. Some of these include the ethical relativities involved in making decisions, cultural differences, coaching skills and even psychological team building.
The several ideas mentioned in this paper encapsulate the importance of decision-making scenarios for companies operating on a global level. Kermit-Burley (2015) further notices the learning and developing skills used by managers and executives in making sure that they come up with some of the best and high-performing global team. Some of the skills involved include the likes of team building, monitoring and coaching, which are known to help employees master their dexterities and open-up their creativities. The paper also touches on the prominence of utilizing ethical issues in managing a globalized team of workers. In such cases, the recommendation by Savitz (2015) is to lead by an example whereby a leader should do exactly as he or she expects employees to behave. McFarland (2014), who suggests that leaders should make it free to discuss their problems and ethical dilemmas, amplifies the same arguments. This way, they can solve problems as a team.
