Leadership Lessons for International Teams
Leading teams is the most strenuous responsibility of managers and directors in any organisation. Plus, it is also inevitable that your teammates will be in different locations and time zones. If you’re someone who also encounters occasional friction with your direct reports then you might consider the following tips for leaders who handle global remote teams.
1. Effective Communication
Most of the time, tasks are simple. However, how it’s done can’t be easily translated through memos and sticky notes. If you frequently find your teammates confused, the number one skill that you have to develop is business communication. For visionaries and engineers, you can be the best in execution when you are still an individual contributor. When you start managing people, you realise that knowledge transfer is harder than doing the job. This is because of the Curse of Knowledge. It’s a bias that proves how we assume that our audience clearly understands the complexity of what we’re talking about when it’s difficult for them to absorb the information immediately. This is why it’s important to get feedback from your team if they understand your instructions correctly and how you can communicate with them effectively. Communication can be honed continuously and making yourself aware that you have to improve it every day is already a good start.
2. Team Trust & Relationship Building
The difference between high-performing teams versus teams who have the best players is trust. No matter how many top-notchers you have in a group, you still cannot guarantee that it will be an A-team. Unfortunately, that responsibility is upon you as a leader. Conflict resolution by addressing recurring issues that stop your members from collaborating is one of the ways to keep them at optimal performance. You also have to build relationships between individuals so that they can maintain healthy competition. Without rapport between you and your teammates, they are bound to cut corners and shove issues under the rug as they don’t feel safe in uncomfortable discussions. Trust is built by fostering a safe space whereby psychological safety is equally important to every participant in the conversation.
3. Goal Setting & Realistic Expectations
Prior planning prevents poor performance. When you’re setting goals, think about the process owners. How do they get from point A to point B? Is it even possible? As leaders, it’s normal to have moonshots. However, it also leads to burnout. Instead of huge leaps, chop it down to checkpoints where each milestone reached is generously rewarded. This will keep your team motivated and aim for bigger targets. It is also imperative to set deadlines. As how project managers put it, a goal without a deadline is just a wish. Dreaming that one day a result would pop out of nowhere will make you appear as a weak leader. Having projects in the pipeline that have never been taken seriously for a while is a clear indication of procrastination. This will show them what your priorities are. To set clear goals, involve your team so that they commit to the numbers set beforehand.
4. Productivity & Performance Monitoring
You will likely see heated exchanges in reviews and reports. This is commonly caused by bad reporting and monitoring. Just because something is exciting to start, doesn’t mean it will go smoothly through and through. There will be forks in the road and if you’re agile enough as a team or organisation, you will be able to close off a good year or a quarter. As a leader, you are responsible for foreseeing patterns that may lead to failure. You have to know if everything is going well or if your teammates are just saying that it’s going well. Influence them by leading from the front. Let it be known that you are aware of the intricacies and when push comes to shove, you are ready to go for the rescue.
5. Inclusivity in Collaboration
Our final point is probably the most vital of these 5 tips. Sure, teams aren’t supposed to be families but every member is still a human being. Mind you, they have different backgrounds. And if there’s one bias that you should dispel off the bat, it’s groupthink. You cannot and should not control the perspectives of your teammates. You can influence them but always practice empathy. Know that they have different experiences than you so if they share a contradicting opinion about the work that you do, don’t cast them out. Inclusion drives diversity. Only then you can find unique ideas that could revolutionise industries.
Global teams may not be the easiest to lead but once you find the sweet spot on making them feel appreciated, they may bring you the biggest breakthroughs of your organisation. Learn how we lead offshore teams to produce their best work for our partners. You may book a call with an expert on this link or contact us on this page.