Global teams are like oceans: Depending on how they are navigated, they can link the world together or split it apart. When global teams work, they tap into a company's top talent, exploit local expertise, unite far-flung groups and ramp up worldwide production. When they don't, they are divisive, spark massive miscommunication and drive global projects into the ground.
Working across international, cultural and organizational boundaries poses daunting challenges on a variety of levels. Time zone differences can make meetings difficult. Language and cultural differences sometimes lead to communication problems. And a variety of less obvious differences trip up global team members in ways they rarely expect.
Despite such difficulties, global teams - in all forms - are here to stay. Whether it's a small task force within a single company, a cross-border partnership or a multinational coalition of leaders spanning several organizations, global teams have become an essential element of modern business.
When done right, global teams can be an asset, unlocking tremendous value for companies that use them. Global teams can also ratchet up creativity and innovation by tapping into unique skill sets and multiple points of view.
Unlocking Value
Despite such potential, global teams pose challenges that must first be overcome. One of the most common issues is time. When team members are scattered across several time zones, simply scheduling a meeting can be difficult. Start global conference calls by asking what time it is for everyone involved, to make everyone aware of other team members' situations. Also, change meeting times frequently so that everybody has a chance to attend a meeting during the day.
Tackling cultural differences can be much more of a challenge. When global teams include more than one culture, team members carry unspoken assumptions that can lead to inadvertent misunderstandings. After all, the type of information people share and how they share it is culturally based.
Depending on a person's cultural background, fellow team members might seem to be speaking too loudly or softly, interrupting too much or being too reticent, demanding a ridiculous amount of information or being oddly ambiguous. Cultural differences also impact the way global teams communicate information to others outside of the team - another possible source of conflict.
Barriers to Sharing Knowledge
While cultural differences may stand out as an obvious stumbling block for global teams, differences in other areas also drive teams apart, experts point out.
Having a mix of "Cosmopolitans" and "Locals" are a key to team success. "Locals" are defined as team members on the ground who know a lot about the country they represent. "Cosmopolitans" are team members who have lived in several countries and may speak multiple languages. Having worked on projects in different parts of the world, Cosmopolitans have a birds-eye view and may be able to see the global implications of a team's actions. But only a Local might be aware of what consumers in a particular country want from a new product, or understand the subtleties of a new environmental regulation the local country just put in place.
There are four sets of differences that can drive global team members apart: cultural, geographic, demographic and structural. Cultural barriers stem from a team member's birthplace and background. Geographic barriers refer to the actual location where the team member resides. (These two can be different if, say, the team member is an American-born expat in charge of a company's Beijing office.)
Demographic barriers refer to factors such as age, tenure and education level of a team member. Structural differences refer to a team member's position in the company hierarchy or a particular business unit.
Not all differences are created equal, structural differences play a stronger role than demographic ones, and geography plays a stronger role than culture. In fact, structural differences play a stronger role than either geography or culture. So managers from two different countries who work in the same company division could find it easier to share information than people from the same cultural background who work in two different departments or satellite offices.
So what can managers and companies do to make global teams work better? Try these following suggestions:
- Try to meet at least once face-to-face: This can assist in making virtual teams work much more smoothly.
- Choose team members carefully: Find the right balance of Locals and Cosmopolitans.
- Keep the team small if possible: Teams of 5-7 work most effectively.
- Consider cross-cultural training: Provide guidelines and support for chartering cross-cultural teams.
- Be explicit upfront about how the team will operate: Making no assumptions that some things should be obvious or understood.
- Be conscious of time: That means not only time zones but expectations of how long tasks should take, how long meetings should be and when they are expected to start and finish.
- Consider how the team is organized: Be aware of conflicting interests of team members. Form sub-tasks to pull the group together and counteract the tendency to splinter along cultural or geographic lines.
- Don't overload team members: A team's effectiveness is compromised if its members are too overloaded with tasks. These can be tasks for the team itself or external projects that team members have to complete in addition to their work on the team.
- Give the team autonomy: Being autonomous is one of the key factors to a global team's success. Teams that have no control over their budget, are beholden to outside interests or have little authority to make decisions about tasks and resources struggle to meet their goals. Without autonomy a global team's scheduling efforts, cross-cultural dialogue and efforts to increase information-sharing could well go to waste.