Leading across Borders. Confederation of DI Dansk Industri 2014 Danish Industry

Transcription

1 Leading across Borders DI Dansk Industri

2 Theoretical foundation Identification with leader by Stacey L. Connaughton & John A. Daly (Distanced Leadership from the perspective of the dispersed employee) Leading from Afar: Strategies for Effectively Leading Virtual Teams by Stacey L. Connaughton & John A. Daly Lederskab på distancen by Anne Birgitte Lindholm 2

3 13 areas of main focus 3

4 Objectives After the training the participant is able to understand and act on the challenges with dispersed teams create a solid foundation for Distance Leadership (Distance Charter) apply the principles in Distance Leadership 4

5 Content Leading from afar Distance leadership The distance employee Distance leadership the foundation Distance leadership

6 Content Leading from afar Distance leadership The distance employee Distance leadership the foundation Distance leadership

7 Dispersed teams and Distance leadership Definition Dispersed teams: Teams that are separated by some degree of time and distance * Definition Distance leadership: Leadership in those contexts * People & Performance A/S Sources: Cascio & Shurygalio (2003) 7

8 What are the benefits in terms of collaboration and leadership when allocated in the same office/location? 8

9 The advantages of physically proximate offices Traditional office settings provide more frequent and spontaneous communication immediate interaction for troubleshooting the possibility to develop and maintain relationships. Source: Davenport & Pearlson (1998) 9

10 The Distance Leader s Challenges Dispersed teams, 10 years of research, 3,000 leaders 1. to find the most appropriate way to lead 2. to handle the loss of control feeling 3. to work across organizational boundaries and cultures 4. to create transparency about role priorities 5. to develop and keep the team vision, spirit, approach, and feeling of joint purpose 6. to maintain relations and create an atmosphere of trust 7. to optimize the team s performance and establish appropriate performance management 8. to motivate 9. to develop a method for realizing an employee s potential from a distance 10. to decide an appropriate level and methods for using communication technology Source: Center for Distance leadership, US. 10

11 Content Leading from afar - Distance leadership The distance employee Distance leadership the foundation Distance leadership

12 What challenges does the distance employee experience? Isolation 12

13 Challenges for the distance employee fewer opportunities for informal communication feeling isolated from the central organization geographic dispersion makes effective interactions harder and increase complexity hard to identify with the distant leader and organization. Reworked from Cramton (2002) 13

14 Challenges # 1 Logistics and Technology 1. Distance leads to the fact that issues are postponed until F2F is possible 2. The corporation is complicated by different time zones 3. Travel costs and time consumption influence the choices of how to lead and handle problems 1. Technophobia (fear) and Technophile (attraction) reinforces barriers 2. Web and phone communication is poor on cues compared to F2F communication 3. Multiple communication channels and side communication increases the complexity 4. Delays in asynchronic communication becomes an important dynamic Sources: Solomon, 1995,Townsend et al, 1998, Warketin et al, 1997; Daft & Lengel,

15 Challenges # 2 Social interaction & culture 1. The traditional social mechanisms does not work 2. Communication dynamics, e.g. body language and intonation, changes 3. The nuances in members social and professional roles are lost or distorted 4. Integrating new collegues from a distance is hard 1. Multiple cultures lead to misunderstandings and distorted assumptions 2. The impact from national culture increase in comparison with the company culture 3. Certain cultural differences are multiplied by distance 4. Building trust is hard from a distance, and the troubles are reinforced by cultural differences Sources: Solomon, 1995,Townsend et al, 1998, Warketin et al, 1997; Daft & Lengel,

16 What matters to the individual employee Identification Motivation 16

17 Identification matters The symbolic value of actions used matters even more Considering the signal value becomes important How and from whom should the distance employees hear the news? How can we involve distance employees in decision processes? Reduce us versus them mentality Visits to HQ, get to know colleagues Introduction to the national culture in HQ Introduction to company culture The distance employees are included in the pictures hanging in HQ, in the flags hanging on the wall Symbolic gifts has a place at a central spot Internal sources of information are spread postal approaches, bulletin board, afterwork meetings, Friday morning coffee, on serious and "for fun" distribution lists, etc.. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 17

18 Motivation matters DI Dansk Industri 1. The distance employees were more satisfied with their jobs than the employees closer to their leaders 2. Availability was an important factor for the satisfaction with the leader in the distance group. In fact, the physical distance was not an important indicator. Sources: Leading from Afar, S.L. Connaughton & J.A.Daly, Motivaiton, D. McClelland 18

19 The Distance employee Isolation Identification Motivation 19

20 Content Leading from afar - Distance leadership The distance employee Distance leadership the foundation Distance leadership

21 Successful distance collaboration = Discipline and Consistency 21

22 Distance Management KPIs Relevant KPIs Aligned effort priorities Review process Organization Dilemma reduction Reporting lines Job description Escalation staircase Platform Media choice principles Technology access Knowledge Management Charter Process Frequency Team/1-2-1 Templates (e.g. agenda) Publicly scheduled Ground rules Agreed rules Aligned behaviour Avoid problem rules Objectives Distributed Line of sight (result-effort) SMART Roles Team roles Collaboration roles 22

23 Distance Management Objectives and KPIs 3 Skill-build targets Skills Distance Skill-build KPIs 6 2 Effort targets Behavior Distance Effort KPIs 5 1 Performan ce targets Results Results Distance Performan ce KPIs 4 23

24 Distance leadership Aligned priorities at a distance 24

25 Exercise Same groups as previously (3 persons) Pick one of your distance employees and make a prioritized list for the tasks and efforts Time: 20 minutes 25

26 Distance Management Organization principles Clear about Base organization Allocation in split reference Reduce dilemmas Clear governance, who can delegate what to the distance employee Mechanism to coordinate above the distance employee Ensure access to professional interaction Consider access to needed facilities (local markets, special facilities/ location) Ensure job, function, or project role description aligned to the result, effort, 26 and skill-build targets as well as KPIs

27 Distance Management the distance escalation staircase... Build clear criteria and a process for escalation to empower align expectations ensure sufficient local initiative overcome cultural differences 5 th floor 4 th floor Get approval before initiating 3 rd floor Demand from local government that trigger workload in our stores Decide and Inform xx 2 nd floor Will probably trigger competitor reaction Decide 1 st floor DKK 4,000 + local impact 27

28 Distance Management Platform principles The access to the media in use affect the distance cooperation Some media are better than others to certain forms of communication There is a risk of unequal access to influence and participation in the cooperation due to differences in access to technology Deliberately choose media based on: Message (praise, conflict, problem solving, info, etc.) Participants access, skills in using and bandwith The need for two-way interaction (number of cues needed) The signal value. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 28

29 Platform Media richness F2F Phone Chat Simpel web tools Virtual world (live web meetings) Letter Policies Notes/minutes Newsletters Rich media Less rich media Access to media and support S Kilde: Daft & Lengel 29

30 Distance Management Ground rules Agree and Align to ground rules e.g.: We will identify meetings as must attend and may attend meetings. We will all attend must meetings. Each meeting will have an agenda distributed before the meeting Meetings will end on time There will be no side conversations (by whatever media) during meetings F2F team meetings will, when possible, be rotated across regions Minutes will be distributed within three business days We will all respond to s within one business day All s will be less than one page (otherwise attach the file and direct attention to specific issues). Avoid Establishing rules after a problem has arisen will reflect someone s misbehavior 30 Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 30

31 Distance Management Meetings Meeting Management: Regular meetings with agreed agendas Publication of meeting series and content Formulate standards for preparation and participation s, Excel, presentations etc. available for reading prior to the meeting Give clear preparation tasks: Prepare to present your position/impact in your market segment Product focus = use template and joint formats for the preparation to ensure aligned expectations Meeting leadership: Check In and Check-out Adherence to procedures agreed Active involvement Do recurring meetings also when no problems justify it (free-flow chatting) Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 31

32 Distance Leadership DI Dansk Industri Leadership Lead leaders Accessibility Discipline and Consistency Two-way Gatekeeper Lead performance Check-in and Check-out Clear review format and process Quality and effort alignment RAPID execution Trust building Self-disclosure Personalization On-site/face2face enough Social/shared events Communication Over-communicate Communicate in pictures Create context and coherence Feedback loops and Reciprocity Culture Build cultural awareness Communication styles Sense of time and rhythm Charter People & Performance A/S 32

33 Distance Leadership Communication principles Over-communicate Multiple media, e.g. mail + phone Multiple channels, e.g. joint information + personal mail Communicate in pictures Screen dump with arrows Story-telling by using examples Create context Why before what Frame the communication Describe benefits and consequences of the effort asked People & Performance A/S. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 33

34 Lead the Quality alignment Quality It is the leaders task to align expectations to quality and effort put in Time 34

35 Distance Leadership Lead (multiple) leaders The distance employee will have local and distance leaders assigning tasks The challenge is to create consistent direction and align expectations The responsibility for aligning expectations to efforts and priorities belong to the distance leader The distance leader is responsible for involving the local manager Informal leaders will emerge enrol them Recruit the right employees for a distance position, being self-starters, independent, active in communication. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 35

36 Distance Leadership DI Dansk Industri - Two stages in building trust. Stage 1 building trust F2F (with a new team, employee, or leader) Trust is critical in creating and sustaining effective distance relations Trustful relations promote open, candid, and to the point information exchange Stage 2 sustaining trust A leader can successfully manage the day-to-day issues of their teams from afar however the problem is If a leader does not engage in F2F exchanges during the initial phase, it will create a trust deficit The main challenge is to engage enough in F2F and maintain the interaction frequency Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 36

37 Distance Leadership Culture Cultural diversity is an important influence Sense of time and rhythm have great influence Awareness on differences in the team removes frustration Public and agreed approaches to address cultural diversity are important People & Performance A/S. Sources : Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly 37