5 Tips to Stay Connected to Your Team
June 5, 2009 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
In today’s “flat” world, managers have to get the best from teams that span continents. They are charged with bringing together people of unprecedented diversity to solve problems of unprecedented complexity – and do it faster, with fewer resources than ever before. During these difficult and challenging economic times, managers need a radically new approach to management: one that’s more fluid, more agile, and far less hierarchical. In the new book, How to Manage in a Flat World, management experts Susan Bloch and Philip Whiteley introduce that new approach.
What follows are 5 tips on how YOU can stay connected to your team…no matter where they are located!
- Leadership style needs to become more empowering and inspirational– Often people appear contrary, wanting autonomy and direction simultaneously. The effective leader sees this as a challenge, and will set direction, then enthuse and engage people’s hearts to follow. It’s time to get up from behind the desk.
- Recruitment of the right people makes all the difference—All managers have to treat hiring as a key priority, and, where possible avoid the temptation to fill a post quickly, ignoring the fact that new competencies and behaviors are required. All the more important in these tough economic times, when the wrong hire can cost you both time and money.
- Communicate often and learn to communicate well— Communication is not just about emails, conference calls and slide presentations. Listening is the foundation of great team communication, and face-to-face meetings reinforce and enhance team relationships and effectiveness.
- Teams don’t just happen—Most managers believe that without some face-to-face contact it is very difficult to get the teamwork needed in order to manage effectively. Although flying is expensive and travel often exhausting, it is clear that “teams the meet the most are the best run.”
- Build trust: it is the foundation of strong teams—In particular, be sensitive when there is change in structure at a global level. It is seen to take up to a year to rebuild trust. People feel insecure and confused, often concerned with what seems to be loss of areas of responsibility, and insecurity about their jobs.
Five tips above excerpted from How to Manage in a Flat World copywrite FT Press, 2009.
