Get Your Team on the Same Page Even if They are Spread Across Different Countries and Time Zones

This article is written by Cynthia Owens

When you are managing people or projects in multiple countries across many time zones, it’s very easy to lose track of what you’ve said to any given team. You may feel like a broken record and at the same time wonder why it’s so difficult to get people in far-flung offices to execute your goals.

Your teams across the region see you once every few weeks as you pass through the office or hear your voice on a conference call.

It’s natural to want to tell them something new, but that’s how employees end up confused: A month ago you were talking about building the pipeline, before that you were talking about growing the size of each deal, and now you are talking about customer service. Pretty quickly, the team stops paying attention and possibly becomes cynical because they know your message will change every time they see you.

It’s hard work to get 10 regional offices on the same path. Make it easier for yourself and your teams by creating clear, consistent messages and delivering them often over many channels.

Consistent message. It’s the start of a new year, so sit down and look at your strategies for the year. How can you articulate those strategies in three messages? Let’s say your key messages are: 1) a strong pipeline, 2) bigger deals, and 3) great customer service. Those are messages that could work for all of 2012.

As you visit your regional offices, they should hear you talk about those three keys all year. Each time you may be focused on some of the strategies and tactics that will help you execute on those three key messages.

You may have to say things 10 times or more before the message starts to go beyond your direct reports. This means using the same words and phrases, so people begin to believe that you mean it. This is especially true in places where you don’t speak the native language. Work with your translators and senior managers to get the translation right and encourage them to use it consistently.

Clear message. Be really clear about what your expectations are and what you mean. If “great customer service” is a key, then give your teams a vivid picture of what that looks like. What is great customer care? How should they speak with clients? How quickly should your team get back to clients? What can the company do to support customers? How will you measure this and when?

So that may mean saying: “Customer care is the number one job for everyone in the company. We want to make sure we answer customer calls the same day and get back to them with answers within 24 hours. We want to talk to our clients as though they were honored guests. We want our customers to refer other clients to us. We completed a survey of customers at the start of the year and we will survey clients again in June and in December to measure our customer care.”

Deliver your messages anytime, anywhere by any channels. Look for ways to incorporate your messages into presentations and conversations. Find great stories and examples to bring those messages to life.

“That’s a great example of building the pipeline. That will really pay off for this office over then next two quarters. Can you share with the team how you accomplished that?”

“The team in Korea has done a good job of growing the size of each deal. They’ve managed to add nearly 14% to the value of deals this quarter. Here’s how they did that...”

Use high-tech and low- tech methods to help you get the message across as well. So you might emphasize your three key messages in e-mail, internal social media, staff web sites, and company announcements. Also look for ways to use old-fashioned posters near the coffee machine or monthly newsletters.

(c) 2011 Organisation Solutions Pte Ltd.

About the Authors: Cynthia Owens is Senior Vice President of Organisation Solutions and oversees communication programmes and services. She has more than 20 years of experience working for some of the world’s top news organisations including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News and CNBC Asia. Cynthia now helps leaders and businesses communicate more effectively by helping them refine strategy and messaging and improve communications skills to achieve business goals.

Comments

[Aileen Markey]

I foudn this article very interesting & have shared it with a few of my leaders internally who like me have teams both direct & indirect spread all over the Globe. I think the message is spot on which says you don't always have to say something new to people, more important to keep focusing on the same topics but also good to talk about how those topics/areas are progressing. I once worked with a great Leader in Financial services who did roadshows each quarter, he never had a powerpoint presentation or a script, he just went back to his top 3 priorities for the year & talked about what was working & what was not & how we had to fix it, it resignated with people & his focus gave others focus, it was very powerful.