Being involved in supporting and leading multi-location / multi-cultural teams there are some general guidelines I follow (more or less). The list turned out to be quite big:
* Find some time for everyone personally. Use the phone or face to face (no e-mail, or chat)
* Start each project with big bang. Team members and stakeholders must get to know and talk to each other
* Use weekly catch-up meeting. E.g. ‘scrum of scrums’ and involve relevant team-members / stakeholders
* Use technology to bring people together (ONLY as a last resort). Use video, not only voice, screen sharing and chat
* Share a common project management platform. E.g. Jira, Basecamp
* Encourage different team members to talk to each other – over the phone or in person. The e-mail communication is to be used only as a back-up channel for the requests
* Have a clear vision and communicate it openly (long & short term)
* Set clear goals
* Have clear responsibilities (could change in long term)
* Don’t stop supporting the coordination between the teams even if it goes really well
* Encourage open communication and listen to the feedback
* Talk to the clients and share the feedback among the teams
* Trust is everything – build trust not only within the same team but also support building trust within members of different teams
* Encourage cooperation
* Friendly competitiveness is also beneficial
* Keep focus on what is really important (never stop prioritizing and get rid of the ‘non-essential’ stuff)
* Celebrate and reveal each success. Spread the successful stories
* Be a good example
* Balance your time well, between stakeholders and team members
* Share and do some of the work. Fill some gaps and support your teams
* Be enthusiastic and positive
* Focus on effectiveness and delivery
* Don’t waste your and your people’s time. Avoid pointless meetings. Be quick and to the point
* Self-management is blessing but don’t be afraid to manage when needed or the teams are in doubt
* Don't just follow the traditions and the rules set. Innovate together with the folks
* Be a human being – it’s not only work. Offer empathy and sympathy when needed
My general vision is to elaborate more on some of those and provide examples in my future posts.
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