How to Get the Most from your Multiregional Team

Naheed Chowdhry
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together” — Malcolm Forbes

While multicultural teams offer a huge range of advantages such as diversity of ideas, expertise, and experiences, they can also be a huge challenge for a leader due to the complex and nuanced cooperation between the offices, cultures, and ethnicities. However, given the right leadership strategy, the challenges can be mitigated and the advantages can be fully realized.

During all these years in business, I have seen multiregional teams fail and I’ve seen them achieve great success, and I must say that it is the degree of social connection that matters. The teams that work in the same office or city normally don’t have problems, as regular real-life contact forms a basis for an emotional connectivity inside of the team and, as a result, fosters better understanding and empathy.

Given this fact, it is essential to build the sense of belonging among the team members no matter how far away from the headquarters they are located: just a brief talk, feedback session or weekly appraisal for good work can make a huge difference. It does not require that much time or effort, but increases the motivation and makes people feel valued.

Apart from the interpersonal connections and geographical proximity, communication channels can either take the productivity to the next level or totally destroy it. Video conferencing can reduce social distance by giving participants a rich, real-time display of voice and emotion, helping to build trust and more effectively communicate complicated ideas. Still, it should be noted that video conferencing is not the ultimate solution for everything. While it is great for discussions and strategic planning it can be a logistical nightmare and many leadership teams value the additional communication of body language and expression that face to face meetings can best provide. Of course, messaging platforms offer a delayed form of communication which is very useful for basic information exchange and which is more friendly for the teams that are spread across various time zones.

There will be always some challenges that the leaders of global teams can face. But interpersonal communication, building a sense of belonging and a mix of appropriate communication channels will always be essential. Having these points covered will make it much easier to ensure a cohesive core workplace that still allows for regional culture to have their seat at the table.

Naheed Chowdhry

Written by

CEO, @IWILL_Global | The Future of Storytelling | @UN_Women Task Force Member | Author, Mentor & Speaker

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