E-Collaboration and Global Talent Management
To successfully align talent and strategy, today’s leaders need a “global mindset.” In the cross-cultural, multi-lingual workplace where dispersed workers collaborate online, communication skills are needed at a new level. Dr. April Wall and Theresa Rich discuss their research on these questions in chapters they contributed to the forthcoming Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy. The Handbook explores studies of electronic collaboration across organizations, or inter-organizational collaboration, and within organizations, intra-organizational collaboration.
April’s chapter, “Collaborating on Leadership Development: Using Technology Enhanced Collaborative Leadership Development” discusses inter-organizational collaboration while Theresa’s chapter, “Globalizing A Function Within A Company” examines intra-organizational collaboration. Both agree that online collaboration and virtual teamwork are essential to contemporary business operations. Updated leadership attitudes and skills are needed to engage and motivate talent across the organization.
April points out that, “As a management consultant, I frequently collaborate with other staff or consultants and invariably that involves online interaction—using the telephone as well as a range of internet communication. These media are now a fact of life for anyone concerned with leadership, and while they may seem convenient and cost-effective, they are not without pitfalls for even the most seasoned communicators.” Theresa agrees, “Online communication and collaboration can be extremely difficult. We need to cross time zones, languages, cultures, customs, and styles. Depending upon the home countries of participants, a matter as seemingly simple as finding a time to meet in real-time can be difficult. Depending on the time of year, there can be a 16 hour time zone difference for team members in Australia and those in the Eastern US.”
April and Theresa learned through research and experience that when working over technology, the more senses that can be involved, the better. Combining voice, web-based collaboration tools, and the ability for real-time chat can be much more effective than working only over a conference call. In any event, making this work requires well-understood expectations and consistently followed behavior norms.
No simple list can fully address the communication strategies needed for successful online collaboration; Theresa and April suggest the following points. Let’s discuss and add to this list!
- Be attentive to written communications when English is not the first language of all participants. Even with strong English skills readers from different cultures may have difficulties with long emails or multi-page documents.
- Send things in advance so people have time to read and comprehend.
- Be conscious with word choice. Avoid colloquial expressions and slang.
- Communicate visually- diagrams, charts, mind maps or pictures. Match medium with message, and learn to facilitate dialogue in different media.
- If using a conference call, create a protocol that allows people to signal when they want to make a comment or question.
- Give thought to where you originate the communication—in or outside the home office or country.
- Understand dynamics of online communication.
- It may be harder to show supportive feelings whereas comments on small negative matters may be blown out of proportion.
- People say things online they might not say in person.
- Pay attention to non-verbal communication
- Reading between lines, looking for what may not be said in an email, such as delays or silences.
- Try to spend time in the context of your global colleagues.
- Periodic face-to-face meetings are helpful to build bridges across team members.
- Working in context with global colleagues builds appreciation for the real business operating conditions.
- Don’t assume an absence of problems simply because no one is complaining. Problems can creep up without your having any sense that difficulties were brewing. Once conflicts or misunderstandings have blossomed, they often take on a life of their own and it may be hard to get back on track or restore trust and open communication.
- Frequently do check-ins to confirm that everyone understands and is in agreement with the plans in question.
- Use “warmer” media to soften some of the interactions and make them more personal. Examples include personal telephone calls that begin with some non-business conversation, or individual emails to express appreciation, thanks, or congratulations on achieving a particular goal or milestone.
- Take risk in asking people when you sense something is amiss, even if nothing specific has been articulated.
- Ensure that you maintain a strong foundation of basic management and communication skills, from project management to continuously getting feedback to honing your written and oral communication capacities.
The Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy, edited by Janet Salmons and Lynn Wilson, will be published by IGI Global in November, 2008.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 11:02 am
Thanks for this useful list of communication tips for long-distance teamwork. I will share them with my colleagues. You mentioned leadership– what do you recommend to develop leaders who know how to build teams and guide complex online projects?
Panaena
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
People are people—online or in person. Fundamentals about how teams work are relevant in any setting. When teamwork is online the need for accountability is heightened- and that means trust is essential. That means team members need to trust that others are commited to the project and to fulfillment of their roles. It also means team members need to trust the leader in terms of clear expectations, realistic timelines, prompt attention to questions, and appropriate rewards for team performance.
If the team has already met and worked together, they may begin with a sense of reciprocity and understanding of each other’skills and workstyles. If not, team leaders need to pay attention to team building from the first stage of formation—starting with agreement about roles, work protocols, and turnaround time for feedback and response.
In addition to any formal classes or training that may be available to boost cometenence in team fundamentals and online communication and meeting tools, prospective leaders will benefit from coaching by experienced virtual team leaders and participation on virtual teams.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I appreciate the role communications plays in collaborative efforts, particularly as discussions among leaders are increasingly taking place over geographic distances to make decisions about our most critical world issues. I’d like to add another element to the discussion.
Communication among leaders, whether f2f or online, is heavily influenced by occupational and disciplinary norms including methods for problem solving, uses of terms, applications of theory to practice, timing, scale and scope etc. Content and communications issues that arise frequently have their origins in those norms. Janet alludes to the need for better cross-cultural communications. I echo her comments and add the need to also explicitly consider the disciplinary/occupational elements. I am particularly interested in thoughts about how to address these issues in a virtual environment.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I find it helps to be very specific regarding the outcome of your communication. Ask for the response you are looking for in plain language. Include dates if you require a time limited response. Avoid trying to tackle too many subjects or questions at once. Collaborating online, I often find that people expect you to know their expectations via ESP without spelling them out.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:02 am
That’s a great point Lynn—those issues really add to the already rich stew we have around communication that can further complicate the online environment.
For my part, I really try to play a similar role online as I do when I am participating in or facilitating f2f discussions. For instance, we often start with some ground rules—which may include either clarifying the norms or language that may be specific to that particular occupation, culture or profession, particularly when there is a mixed group with participants who are not typically part of that culture.
I am also quite assertive in asking for clarification when I hear language or jargon that I don’t understand or that won’t be crystal clear to everyone in the conversation.
One of the most useful tools can be humor—asking folks playfully to stop speaking like “an engineer”, or “OD consultant” or “using IT –speak”, and use language we can all understand.
Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of this issue is finding a way to deal with communication norms that short-circuit full discussion and dialogue—rushing to agreement because we “don’t have time” to “debate” the issue. This is where I really work to convince folks to slow down– making sure that we’ve done a good problem analysis before we jump to solutions, or taking time to hear from those who may be reticent but who can make valuable contributions to understanding the issue at hand. It’s a challenge in f2f work and I find it particularly so in online environment. Yet it’s perhaps even more important here to make sure you don’t simply stick with the superficial communication, and use your tools for encouraging dialogue and building consensus.
June 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Absolutely agreed, Naomi, that there is a tendency to think that our message recipients have ESP. We tend to behave as though everyone has had our same experiences and, therefore, must know what is sought – whether we were explicit about it or not.
When working over email, add to this the reality that when people receive dozens (hundreds!) of emails daily. This means that each email will have minimal eyeball time. One way to get the results sought is to place the wanted in the subject line. For instance, if an item is for action, then place this in the subject line. Even better, if the action is sought by a specific date, say so. For instance, a subject line could say “For your review & comment by July5″.
Continuing Naomi’s observation about assumed ESP, a recent article talks about how miscommunciation of emotion via email (Byron, K. (2008). Carrying too heavy a load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 309-327). Byron discusses how when we use email to try to let someone know we are happy or pleased, the person receiving the message is likely to view it as more neutral. Your pleasure is just not heard. When we try to use an email to let someone know we are unhappy, irritated, or angry, the receiver to likely view our message as more negative than we intended.
Oh, and for those thinking that emoticons help with clarification, Byron (2008) further writes that because there are no normed definitions for the emoticons, they often serve to add confusion.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Building on those thoughts– April and Theresa were part of a group of researchers from 20 countries who contributed 50 chapters to the Handbook of Research on Electronic Collaboration and Organizational Synergy. Given the nature of the project we had little choice but to walk the talk—and collaborate electronically to develop the book. Lynn Wilson and I collaborated online with each other, with these diverse authors, and with peer reviewers through the double-blind review, revision and final submission process. We also worked with our editor and publisher—online, of course.
English was not the first language for a number of contributing authors. They had important examples to include; extra steps were needed to refine of their chapters. To chop and dice someone else’s writing, sensitivity as well as mutual respect and trust are needed. Authors and reviewers also crossed disciplinary lines, since the book covers collaboration in education, business and the social sector. Disciplinary differences manifested in the peer review—in some cases the reviews were wildly disparate. We had to summarize the to-do list of required changes so authors would not be confused by reviewers’ comments. I would like to think we succeeded with this project!
To highlight a few of our strategies…. We tried to establish a friendly tone to communication from the beginning, a “no dumb questions” kind of approach so writers could feel ok about asking for clarification instead of just guessing and causing more work to re-do things. We responded quickly to questions. We tried to be as specific as possible about expectations. Instead of simply forwarding the publisher’s guidelines, we tried to emphasize specific points in a cover letter. We also built in extra time to allow for more back-and-forth with authors who needed to make revisions.
I feel that these approaches would apply in many circumstances where people from across the globe are contributing to written projects—book, article, manual or other business documents. What are your experiences with global writing projects? Any suggestions to others who are leading or participating in such projects?
June 30th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Thanks Theresa, for your specific tips. It appears that virtual leaders and managers will need to learn how to let people know we are pleased with their work in ways that will be heard. I will look for the article you suggested.
July 14th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Before I add my idea to the list, I want to note the importance of the work going on in this forthcoming book.
As a writing teacher, researcher, and professional, I am still struggling to get schools to see the importance of good academic writing; imagine the complications that come with communicating online in writing with the multiple mediums available–so many schools are just dropping that ball.
I know Janet Salmons from my work at Capella University, a school that is not dropping this ball and is, instead, pushing in the charge to look at what new media means to communication. Janet is one of the most valued partners in my Writing Program work, so I follow her reserach carefully, and I must say that, once again, her work with her colleagues is spot on.
For my idea: write in parallel form.
No matter the reader’s native language, it is always easier to read lists that are constructed in the same tense or fashiong:
ex: I like to run, walking, and to eat.
See the ease of fluency added with
I like to run, to walk, and to eat OR I like running, walking, and eating.
I hope this idea helps, and I hope that Janet and company will keep charging forward with this great work; can’t wait to read the whole book and to share it with colleagues.
best-
Stone
July 29th, 2008 at 7:04 am
What exciting work here! It is wonderful to see the depth of the work being done here. I open this to Theresa, April or Janet–will multimedia help alleviate interpersonal misunderstandings? Is this even an option if bandwidth remains the size it is? I believe the written word is extremely powerful; I never thought about emoticons not having a shared meaning, but then again, why should I be surprised? Maudie
July 29th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Stone–
I echo your comments about the importance of good writing skills, especially in the academic online environment, and I appreciate all the fine work that you’ve done tn leading the efforts in this respect at Capella.
Great tips for writing in parallel form too!
Thanks
April
August 1st, 2008 at 8:47 am
Maudie–
You bring up an excellent point. While we have been communicating through images and writing since hieroglyphs, communications researchers have long pointed to the importance of non-verbal communications to convey robust messages.
In the 1980s Daft and Lengel distinguished between distinguishing between “lean” and “rich” media based on the capacity for immediate feedback, the number of cues and channels utilized, personalization, and language variety (Daft & Lengel, 1986). They argued that rich media” allow people to provide and receive immediate feedback, check interpretations and understand multiple cues via body language, tone of voice and message content. With richer, more interactive Web 2.0 and multi-channel technologies such as videoconferencing, Elluminate or Adobe Connect we can use images, text, visuals, and voice in immediate exchanges that more closely approximate in-person communications. Immersive technologies such as Second Life allow for different kinds of experiential contact.
Researchers are beginning to explore the impact these technologies will have for organizations and people whose work requires clarity, understanding and high performance teamwork.
My own preliminary findings indicate that meaningful exchanges and a sense of presence is possible in ways that are quite different than is possible with text alone.
Janet
Daft, R. L., & Lengel, R. H. (1986). Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design. Management Science, 32(5), 554-571.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:06 am
I am a doctoral learning in I/O Psychology and have a great interest in seeing the emergence of resources for learners and faculty to engage in such as the Organizational Perspectives website. Thank you for the opportunity to provide additional ideas and suggestions.
One idea that comes to mind is a topic I saw recently featured on Insead on transcultural leadership (http://www.insead.edu/). They are in their second year of awarding leaders who are distinguished in the area of not only operating their businesses and organizations across cultures, but appreciating and understanding these cultures as well. It may not be evident, as of yet, that operational success and cultural appreciation must go hand-in-hand as many business leaders may have achieved operational success without this fusion, however it does seem to be a critical area for further research, recognition and scholarship.
I was particularly impressed by this year’s winner, Carlos Ghosn (President and Chief Executive Officer, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., and President and Chief Executive
Officer, Renault S.A. INSEAD) who remarked, ‘I think one of the basics of transcultural leadership is empathy and respect. It is essential for leaders to develop a deeper understanding of the country and the culture in which they operate and try to learn about its strengths.’ (Retrieved July 23, 2008, http://www.insead.edu/alumni/newsletters/June2008/TransculturalLeadershipAward.pdf).
I am interested in seeing more resources available to support global leadership and the diversity of their global & cultural portfolios served by our scholarship and practice.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:21 am
I also wanted to comment that I am a learner accessing the Capella classroom from overseas in Beirut, Lebanon. I appreciated the point made in this entry that more senses be added to the experience. I would caution based on the technical infrastructure I operate from here and many others may experience in similar developing world enviornments, that the technical enhancements made to the classroom to enhance the senses be provided in parallel to the technical capabilities users may have in their environment. If the technological requirements and bandwidth outpace the technical infrastructure/capabilities of a user’s environment, they will be left out of the conversation. The same goes with book ordering. I recently found out after the fact that another book was required for my course after the course had started. The bookstore informed me they could ship the $14.00 supplement to me in 5 days guaranteeed for $100 or in an undetermined amount of time for less than $20. These issues can either discourage or encourage learners across the globe. I think Capella has huge potential to offer diverse, global participation.
May 13th, 2009 at 7:32 am
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