Working globally – how conscious are we of others?
Many organisations talk about ‘being global’ or ‘working globally’. But do we take account of perceptions when working globally and how important are those perceptions in shaping reality?
‘Perception is reality’
You may have seen this quote before. It’s generally attributed to an American political strategist by the name of Lee Atwater, who helped get George Bush elected as President in the 1980’s.
There is a lot of truth to that statement, especially in the workplace. We all have our perceptions of organisations, their values, leadership, colleagues and so on. Are those perceptions 100% accurate? Probably not. Do those perceptions carry considerable weight with us individually and impact our thinking and decision-making? Almost certainly yes.
The globalisation of professional services
My career in professional services spans three decades and includes time spent in legal, accounting and actuarial organisations. All the firms were international or global and almost all used international mergers and acquisitions [M&A] as part of their growth strategies.
The appetite for M&A in professional services appears to be strengthening. Recent research indicates firms that grow 20% or more annually over a three-year period were particularly likely to participate in a merger or acquisition with most of the activity coming from just two industries: legal, and accounting and financial services. It’s easy to conclude the trend to work globally is only heading in one direction with more and more of us operating across borders in multiple time zones.
For many professional services firms, and it has certainly been true of mine, the main nexus and hub of the business is located either in the UK or US, which has a very clear cause and effect – not least it means that English is the predominant business language – as it is in many global organisations.
Adopting a global mindset
A year ago, I had the pleasure of joining Kennedys. For those of you who might be less familiar with the name, Kennedys is a global law firm with 2,750 people in 47 offices, operating in 21 countries. But until relatively recently, it was predominantly a UK operation with a smattering of overseas offices. That really started to change ten years ago, when Kennedys merged with the US firm, Carroll McNulty & Kull, giving them five offices in the US. In the same year, the firm opened in Bermuda, Bangkok, Melbourne, Paris and Mexico City. The US side of the business now accounts for 25% of global revenue and growing rapidly.
Because we’ve been operating globally for a relatively short period of time, I think most of the firm would agree it is still something of a work in progress as we continue to expand and continue to add new offices in different jurisdictions.
Having a global mindset is easy to talk about but, in many organisations and certainly those that I’ve worked for, there is something of an unconscious bias, or perhaps a lack of awareness that can unwittingly come to the fore in how we communicate, when we communicate and how we work together.
Uniting a multilingual audience
For example, how sensitive are we to other parts of the business where English is a second or third language? In my experience, we take for granted and indeed expect all our colleagues to be fluent in English, both written and spoken.
My father was bi-lingual and I’m always amazed at how easily colleagues and friends can move between two or more languages. But should we just assume complete fluency is the reality, or is that our perception? I have found the fluency will vary considerably, frequently by region. In global teams, varying levels of fluency with the chosen common language are inevitable.
This can create a situation where team members who can communicate best in the organisation’s business language often exert the most influence, while those who are less fluent become inhibited and withdraw. Team leaders need to actively manage that dynamic to encourage participation from the entire team.
There’s an excellent paper on the topic in the Harvard Business Review entitled, ‘Global Teams That Work – A framework for bridging social distance’ by Tsedal Neeley. It was written in 2015, but it is as relevant today as it was then. Don’t let your perceptions mask reality.
“Having a global mindset is easy to talk about but, in many organisations, there is something of an unconscious bias, or perhaps a lack of awareness that can unwittingly come to the fore in how we communicate, when we communicate and how we work together.”
Speak slowly, speak plainly
One of the things I have taught at several firms is presentation training. Of all the tips and techniques I offer to improve, probably the most fundamental is to slow down. Speak more slowly. It has a variety of benefits for you as a speaker and your audience, but especially an audience or a team where English isn’t their native language.
Most of us would agree English people generally tend to speak quite quickly. Even my American friends and colleagues have said that to me over the years! Throw in some of the UK’s diversity in terms of regional accents and you can readily understand how challenging that might be for non-native English speakers.
Words matter
In addition, our choice of words and phrases can be equally important to help with understanding. For example, are you a sesquipedalian? Yes, I had to look that up too. It means someone who enjoys using long, complex words. I’m sure we’ve all come across those individuals in professional services firms. But if you start doing that, remember your audience.
Any good presenter should take the audience into account when creating and delivering a presentation. If your audience includes people where English might be a second or third language, use simple, common words readily understood. Similarly, try and avoid idioms, or business jargon. We all do it. “We’re comparing apples with oranges here”. “I need this by close of play”. “We’re barking up the wrong tree”. I‘m sure we all have our own examples.
I used presentations as an example, but much of the above applies to day-to-day meetings and written communication.
Take a step back when you are next writing an internal communication designed for a global audience and look at it again through the lens of simplicity. Are the key messages in simple, plain English or am I making some of it unnecessarily complicated just to prove my command of the English language? Have I used idioms or business jargon? It’s a good test.
Creating perceptions unwittingly
I touched on where the hub of the business is located. That can also create perceptions around where the decision-making is done and therefore where the real power lies in a global team. Where team members are based and the number of employees who work at each site and the balance of that team can send subliminal messages to other team members.
For example, in a global team of a dozen people, if eight are located in the US, for instance, with two from the UK and two from France, there may be a perception that the US members have more power. This imbalance sets up a negative dynamic.
People in the minority group may believe the majority is usurping what little power and voice they have and therefore offer little, while those in the larger group may feel that the smaller group isn’t contributing. Team leaders must be conscious of that potential dynamic and work hard at being inclusive and ensuring everyone’s voice carries equal weight.
Respect other regions
Equally, I think we also default, sometimes unthinkingly, to the time zone of where the critical mass of the organisation is based. In UK firms, we usually work to GMT. If you’re working for a US firm, then usually East Coast time predominates.
Anyone who works in a truly global firm with global teams is aware of the challenges of scheduling meetings, especially with colleagues in APAC or the US. But how much are we prepared to put ourselves out to accommodate our colleagues? A good example was when we were recently trying to schedule a call with colleagues in Melbourne. Most of the team were London-based, but conscious of the time difference, we decided to do the call ‘early’ in London. But an 08.30 call in London is still 19:30 in Melbourne.
Similarly, a late morning call in the UK means that a team member in the US might be having to join at 06.00. What we did was to agree to ‘share the pain’, so that on alternate calls, one team in one geography would be joining the call early morning or early evening, including the London team. For the Melbourne call we’re starting at 07.30 GMT or, for US calls, we don’t schedule them until 13.00 or later GMT.
It’s not always possible but thinking about it and devising a schedule where it’s not always the same team or same people having their working day elongated is good working practice and will be appreciated.
Maximising potential
Global firms undoubtedly benefit from international diversity, bringing together people from many cultures with varied work experiences and different perspectives on strategic and organizational challenges. All this helps multinational companies compete in the global market. But working as a global team doesn’t just happen.
You need to consider some of the potential challenges outlined above facing multinational teams when working together. Being conscious of, and more importantly, addressing some of those stumbling blocks will help ensure the full potential of a multinational team comes to the fore, as everyone feels able to contribute.
Question your perceptions, filter any unconscious bias and deal with the reality of working globally to ensure you are getting the most out of your global teams.