Global Leadership Success: How Your Job & Team Are Depending on You

As The World Messenger (me) is traveling again (this time Indian Wells, CA) to see some of the best games offered by the best tennis players in the world, it is also an excellent opportunity to meet with one of the best high performance impact coaches in addition to many executives in a fun, casual setting.

Today, many players, coaches, and executive leaders are facing unforeseen opportunities, as well as challenges while striving to reach their objectives. Such changes lead to team or organizational restructuring and implied rethinking of current leadership functions and best practices. You may be surprised how much you can learn, or from who you can learn, about the next “big thing”, major issue, or innovative solution during a mini vacation, as well as a business trip.

But how is this applicable to you?

This content is not about marketing; instead, it is about sharing relevant information that can positively impact you and your overall leadership success, regardless of the game you play in sports or business. The fact is that your team today depends on you beyond your job description or scope of your designated role and technology that you use.

At least a decade ago, researchers recognized the importance of leaders being able to effectively execute interventions in teams. Currently, advances in collaboration technologies have changed the way teams learn, exchange information, and work together, in addition to the challenges they are facing regarding technology and overall collaboration within highly diverse teams and environments. Due to these changes, it is important to take a look at interventions and how they can be technologically driven, yet effectively administered.

Now, you must be wondering how do you get into the zone to achieve this performance success? David Sammel, the elite tennis coach (Dave, you are missed in Indian Wells & some of your British players) sum it up very well in his book “ Locker Room Power: Building An Athlete’s Mind” that is not only applicable in harnessing mental toughness in sports, but also in business, especially around executive and leadership teams within the organization.

Why? Issues that keep coming up are identified as reactive or proactive approaches of individual contributors and communications to their teams that are increasingly global, and by default virtual. How can executive leaders and professional athletes continue to do their best? When they are interacting more and more virtually and conducting or performing more than ever, business that is global and in a wide range of settings, it gets rather complicated.

Why should global (virtual) teams be more virtual?

At the moment, we are observing two major shifts: drastic increase in virtual (global) workforces and rapid increase of the millennial’s portion of the workforce. It is predicted that by 2020 companies will have up to an 80 % millennial workforce that is highly technologically proficient and is seeking life and work balance in addition to socially conscious working environments. It is also predicted that access to the best global talent will change the game of hiring. How? The best global talent will be competing for local positions!

Global teams, that are also by default virtual teams, operate under three key categories: no common past or future, electronic communication, and are culturally diverse and geographically dispersed.

1. “Swift Trust” – Communication behaviors that facilitate trust quickly! It is possible to obtain a quick trust with a credible person, but often, if this is a quickly developed trust but not properly nurtured, it can fade of a way. This is often observed regardless of synchronous or un-synchronous communication.

2. Power of Paradox & Contradictions – Capability Demonstrated by Effective Team Leaders! When dealing with paradox and contradictions, it is essential for leaders to demonstrate their capacity to perform in multiple leadership roles simultaneously (behavioral complexity) despite the level of difficulty at hand. The fact is that highly effective (virtual) team leaders act in a mentoring role and exhibit a degree of understanding or empathy toward other team members. This is the point where a magic happens – at the same time, effective leaders are also able to exercise their authority without being perceived as dominating or unaccommodating.

3. Magic of Communication – Detailed, Prompt & Regular! The increasing trend toward physically dispersed work groups or teams requires more than ever effective, timely, and relevant communication among peers and management by clearly articulating role relationships or responsibilities. By adding innovation, passion, and creativity to your projects, you and your team will naturally increase performance effectiveness in new computer-based communication.