The Cranky Middle Manager Show #181 Managing Remote Teams Terence Brake
Today Wayne Turmel talks about managing remote teams with author Terence Brake. Middle managers today have to manage people who can be working anywhere in the world and there are tools and techniques available to help. We enlist Terry’s help, talk about a Frenchman who helped bridge the distance and introduce the first Cranky Middle Manager webinar training course on ….managing remote teams.
Terry Brake of TMA World joins us today. He’s the author of “Where in the World is My Team”
Join us for our first Cranky Middle Manager training webinar: “How to Create and Manage Remote Teams” There are sessions for North America/Europe AND Asia/Pacific. Click here to learn more.
Show Notes:
0:00 Welcome to the 181st edition of the show. Today we talk about managing virtual teams and bridging gaps of all kinds with author Terence Brake. We dedicate this episode to the first, but not the last, manager who tried to lose himself in the Hotel’s watering hole: Claude Chappe.
2:45 Big announcement: The first actual training course webinar on creating and managing remote teams. This one will require budget approval but well worth paying attention to. You asked for courses that were available online, were timed for various parts of the planet and were affordable. You speak and my fingers have wings……
5:05 The quote of the week is from another Frenchman, Francois la Rochefoucauld. If people don’t trust you it doesn’t matter if you mean well. How much tougher is it when people are on the other side of the world and can’t see the cute pictures in your cubicle to know you’re a good person.
6:00 We are talking to Terry Brake, author of “Where in the World is My Team-Making a success of Your Virtual Global Workplace” You can buy it here…and probably should. I really enjoyed it.
9:00 Why is managing virtually different than managing on-site? We need to pay attention to the environment we work in. It’s more than just “not being allowed to travel”. There are opportunities here.
The 6 Cs of managing virtual teams:
- Cooperation
- Convergence
- Coordination
- Capability
- Communication
- Cultural Intelligence
14:45 Getting everyone on the same page is critical….what are some of the practical things a manager can do to get everyone heading in the same direction? There is a leadership task here… and things need to be explicit.
17:15 Little things like sharing the pain of time zones can go a long way to building trust and respect. We also need to balance the mix of technologies. The darned French, apparently, don’t care for email.
22:00 What’s the difference between stereotype and observation when working between cultures? Why does it matter? A great story about French and Japanese managers ensues.
26:27 If you are putting together a remote team, what are the things you need to do right away to get off on the right foot? Get to know your team as people. Move slower into tasks AFTER you get to know each other.
Terry’s Resources
Uniting the Virtual Workforce
Don’t let the weasels get you down!
March 31st, 2009 at 3:22 am
How do I add your RSS feed to my reader? I could do with a little beginners help :)