Global teams are becoming increasingly common. Research shows that approximately 89% of corporate employees work on at least one global team, and 62% have colleagues from three or more cultures.
How can modern leaders support their global teams? Continue reading to learn an effective tool for helping your international team thrive.
The Impact of Globalization on Workplace Culture
To further explore the impact globalization has on corporate culture, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Globalization Partners analyzed how global teams feel.
Surprisingly, they found no discernible difference in engagement, happiness, or satisfaction with compensation versus overall company statistics. However, one challenge stood out.
Feelings of connectedness, belonging, and inclusion diverged dramatically on global teams versus the organization as a whole.
What can leaders do to help reverse this trend?
How The SPLIT Framework Can Help Global Teams
We love the SPLIT framework Harvard Professor Tsedal Neeley offers to global team leaders. The framework helps to identify and address five sources of ‘social distance’.
Here are example tips from Tsedal Neeley:
- Structure: Leaders must foster respect for differences while searching for ways to bridge them and cultivate team unity.
- Process: Initiate informal discussions about work and nonwork matters that allow team members to get to know their distant counterparts.
- Language: Take note of who is and isn’t contributing to conversations, and solicit participation from less fluent employees.
- Identity: Learn from one another. Don’t make assumptions about what behaviors mean. Ask questions before drawing conclusions.
- Technology: Choose the format carefully. Instand technologies are effective for persuading others to accept your viewpoint, but delayed technologies work better for general information sharing.
This framework can help ensure that your team can effectively collaborate over long distances and that all voices are heard regardless of fluency.
Experiences for Global Teams
Global team leaders must help team members establish effective interactions.
Teamraderie offers a wide range of ‘international-ready’ experiences to help global teams feel more connected.
Click here to browse our list of live, virtual team experiences, and leverage our filter to find experiences that are available internationally.
