Monday
Time Zone Travelers
It's becoming the essential competitive edge: the ability to hopscotch the globe, switching countries, cultures, and languages as easily as the rest of us change clothes. Meet some folks who are really living the borderless life. more..
The Globe-Trotter's Guide to the Galaxy
A rule book for global execs is a bit of a contradiction in terms, because listening and flexibility are key. But here's what some time-zone itinerants have picked up in their travels.
"State visits" -- those fly-in-fly-out formal calls on overseas facilities -- tend to be a waste of time. So says Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting Group. What you'll get is a show and a
handshake, not a real feel for real problems.
Frequent teleconferences beat infrequent videoconferences. "And when you schedule conference calls, you should share the pain," says Claude Philipps of Atos Origin. "Don't always make the team in Barcelona wake up at two in the morning."
Use technology that supports "presence detection" -- instant messaging, for example -- to tell you when a colleague is or isn't available. Terry Walters of Plantronics swears by Skype, software that supports voice conversations over the Internet: "You can see who's online and who's busy," he says.
Make sure regular teleconferences or videoconferences happen at a regular time and day. "That way," says Walters, "if you need religion, you can be there. It's like going to church."
Don't expect tight bonds among team members who collaborate only via teleconference,
email, and instant messaging. "You need to get your people together in one place if you want them to really appreciate how good everyone is, and how good you are as a team," says Bob Armstrong at GE Healthcare Technologies.
Pick a system for Web collaboration, and stick with it. IBM Lotus's QuickPlace, Groove Networks' Workspace, and other systems all have their relative merits. But the level of participation drops sharply when companies switch from one system to another.
English may be the de facto language of global business, but efforts to speak like the locals can help build stronger bonds. "At our Christmas party in Mexico, I give a speech in Spanish every year," says Walters. "I rehearse it pretty carefully. I haven't yet given speeches in Chinese, but I will."
The Globe-Trotter's Guide to the Galaxy
A rule book for global execs is a bit of a contradiction in terms, because listening and flexibility are key. But here's what some time-zone itinerants have picked up in their travels.
"State visits" -- those fly-in-fly-out formal calls on overseas facilities -- tend to be a waste of time. So says Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting Group. What you'll get is a show and a
handshake, not a real feel for real problems.
Frequent teleconferences beat infrequent videoconferences. "And when you schedule conference calls, you should share the pain," says Claude Philipps of Atos Origin. "Don't always make the team in Barcelona wake up at two in the morning."
Use technology that supports "presence detection" -- instant messaging, for example -- to tell you when a colleague is or isn't available. Terry Walters of Plantronics swears by Skype, software that supports voice conversations over the Internet: "You can see who's online and who's busy," he says.
Make sure regular teleconferences or videoconferences happen at a regular time and day. "That way," says Walters, "if you need religion, you can be there. It's like going to church."
Don't expect tight bonds among team members who collaborate only via teleconference,
email, and instant messaging. "You need to get your people together in one place if you want them to really appreciate how good everyone is, and how good you are as a team," says Bob Armstrong at GE Healthcare Technologies.
Pick a system for Web collaboration, and stick with it. IBM Lotus's QuickPlace, Groove Networks' Workspace, and other systems all have their relative merits. But the level of participation drops sharply when companies switch from one system to another.
English may be the de facto language of global business, but efforts to speak like the locals can help build stronger bonds. "At our Christmas party in Mexico, I give a speech in Spanish every year," says Walters. "I rehearse it pretty carefully. I haven't yet given speeches in Chinese, but I will."
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