97% of leaders say they recognize good performance and extra effort. Only 57% of their team members agree. This gap between self-image and team reality is the starting point of our new practical guide for international leaders: 11 tips that take the friction out of leading international teams.
Written by Markus Eidam, founder of Eidam & Partner, from his own perspective as a leader.
Leaders and their teams see two different realities
In a recent survey of thousands of professionals and leaders, three statements produced the same pattern:
- “The team lead is sufficiently available to discuss problems o
r difficulties with us.” – 97% of leaders agree, 65% of professionals. - “The team lead recognizes good performance and extra effort.” – 97% versus 57%.
- “The team lead makes sure the team receives all important information.” – 98% versus 60%.
Leaders rate themselves far higher than their teams rate them. For anyone leading international teams, that gap is the first item on the agenda: question yourself, talk to your team [or run an anonymous survey], and get an objective picture of where things stand. The guide starts exactly there.
What’s inside: 11 tips for leading international teams
The guide condenses 22+ years of leadership experience into 11 actionable tips. A preview:
- Work ON the team. Get out of the team’s day-to-day work and free up the time to spot stumbling blocks, listen to individual team members, and coach.
- Share leadership. Distribute responsibility for individual tasks across the team. Commitment grows, and the team lead gains time.
- Four everyday habits with outsized impact. Skip comparisons between team members, set up mentoring for junior colleagues, praise even when everything runs smoothly, and put friction on the table early.
- Design your team culture on purpose. A team culture emerges either way. The question is whether it takes shape by chance or by design.
- Get the kickoff right. Full attendance, international colleagues flown in, a change of scenery. Yes, that costs money and time. A dysfunctional team costs far more of both.
- Agree on the rules together. The guide includes a seven-question checklist for the kickoff: email versus chat versus phone, meeting rhythm, CC etiquette, feedback, roles. In international teams, priorities typically differ from country to country, which is exactly why the team has to build these rules jointly.
- Build a feedback culture that gets results. How to keep feedback flowing before problems pile up and come down like an avalanche.
- Use the personal factor. People prefer working with people they like. Relationships carry international teams through difficult phases.
Each tip comes with the reasoning behind it and a concrete way to apply it in your next team meeting or kickoff.
Where the tips come from
All 11 tips are drawn from our Global Leadership Program, the training for international leaders that we run in-house for companies worldwide: cross-cultural leadership across 2 to 6 training days, on-site or online, with live training, coaching, and online learning elements. The program goes considerably deeper than the guide.
When the team itself needs alignment, our workshops for international teams pick up where the guide leaves off: we facilitate the kickoff, moderate the rules process as a neutral third party, and create the space for the personal relationships that hold a team together.
Get the guide – and take the next step
Download the practical guide for international leaders here [PDF, free of charge].
Want to bring the Global Leadership Program into your organization or plan a workshop for one of your international teams? Contact us – you’ll get a tailored proposal, fast.