Unlike traditional teams, global virtual teams don’t meet at the same location daily, which is becoming more feasible in this century. Globalization has created this concept, a common phenomenon in large organizations and small businesses. According to the Clutch Remote Work Survey, most U.S. workers temporarily work from home at least one day per week, and this trend is not about to fade. While some of us always worked in Global Virtual Teams (GVT), we still meet leaders who prefer to have their team sit in the same physical location with them. Learning to lead global virtual Teams better was a big motivator for me to finalize and publish “The Global Rockstar Album – 21 Verses to Find Your Tact as an Inclusive Leader”. While I am still learning to be a better global rockstar, I would like to share a few basic ideas for managing a global virtual team for high performance. 

Virtual teams are  “workgroups which (1)  have some core members who interact primarily through electronic means, and (2) are engaged in interdependent tasks — i.e., are truly teams and not just groups of independent workers).” Like any other team, these virtual teams also require proper leadership and management for optimum results. So let’s start with why we should opt for Global Virtual Teams (GVT) or “hybrid” teams. 

• Companies can bring global talent together when projects start, while employees can enjoy the flexibility of working from home according to their schedules. 
• Organizations can cut the cost of relocation, traveling, real estate, and other business expenditures. These include businesses that use virtual teams to build a global presence, outsource their operations, or need less common expertise or skills from people who are reluctant to relocate from their home location.
• Virtual teams add diversity to a project. It is always better to brainstorm ideas to add creativity to the work process; these virtual teams are ideal. They also enable organizations to network globally with a fresh perspective of every country. 
• Compared to traditional teams’ operation style, it might be hard to get it right and manage. It might not always be easy to bring people from different cultures to one platform and get them to collaborate on a project. 
• They can fall short of goals and motivation because of how they communicate. They rely on modern technology, emails, video conferences, virtual meetings, etc., taking away the full spectrum and dynamics of in-person exchange. Thus, to excel, each member needs to be self-motivated. 
• Collaboration within a project might cause delays in working on the project.

Advantages of Virtual Teams

• Companies can bring global talent together when projects start, while employees can enjoy the flexibility of working from home according to their schedule.
• Organizations can cut the cost of relocation, traveling, real estate, and other business expenditures. Businesses that use virtual teams to build a global presence outsource their operations and need less common expertise or skills from people reluctant to relocate from their home location.
• Virtual teams add diversity to a project. Brainstorming ideas to add creativity to the work process is always better, and these virtual teams are ideal. They also enable organizations to network globally with a fresh perspective from different countries.

Challenges of Global Virtual Teams

• Virtual teams might be harder to manage correctly than traditional teams. It might not always be easy to bring people from different cultures to one platform and get them to collaborate on a project.
• Because of how they communicate, they can fall short of goals and motivation. They rely on modern technology, emails, video conferences, virtual meetings, etc., which takes away the full spectrum and dynamics of an in-person exchange. Thus, to excel, each member needs to be self-motivated.
• Collaboration within a project might cause delays in working on the project.

Tips To Manage Virtual Teams

1 – Build Trust

The first and foremost requirement is to build and maintain trust between team members. This helps unblock their communication and sustains the motivation of each person involved. If they can’t trust each other, they will have issues working together, which is the essence of virtual teams.

2 – Clear Goals, Standards & Rules

Managers need to set clear goals for each member separately and for the team as a whole. Performance standards and communication rules must also be clearly defined to avoid misunderstandings and harmful assumptions. In addition, they should be clear on tasks and processes.

3 – Constant Communication

Team members should be able to communicate clearly, constructively, and positively, even without nonverbal cues of face-to-face communication. Optimum use of technology for this purpose is a requirement.

4 – Build a Team Rhythm

It is crucial for the global team to have regular meetings, ideally on the same day and time each week, to stay on track. Create meeting agendas in advance with explicit agreement on communication protocols and timings. You will probably have time zone conflicts, so don’t put the time zone burden on the same members every time. Instead, follow a strict rotation to practice fairness and avoid biases.

5 . Global Leader for Global Teams

Develop into a leader who appreciates the experience of managing global teams. Set up regular one-to-one performance management meetings with your team members. Let your team know how they contribute to the success of your project so that they get a feeling of ownership.

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Annex F: Kanban and other Productivity Tools – also for people with ADHD and PTSD

Kanban 

Kanban is a highly effective project management and workflow visualization system. It provides a simple and intuitive framework for organizing and tracking work, allowing teams to achieve higher efficiency, transparency, and collaboration. Kanban boards typically consist of columns representing different stages of the workflow. Each work item, represented by a card or sticky note, moves from one column to the next as it progresses through the process. This visual representation provides a clear overview of the work in progress. 

Project Management Tools

Project management tools help you streamline your work, improve team collaboration, and increase productivity. They offer a wide range of features, including task tracking, team communication, file sharing, and progress monitoring. 

• Asana, with boards.
• Azure DevOps Server, an integrated ALM-platform for managing work in and across multiple teams. 
• CA Technologies Rally, provides teams with the option of managing pull-based, lean software development projects.
• Unicom Focal Point, a portfolio management and product management tool.
• Jira provides kanban boards.
• Monday.com is a popular project management and team collaboration platform. It provides a flexible and customizable interface for managing tasks, projects, and workflows.
• Pivotal Tracker provides kanban boards.
• Projektron BCS, a project management tool, provides Kanban boards for tickets and tasks.
• Slack is primarily known as a team communication and collaboration tool, it also offers various integrations and features for project management. You can connect Slack with other project management tools to streamline communication and task tracking within your team.
• Trello, cards-based project management.
• Tuleap, an agile open source tool for development teams: customize board columns, set WIP (Work In Progress), connect the board with Issue Trackers, Git, and Documents.
• Twproject (formerly Teamwork), project and groupware management tool.
• Wrike, an Agile Collaborative Work Management Platform.

Our App for Nomads with Global Careers and Lives

• RockMeApp

Apps for People with ADHD

• Focus Genie is a time management app for people with ADHD created by Jenna Kutcher. 

Apps to Practice Meditation and Relaxation

• Isha by Sadhguru is great for meditation beginners
• iOSHO is app that aims to make meditation, mindfulness, awareness, and consciousness accessible and integrated into the daily lives
• Calm is an app that offers meditation practices.  
• Headspace offers a large number of guided meditations.
• Rootd, an app which helps with anxiety.
• Breathe2Relax is a portable stress management tool that guides users through diaphragmatic breathing exercises. It helps reduce the body’s stress response, stabilize mood, control anger, and manage anxiety. 

Apps for People with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

• PTSD Coach provides tools and resources for managing PTSD symptoms, including educational information, self-assessment tools, and coping strategies. PTSD Coach was primarily designed for Veterans and military Servicemembers.
• ACT Coach was developed for veterans, service members, and individuals in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT Coach provides exercises, tools, information, and tracking logs to practice ACT principles and commit to actions aligned with personal values.
• Anger and Irritability Management Skills (AIMS) is designed for individuals dealing with anger problems. The app offers education about anger, support resources, anger management planning, tracking tools, and techniques to manage angry reactions. 
• CBT-I Coach was designed for individuals engaged in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, CBT-I Coach guides users through improving sleep habits, developing positive routines, and enhancing sleep environments. It offers a structured program with proven strategies to alleviate insomnia symptoms. 

Twelve Exercises for Psychological Safety in Global, Virtual Teams 

by Anne-Kristelle Carrier

We would like to introduce twelve exercises for Psychological Safety, especially in Global, Virtual Teams. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the spring of 2020, numbers of teams have become global and virtual, on and off, depending on the surges of the virus and the decisions of their respective companies and governments. Of course, virtual teams already existed before that, but home-office work has become the “norm” for many workers during the lockdown period, and in the following months, now that the crisis had subsided, it has become more widely accepted and applied. And now that this phenomenon has become routine, many have focused on this new problem: fostering psychological safety, particularly in Global, Virtual Teams teams, because it is quite challenging to do so in such a context. 

Discussions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – have been all the rage in recent years (and still are, of course, as we have yet to achieve a perfectly diverse and inclusive world). Still, psychological safety has become a subject of interest, fueled by the unusual circumstances of the Pandemic.

The Difference between Trust and Psychological Safety

But what is psychological safety, exactly? It is the feeling that team members have when they are comfortable enough to ask questions or contribute ideas without fear of being judged, punished (in more extreme cases losing their job), or humiliated for not knowing something or making mistakes. What is the difference between trust and psychological safety? 

It’s rather subtle: trust is an essential component of psychological safety, as it is defined as “the extent to which we hold expectations of others in the face of uncertainty about their motives, and yet are willing to allow ourselves to be vulnerable’ (Geraghty, 2020). Trust is how you view other people, find them predictable, and how you think you can rely on them, whereas psychological safety is about how others view you or, rather, how you think they view you. 

Why do You Want Psychological Safety Exercises

But let’s get back to psychological safety. When you eliminate the fear of judgment, your team members can not only be themselves, but they will be their best selves, as they will be allowed to be innovative, creative, and agile, and most importantly, ask for help when needed. 

Diversity of thought is a great advantage for success (Page, 2008), and this is where psychological safety comes in: “Without behaviors that create and maintain a level of psychological safety in a group, people do not fully contribute — and when they don’t, the power of cognitive diversity is left unrealized” (Reynolds and Lewis, 2018). 

Psychological safety doesn’t happen from one day to the next, though. It needs work. It requires everyone’s participation and a profound cultural change. Everyone needs to go through four stages to feel safe. According to Timothy Clark, these are inclusion safety, learner safety, contributor safety, and challenger safety (Clark, 2020). Psychological safety needs work, a change of attitude, and a culture shift.

Increase Mistake Tolerance

Based on the belief that nobody’s perfect and we all make mistakes, even if we work hard and try our best, the idea here is to change our mindset and stop viewing failures only as such but as learning opportunities. Teams with better psychological safety will not correct others for a mistake they made to put them down; they will tell them to help them. Amy Edmondson published a study in 1999 in which she coined the term “Psychological Safety.” 

In it, she reported conversations with employees she interviewed for her research. In one of those conversations, a lady told her that before her team decided to offer a better psychologically safe environment when someone would point out a mistake she made, she would take it as a reproach and would then be on the lookout for an error that person would make to be able to blame her in return. After the team made psychological safety a priority and had worked on it for a while, it totally changed her perception, and in turn, that changed her behavior. 

She reported that she viewed it then as a learning opportunity because her colleague would do it purely to help her and help the team make better products (Edmondson, 1999, p.371). Some companies have even created special events to discuss this so that not only the employee making the mistake learns from it, but the whole team (or even a larger circle) does too.

Keep Your Biases in Check

Hanlon’s razor principle is the assumption that when something goes wrong, it is more likely accidental rather than the result of ill will, or as Hanlon wrote: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” Ok, well, stupidity may not be the most probable cause since, hopefully, your team is not stupid, but let’s say humans can sometimes be absent-minded, tired, distracted, overworked, etc. Simply put, when someone makes a mistake, one shouldn’t assume it was intentional. This rule of thumb will help cultivate understanding, compassion, forgiveness, and trust in your team.

Take the case of an email that gives the impression that a colleague was rude or too blunt; you can probably rightly assume that this is purely a miscommunication problem (maybe English is not their mother tongue, or the author is from a culture where things are said in a direct manner, but it isn’t meant to be offensive, or maybe you just misinterpreted things). When in doubt, clarify things in person or on a video call. The use of emojis might also help avoid tone misreadings when you are the one sending a message. Some might not be comfortable using them in a professional setting, but they really can help prevent certain types of misunderstandings. Modifying your biases and assuming good intentions in people can go a long way!

Exercise 1: Hold an Anxiety Party 

The Google Ventures team decided to implement this because when it was created, it had a relatively flat hierarchy, and although they appreciated all the advantages and liberties that it brought, the team found they lacked critical feedback. They came up with the idea of an Anxiety Party: they hold this type of meeting a couple of times per year, where all team members have to write a list of everything that causes them anxiety. Then, everyone shares, and the other team members have to rate the level from the most to the least worrying (5 – you really need to improve in this area to 0 – I didn’t even realize this was an issue). They realized that most of the time, people worried for nothing. The score generally makes people feel relieved and stop worrying about non-issues and focus on what actually needs improvement (the 5s and 4s to start with). This is a great psychological safety exercise since the issues are brought up by the people who have them, and feedback is then easier to accept.

Exercise 2: Ask Powerful Questions 

When you doubt someone of the wrongdoing, ask these powerful questions (From Douglas W. Hubbard, 2009, cited in Vinita Bansal, no date):

• Why do I feel this way?
• What data do I have to justify that the other person acted out of bad intentions?
• Are there other instances where they acted this way?
• Have I spoken to them about it?
• What is the probability that I am incorrect?
• Could I be biased at the moment?
• What other possible reasons could make them behave this way?

Exercise 3: Make it a Habit for Everyone to Speak up and Participate

First, team leaders need to prioritize psychological safety explicitly. Ground rules must be laid down and applied. Leaders, alongside their team, need to establish how failure is handled (no punishment for failure despite efforts, reasonable risks taken, and good faith). They should make failure an opportunity to learn and, above all, to share the lessons collectively learned thanks to failure (which will be not only a learning opportunity but also one to create a safe space for others to know that we can all admit our failures, contributing to this safe space). Finally, teams need to learn how to accept and adopt productive conflict.

Having constructive discussions, allowing questioning, and accepting contesting can be done, by following certain ground rules, such as respect, listening, honesty, and kindness, for everyone to feel safe doing it. Even when there is no conflict, and nothing delicate to discuss, making sure every team member has to participate should become a habit. It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure everyone speaks. To do so, they might use different methods to ensure everyone gets the chance to speak. For example, one can give each a turn to speak or use break rooms with a bigger group to allow everyone to speak up. Speaking up in smaller groups is also easier and less intimidating. The team must try different methods to ensure everyone gets turns speaking up.

Exercise 4: Create a Space for Idea Sharing 

Try creating a particular space for ideas (new, crazy, or maybe even bad ideas), whether during meetings or on a specifically dedicated Slack channel, for example. That way, people know there is at least this time or space where they are not only allowed but purposefully encouraged to brainstorm, share and contribute whatever they have on their mind, knowing this frame is meant for it and is a safe space to do so.  

Exercise 5:  Accept Silence to Give Time to Reflect 

For everyone to have a chance to speak, people need to learn to be more comfortable with silence. For example, during Zoom meetings, participants tend to be uncomfortable when silence arises and want to fill it (or hope someone else will). Doing so can prevent others in your team from speaking up. Sometimes, people simply need more time to reflect before answering or formulating their ideas before communicating them, especially non-native speakers. Some are shy or new in the company or that position and don’t have the confidence to speak.  

Sometimes, we all need a few seconds to muster up our courage to share that original idea or important concern. Leaders have to remember that reflective silence is valuable and to purposely give everyone time to speak up, even if that means letting an uncomfortable silence last longer (it’s not thaaaat painful, is it?… and something might come out of it!). To avoid experiencing a more detached type of silence, you can let your team members know in advance what kind of input you are expecting from them at the next meeting a bit in advance.

Exercise 6: Value the Diverse Perspectives 

Diversity of ideas and perspectives is a major factor in creative and innovative thinking. It is one of the important factors to success (Page, 2017, 2:45). To encourage this, ask everyone to play the devil’s advocate alternately. That way, people have to think differently. It takes away the risk (real or perceived) that the rest of the team will judge them for having different, crazy, or “negative” ideas or points of view, a point of view that could help your team solve problems and even foresee them before they become one. Using a cooperative approach instead of a competitive one will be more effective in advancing the reflection on the issue discussed (e.g., your product has a bug, and you need to find a solution) and will help develop respectful debate habits simultaneously (Menzies, 2018).

Exercise 7: Promote Courageous Conversations

Sometimes a product or a project is just not as good as it could be. But team members don’t always dare say so, even if they can put their finger on what the problem might be. You can pave the road to openness by having sessions for any critiques or frustrations anyone may have with a product/project without fear of negative consequences. Everyone must listen without interrupting. After this, everyone has to offer solutions to the problem. 

Exercise 8: Hold a Blameless Post-mortem

Another way to promote difficult conversations is having blameless post-mortems. The goal here is not to find out who made mistakes but what could be changed in the processes to avoid those mistakes being made in the future and improve performance. This method prompts team collaboration. If you are looking for more exercises and strategies to promote courageous conversations or support psychological safety in other ways, look at this great article from Fearless Culture.

Exercise 9: Apply “Liberating Structures” 

Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless (2022) developed this method to enable everyone’s participation in large groups. During a meeting, to ensure everyone’s input on a specific matter, start by asking everyone to reflect and take notes on the question/problem at hand for one minute. Then, everyone must regroup in pairs and discuss for two minutes, then for four minutes in groups of four (matching previously existing pairs), before finally discussing the matter with the whole group.

The advantage here is that all have a chance to offer their ideas. It is less intimidating to do in small groups. Also, while still in smaller groups of 2 and 4, ideas can already be compared and reflected upon, and the best can be chosen to be discussed at the next level before they are brought up in front of the whole group. There is admittedly a very limited time for feedback, but an idea can be discussed further if it isn’t bad enough to be eliminated at the end of a round. Finally, it enables improving the ideas before they are addressed at a higher level. This type of structure also helps avoid the control or influence of the boss on the discussion, leading to a more restricted discussion. What is practical and effective is that this structure drives the discussion to convergence.

Exercise 10:  Encourage Impromptu Conversations to Build Trust 

In a virtual team, psychological safety is even more of a challenge to uphold.  Because trust is usually established through time and interactions, virtual teams only have a few (if at all) interactions outside the scheduled meetings. Those team members don’t have the opportunity to have spontaneous, “non-business” conversations. This is why it is vital for those teams to create opportunities for such social contact. These casual conversations can foster better bonding and better relationships, which in turn facilitate communication and improve psychological safety.

For example, some might want to have different types of calls or communications, namely having a “good morning” call or (a message for the whole team on a Slack channel) to start the day with a more casual conversation. Bigger organizations might want a dedicated video call open for anyone to drop in and chat as if they were on their coffee break. 

Exercise 11: Read Body Language and Facial Expressions 

One might think that virtual teams are at a disadvantage because it is so much more challenging to establish trust with so little contact and through a screen, and it is not entirely false, but there can be some advantages too. Online social contact through video calls can be an opportunity to really try to understand the person talking on the screen and read their tone, body language, and facial expressions to feel what they might be feeling. It also might be easier for some people to intently look at their colleagues through a screen as they usually (hear in person) wouldn’t dare or be comfortable doing it so attentively. 

Indeed, as Altman underlined, “[i]n many cultures, it can be awkward to stare at someone for 30 seconds or certainly minutes at a time. But on Zoom, no one knows who you’re looking at, which can sometimes enhance your ability to apply your emotional intelligence.” Not only can it be helpful for employees who grew up in a culture where one can’t look directly in someone’s eyes for too long, but also for some neuroatypical people who are not comfortable doing it either.

Exercise 12: Take Your Time and Allow Yourself to Practice

Exercises for psychological safety are helpful. However, psychological safety is not built overnight. Actually, “build” is not quite the right idea here, as psychological safety is not something you can ever 100% achieve and be done with. There will always be new people joining the team, setbacks, and phases, so it will always remain a work in progress. It has to be the object of constant attention and perpetual efforts.  You can allow yourself to practice and reward yourself for making an effort. All of this seems like a lot of work, and it is. But shifting your mindset to a more understanding and caring attitude is half the job. And since psychological safety was proven to make employees happier and perform better, it’s probably one of the most profitable changes you can bring to your work. It’s a win-win!

If you would like to understand more about how you can create psychological safety in your global, virtual team set up a call with angela@globalpeopletransitions.com or request a proposal via angela@globalpeopletransitions.com. For more in-depth content please sign up to our weekly online publications and become a (free) member of the Global People Club.

About the Author

Anne-Kristelle Carrier has an MA in International Politics. She has been living in Switzerland since 2010 and works as an Inclusive Copywriter and Content Editor for Global People Transitions  in Zurich, Switzerland. When she is not working, bringing her kids to all their activities, or trying to cook something that they will eat (that doesn’t start with “chicken” and ends with “nuggets”), she enjoys everything Switzerland has to offer to residents and tourists alike, like ski slopes, Wanderwege, and museums.

References and Further Reading

Bansal, Vinita, (no date), Hanlon’s Razor: ‘How To Be Less Judgmental And Build Better Relationships,’ TechTello. Available at: https://www.techtello.com/hanlons-razor/ (accessed on 3 February 2022).

Clark, Timothy. The Four Stages of Psychological Safety, Defining the Path to Inclusion and Innovation, 2020, Random House, New York.

Edmondson, Amy. Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Jun. 1999), pp. 350-383. (Available online at https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Group_Performance/Edmondson%20Psychological%20safety.pdf)

Geraghty, Tom, The Difference Between Trust and Psychological Safety, 16 November 2020, https://www.psychsafety.co.uk/the-difference-between-trust-and-psychological-safety/

Hubbard, Douglas W., Failure of Risk Management, 2009, Hoboken (New Jersey).

Hirsch, Wendy. Five Questions About Psychological Safety, Answered. Science for Work, 9 October 2017, https://scienceforwork.com/blog/psychological-safety/.

Lipmanowicz, Henri and Keith McCandless, Liberating Structure 1: 1-2-4-All. https://www.liberatingstructures.com/1-1-2-4-all/, retrieved 15, January 2022.

Menzies, Felicity. How to Develop Psychological Safety and a Speak-Up Culture.   https://cultureplusconsulting.com/2018/03/10/how-to-develop-psychological-safety/, retrieved 4 January 2022.

Page, Scott E.  Diversity creates bonuses. It’s not just a nice thing to do. LinkedIn News Youtube channel, retrieved 10 January 2022.

Page, Scott E. (2008) The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies

Razetti, Gustavo, 9 Exercises to Promote Psychological Safety in Your Organization, How to Encourage Courageous Conversations at the Workplace. https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/exercises-to-promote-psychological-safety-in-your-organization

Reynolds, A. and Lewis, D., The Two Traits of the Best Problem-Solving Teams, Harvard Business Review, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/04/the-two-traits-of-the-best-problem-solving-teams.

https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/creating-a-high-trust-performance-culture/

Paul J. Zak is the author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies. 

Further Exercises for Psychological Safety

https://globalpeopletransitions.com/how-to-manage-virtual-teams/

https://globalpeopletransitions.com/global-virtual-teams-and-their-dramas/

https://globalpeopletransitions.com/giving-feedback-across-cultures/

In today’s rapidly evolving global landscape, effective leadership is indispensable. Organizations worldwide are navigating through unprecedented challenges, from technological advancements to cultural shifts and economic uncertainties. In such dynamic environments, the need for capable leaders who can steer their teams towards success has never been more crucial. This is where global leadership coaching steps in as a game-changer, offering a myriad of benefits that extend far beyond individual growth to catalyze organizational excellence.

Understanding Global Leadership Coaching

Global leadership coaching is not just about imparting skills or techniques; it’s a comprehensive approach that fosters holistic development. It involves working closely with leaders across diverse cultures, backgrounds, and geographical locations to enhance their capabilities, broaden their perspectives, and maximize their potential. Whether it’s guiding executives through complex decision-making processes, facilitating effective communication across borders, or nurturing a culture of innovation, global leadership coaching addresses multifaceted challenges with a tailored approach.

Cultivating Cultural Intelligence

In today’s interconnected world, cultural intelligence (CQ) is a prized asset for leaders aiming to thrive in diverse environments. Global leadership coaching emphasizes the development of CQ, enabling leaders to navigate cultural nuances, adapt their leadership styles, and foster inclusivity within their teams. By promoting cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity, coaching facilitates smoother collaborations, minimizes misunderstandings, and enhances productivity on a global scale.

Accelerating Personal Growth and Development

At its core, leadership coaching is about unlocking potential and fostering personal growth. Through insightful conversations, feedback sessions, and tailored development plans, global leadership coaching empowers individuals to identify their strengths, address their weaknesses, and embrace continuous learning. Leaders gain clarity on their goals, develop resilience in the face of challenges, and cultivate the self-awareness necessary for effective leadership. This process not only benefits the individual but also cascades down to their teams, fostering a culture of growth and excellence.

Enhancing Communication and Collaboration

Clear and effective communication lies at the heart of successful leadership. Global leadership coaching equips leaders with the tools and strategies to communicate authentically, inspire trust, and bridge cultural divides. Whether it’s leading virtual teams spread across different time zones or negotiating with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, coaching enables leaders to communicate with impact and build meaningful relationships. By fostering open dialogue and active listening, coaching cultivates a collaborative environment where ideas flourish, and innovation thrives.

Driving Organizational Performance

The impact of global leadership coaching transcends individual development to drive tangible results for organizations. Research indicates that companies with strong leadership development programs are more likely to outperform their competitors. By investing in the development of their leaders, organizations not only retain top talent but also cultivate a pipeline of capable leaders poised to tackle future challenges. From improving employee engagement and retention to fostering a culture of accountability and innovation, the ripple effects of effective leadership resonate throughout the organization, contributing to long-term success.

Navigating Change and Uncertainty

In an era marked by rapid change and uncertainty, agile leadership is paramount. Global leadership coaching equips leaders with the skills and mindset necessary to navigate ambiguity, adapt to change, and lead with confidence amidst uncertainty. By fostering resilience, creativity, and a growth mindset, coaching enables leaders to turn challenges into opportunities and drive positive transformation within their organizations. In times of crisis, effective leadership becomes the cornerstone of organizational resilience, enabling teams to weather the storm and emerge stronger on the other side.

In a world where the only constant is change, effective leadership is indispensable. Global leadership coaching offers a transformative journey towards unlocking individual potential, fostering cultural intelligence, and driving organizational excellence. By equipping leaders with the skills, mindset, and support they need to succeed in today’s complex landscape, coaching paves the way for a brighter future where leaders inspire, teams thrive, and organizations flourish. As we navigate the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, investing in global leadership coaching is not just a strategic choice but a catalyst for unlocking the full potential of individuals and organizations alike.

The Global Rockstar Album

Becoming a Better Leader by Unlocking your Emotional Intelligence

The Push for Rainbow Talent in Global Mobility – Part 1

We have lived in a world dominated by political, economic, and environmental uncertainty for many years. However, the past three years have been exceptional and challenging for most of us. The global health crisis caused by Covid-19 has brought the planet to its knees. The pandemic impacted all aspects of life and radically changed the way we work. The world of Global Mobility will never be the same. We are beyond Global Mobility and ride into a new way of working. 

Considering the impact caused by the pandemic, it does not take a fortune teller to foresee that Global Mobility Managers will have to deal with the blow of the crisis in the years to come. If you thought that one global crisis was enough, you were up for a shock in February of this year when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Geopolitical tension, including in and around China, seems more pervasive than ever. Insecurity around energy, food supplies, inflation, and other dystopian scenarios causes many anxieties and mental health issues. The Global Mobility Manager of 2022 is a crisis manager. All “crisis” cycles show that Global Mobility Managers remain incredibly resilient and constantly come up with immediate and creative solutions to face issues that arise overnight. 

Imagine the difficulty of suddenly repatriating an Expat (or an Expat family) who was temporarily on holiday in a third country and remains stuck there without any other assistance. You might have to find a quick solution for someone about to go on assignment but had to postpone their departure. Their household goods are on their way to the host location. You book a serviced apartment for them in the home country.

Teams in war zones continue to work or relocate to a haven, refugees integrate into the workforce, and business travelers overstretch their stays in locations and create a tax liability.

Having handled many crises in the past, guarding the lives of Expat families has become our daily bread. We continue to bring the human touch back into Global Mobility. As I already mentioned in my book in 2019, it is more important for all of us to keep our sanity. Putting on our oxygen masks and working on our inner strength is more important than ever. 

Let’s continue to build up our support gang and raise the next generation of Global Mobility Managers through an excellent education with the Global Mobility Master Course at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. I also favor a mentor system where experienced Global Mobility Jedis foster and guide a Padawan. (Yes, I draw much inspiration from movies, books, and music.) 

When you need guidance, we all have our favorite book, and I turned to my religion for advice and found a fantastic guideline for the winter to come.

1) I am the EXPAT, your client: You shall not have strange people before me.

Our Expat population is changing. Nowadays, an ever more diverse population is embarking on international assignments. Expats vary in cultural background, family situation, age, gender, etc. Addressing these groups’ needs in a one-size-fits-all policy is impossible. A more diverse workforce equals various individual assignees’ expectations, resulting in a proposition that might be desirable for one employee while not appealing for another. The Expat is our main client. We need to take care of their interests before we consider other parties in the process. In case of doubt, focus on people over processes (see also: Agile Manifesto).

In the AIRINC Mobility Outlook Survey 2021, 65% of respondents expect that the demand for flexibility from the business will increase. Meanwhile, 52% of the companies surveyed expect that adding more flexibility to policies is the best response to this demand, followed by 28% who think using a wider variety of policy types is the better solution. According to the Mercer 2019 Flexible Mobility Policies Survey, the most popular policy elements for which the participants introduced flexibility are family-related: housing, spousal support, child education, and home leave tickets are all items that can help improve the Expat Experience while on assignment.

2) You shall not take the name of the POLICY, your bible, in vain.

There are reasons for quoting the policy, the law, or other regulatory insights. However, this should not be your go-to-wording for anything that “is not possible.” With the crisis, we all accepted that the duty of care belongs to our role. Policies should foster the well-being of employees. 

Flexible policies have prepared some companies to deal more efficiently with urgent repatriations and unforeseen mobility scenarios. Other companies adopting flexible policies have found them inapplicable and inappropriate in the context of urgency. In my view, we will move away from policies altogether and design individual packages for expats that fit like bespoke, handmade business suits.

We mentioned last year that immigration is becoming more complex, and it could be that the host country’s legislation has not kept up with modern family constructs, for example. Communication about what is possible and how we can support it is critical here. Communicate openly about longer lead times and backlogs at authorities (for example, post-BREXIT, the UK immigration process currently takes much longer than we were used to).

 3) Remember to keep holy the DIGITAL DETOX DAY

Keep a “digital detox day” because your work never ends. We have constantly worked across time zones, holiday schedules, and daily demands. For your sanity and energy maintenance, getting away from all media for at least 24 hours is essential. I practice DDD but have observed with my coaching clients that the pandemic has blurred the lines between work and personal time. 

Many organizations have focused on digitization, which means moving to more digital formats. Digitalization, on the other hand, means strategically shifting to digital processes and activities. The terms are often used interchangeably.

One of the biggest challenges is incorporating technology into the business to add value to the company and its employees. One positive example of digitalization is reporting assignees through an intuitive HR system and tracking assignees through security apps such as the International SOS Assistance App.

Your level of digital engagement depends on how “digitally mature” your global mobility program is. You might be just ‘exploring digital,’ using robotics to carry out simple and repetitive tasks, while others might be already ‘becoming digital’ with a formal digital strategy. You are already experiencing success where automation performs tasks humans generally handle, such as periodic emails or copying and pasting information from public or private sources. Adopting and introducing those techniques into existing processes will focus on diminishing costs, increasing productivity by improving operational efficiency, and retaining talent. 

Some of the latest HR systems, Success Factors or Workday, offer essential workflow functions for international assignments. Still, they cannot yet run the entire end-to-end process with all the external vendors involved. Data needs to shift from the HR System to the vendor platform, but an integrated solution, which I call “the Holy Grail,” has yet to be invented (it exists mainly in my fantasy brain). As I filled another Excel sheet with numbers and birth dates, I kept reminding myself that this was how I started in the field in 1999. Before that, we used to calculate on paper. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology is another exciting use of AI in the field. We speed up transactional processes in mobility functions. Equally important is that automation can also reveal itself as crucial in reducing hierarchical thinking. Read more about bringing the Human Touch back into Global Mobility.

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) deals with more natural ways humans and computers can work together in the future. Watch this space as it could help us in Global Mobility and reduce our stress levels again. For example, instead of sitting at a desk for 12 hours, we could work by walking outside and taking the Expat Family with us on a virtual tour of the city. Or we can use voice commands to fill out a form instead of retyping the data. 

Bringing the “Human Touch” Back into Global Mobility

Check out our RockMeApp with a free trial account.

 4) Honor the Expat’s Host and Home Manager (and Sponsors)

We have structured Global Mobility drivers and assignment types and integrated Global Mobility with the Talent function. We still need to bring back the Human Touch, and we especially need to align the home and host line manager’s interest in the Expat’s goals and performance criteria. 

We also need to remember to nominate a sponsor so that the Expat has a home to return to and a guardian angel who watches out for their interests in the home company. You will have fewer headaches if you initially reduce the assignment length to a maximum of two years. It’s always easier to extend an assignment that works well than to “early repatriate” someone for whatever reason.

Since the 1990s, assignment types have evolved from only having long-term or short-term assignments. In the 2000s, new kinds of assignments emerged, such as the rotator, the international transfer, the globalist, and the commuter. Then, the 2010s saw the rise of business travelers, international new hires, and domestic relocations. In the present decade, we will see the assignment types evolve and diversify further with new possibilities like virtual roles, contingent workers, remote workers, and other future mobility options we have not thought about yet. 

Depending on your situation, you might want to consider your primary use cases and create suitable assignment types around them. For example, we started the “Cross-Border Project Worker” type as someone who is employed in one location, lives in a second location, and might commute twice a week to a third location. European legislation now adopts the “Teleworker” as an assignment type. Be creative so you have a handle on managing or accepting our other reality of dealing with every case on a customized basis.

5) You shall not fire an EXPAT.

Have you solved the dilemma of succession planning and repatriation in your company yet? If so, I’d be interested in exchanging with you as it still seems that we are utilizing 1999 methods in recruiting and global resourcing. We should have understood that firing an Expat is never a good idea. It shows that we did not do our job well in the selection or assignment. Maybe we forgot to nominate a sponsor in the home company, or we assigned the Expats without a clear Global Mobility driver. We should make it our priority to retain our Expats in the organization.

6) You shall not solicit from your VENDORS.

As I mentioned in the Global Mobility Workbook, we need to collaborate better with all our vendors to enhance the Expat Experience (XX) further. One ground rule is that you cannot poach staff from your vendors. I would also suggest you build long-term relationships with everyone involved in the process.

You are one team at the end of the day, and the Expat and their family will feel it if you work together like a well-oiled machine instead of blaming each other when there is a break in the process. I would encourage you to search for the cracks in the “Process Porcelain” because most of the time, you can solve an issue best if you look at the process in every detail, handover, and sub-step.

7) You shall not reduce BENEFITS.

Now that companies diversify their compensation approaches, you need to dig deeper into base pay, benefits, and short-term and long-term incentives to have a more comprehensive financial understanding of the implications of an international move. It’s time to broaden your reward skills and ensure you understand compensation models, host-based compensation, and inflation rates by country. As a basic principle, try to maintain equity in the compensation approach. Balance out a lower salary than the host market by providing an additional market allowance or a benefit such as corporate housing.

8) You shall not bear false witness against your EXPAT.

Building a trusted relationship with your Expat and their Spouse will be a crucial success factor for any international assignment. Try to communicate openly and honestly and be transparent about your limitations. Let them know how you justify exceptions, make package decisions, offer specific benefits, and under what circumstances. Show them your “box of chocolates” and give them one to taste. We think it is too short-sighted to discuss employee experience only in the context of our work and want you to focus on enhancing the Expat Experience (XX).

Enhancing the Expat Experience

9) You shall not Neglect the EXPAT SPOUSE.

The lack of Expat Spouse career opportunities is among the top five reasons assignments fail (AIRINC Mobility Outlook Survey 2021). I have written extensively about why that is and give you ideas on how you can support the Expat Spouse. Over the last ten years, I have seen no significant improvement in how we integrate and support the Expat Spouse. Only a few companies offer Expat Partner Career Support. Let’s also agree that we want to see an improvement on that front. 

Eight Major Barriers to Expat Spouse Employment

10) You shall not move your EXPAT’s goods.

The climate and energy crisis will force us to rethink Global Mobility altogether. Expats want to work from anywhere in the world, and at the same time, moving furniture from Hong Kong to Singapore to New York or flying home every week might not be the best and most sustainable solution for the future. If you are serious about reducing the carbon footprint, you must incentivize environmentally friendly solutions in favor of the “classical approach.” For example, you could pay for storage rather than moving household goods. You could support rental furniture instead of giving an allowance for buying new furniture. You could pay for train travel instead of flights within a certain distance.

We will need to give up our resistance to work from anywhere (WFA), workations, and other virtual assignments, which means that employees can also work in a third country of choice (not the home country or the location benefiting from the task performed). This possibility enables Expats to become digital nomads, no longer bound to a specific location. Implementing more Virtual Assignments also means acknowledging and accepting that working arrangements are changing fast in response to technology, generational changes, and sudden business disruptions. 

Of course, there are limits to this as well. The most obvious is that not all jobs are remote, which is also one of the reasons why virtual Mobility will not replace traditional Mobility. Tax and compliance issues can pose a risk, too. The company having no existing operations and not wishing to have a permanent establishment where the employee would like to be based can be another possible barrier to Virtual Assignments. Some organizations are also concerned that Virtual Assignments could hinder company culture and teamwork, with the risk of the employee feeling like a perpetual outsider.

Five easy-to-forget critical topics to consider before moving to another country for work

Moving jobs to people instead of moving people to jobs will not substitute the traditional way of thinking about Global Mobility. Still, it is another tool companies can use in their global operations. We live in an era where recruitment should be location-independent. 

As organizations gradually embrace best practices to manage a distributed international workforce, it will be essential for Global Mobility teams to adapt to a new way of thinking and learn to implement Virtual Assignments successfully. Also, the Global Employment Company adage will have a rebirth like the latest 80ies fashion.

I wish you, Global Mobility Managers, great success in implementing our decalogue and making it the cornerstone of your department’s policy for future years. 

Kind regards
Angie Weinberger

PS: You can always contact me via all my platforms, such as LinkedIn and good old bottle posts, or you can read my weekly brain dump (The Global People Club Sandwich). If you wish to bulk order any of my publications, it’s also best to contact me directly.

The Global Rockstar Album

References and Further Reading

AIRINC. (2021). Mobility Outlook Survey 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www.air-inc.com/library/2021-mobility-outlook-survey/ 

Baker McKenzie. (2019). ‘The Global Employer: Focus on Global Immigration and Mobility.’ Baker McKenzie. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from https://www.bakermckenzie.com/en-/media/files/insight/publications/2019/12/the-global-employer-focus-on-immigration-and-mobility_041219.pdf

Beck, P., Eisenhut, P. and Thomas, L. (2018). „Fokus Arbeitsmarkt: Fit für die Zukunft?”. Stiftung Zukunft.li. Retrieved 28 May, 2020, from https://www.stiftungzukunft.li/publikationen/fokus-arbeitsmart-fit-fuer-die-zukunft 

Bertolino, M. (2020). ‘How Covid-19 Is Disrupting Immigration Policies and Worker Mobility: A Tracker’. Ernst and Young. Retrieved May 28, 2020, from https://www.ey.com/en_gl/tax/how-covid-19-is-disrupting-immigration-policies-and-worker-mobility-a-tracker

Crown. (2021). Five Standout Talent Mobility Trends for 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from  https://www.crownworldmobility.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/5-standout-talent-mobility-trends-for-2021_digital-CWM.pdf

Deloitte. (2019). ’Global Workforce Insight 2019.’ Deloitte. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ch/Documents/tax/deloitte-ch-Back-to-the-future-global-workforce.pdf

Deloitte. (2020). ‘2020 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends Survey. Deloitte.’ Deloitte. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/us43244_human-capital-trends-2020/us43244_human-capital-trends-2020/di_hc-trends-2020.pdf 

Dictionary.cambridge.org. (2021). multi-skilling. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/multi-skilling

FIDI. (2019). ‘2020 Vision: A Focus on Next Year’s Trends.’ FIDI Global Alliance. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www.fidi.org/blog/2020-vision-focus-next-years-trends 

Hauri, D., Eisenhut, P., and Lorenz T. (2016). „Knacknuss Wachstum und Zuwanderung: Hintergründe und Zusammenhänge.” Stiftung Zukunft.li. Retrieved 28 May, 2020, from Knacknuss Wachstum und Zuwanderung

Hershbein, B. and Khan, L. B. (2018). ‘Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings.’ American Economic Review. Vol. 108, no. 7, pp. 1737-72. Retrieved May 27, 2020, from https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20161570

KPMG. (2020). Global Assignment Policies and Practices Survey. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2020/10/gapp-2020-survey-web.pdf

KPMG. (2021). Global Mobility Forecast: Trends in Risk, Talent and Digital. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2021/02/global-mobility-forecast-trends-in-risk-talent-and-digital.pdf 

Mercer’s 2022 Flexible Mobility Policies Survey 

Mercer, (2019). ‘Flexible Mobility Policies Survey.’ Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/solutions/data-solutions/policies-and-practices-surveys/flexible-mobility-policies-survey

Mercer. (2017). Worldwide Survey of International Assignment Policies and Practices. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www.imercer.com/products/WorldwideIAPP

Mercer. (2021a). Global mobility policy flexibility in practice. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/article/Global-mobility-policy-flexibility-in-practice 

Mercer. (2021b).The rise of virtual assignments. (2021). Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/insights/article/the-rise-of-virtual-assignments 

Mercer. (2021c). Upskilling the Mobility Function. (2021). Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/article/Upskilling-the-Mobility-Function 

Mercer. (2021d). Talent mobility: looking ahead. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/Insights/article/Talent-mobility-looking-ahead

PWC. (2016). Women of the World: Aligning Gender Diversity and International Mobility in Financial Services. Retrieved 18 August 2021, from https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/financial-services/assets/women-of-the-world.pdf 

Robb, A., Frewin, K. and Jagger, P. (2017a). ‘Global Workforce Trends: The Impact of the Digital Age on Global Mobility.’ Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/tax/deloitte-uk-global-mobility-trends-latest.PDF 

Robb, A., Frewin, K. and Jagger, P. (2017b). ‘Global Workforce : Digital Innovation in Mobility.’ Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/fi/Documents/tax/deloitte-uk-digital-innovation-in-mobility.pd 

Vialto https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6943208654061850624/ 

Weinberger, A. (2019). The Global Mobility Workbook (Third Edition). 978-3-9524284.

Working from anywhere: A differentiator in the war for talent? (2022). Mercer Mobility. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/insights/article/working-from-anywhere-a-differentiator-in-the-war-for-talent 

2021 buzzwords and what they tell us about mobility. (n.d.). Mercer Mobility. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://mobilityexchange.mercer.com/insights/article/2021-buzzwords-and-what-they-tell-us-about-mobility 

https://globalpeopletransitions.com/the-brexit-effect-how-global-mobility-is-being-impacted-in-europe-and-beyond/

The Global Rockstar Album

In today’s rapidly evolving global landscape, effective leadership is indispensable. Organizations worldwide are navigating unprecedented challenges, from technological advancements to cultural shifts and economic uncertainties. In such dynamic environments, the need for capable leaders to steer their teams toward success has never been more crucial. This is where global leadership coaching is a game-changer, offering many benefits beyond individual growth to catalyze organizational excellence.

Understanding Global Leadership Coaching

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Cultivating Cultural Intelligence

In today’s interconnected world, cultural intelligence is a prized asset for leaders aiming to thrive in diverse environments. Global leadership coaching emphasizes developing GLOBAL COMPETENCY (please check my publications for further explanations), enabling leaders to navigate cultural nuances, adapt their leadership styles, and foster INCLUSION within their teams. By promoting cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity, coaching facilitates smoother collaborations, minimizes misunderstandings, and enhances productivity on a global scale. Culture adds additional complexity to communication in an already complex world. It can amplify communication issues and the likelihood of misunderstandings is especially high in GLOBAL, VIRTUAL TEAMS.

Here are a few examples of differences between German speakers and US Americans.

Accelerating Personal Growth and Development

At its core, leadership coaching is about unlocking potential and fostering personal growth. Through insightful conversations, feedback sessions, and tailored development plans, global leadership coaching empowers individuals to identify their strengths, address their weaknesses, and embrace continuous learning. Leaders gain clarity on their goals, develop resilience in the face of challenges, and cultivate the self-awareness necessary for effective leadership. This process benefits the individual and cascades down to their teams, fostering a culture of growth and excellence.

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Clear and effective communication lies at the heart of successful leadership. Global leadership coaching equips leaders with the tools and strategies to communicate authentically, inspire trust, and bridge cultural divides. Whether it’s leading virtual teams spread across different time zones or negotiating with stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, coaching enables leaders to communicate with impact and build meaningful relationships. Coaching cultivates a collaborative environment where ideas flourish, and innovation thrives by fostering open dialogue and active listening.

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The impact of global leadership coaching transcends individual development to drive tangible results for organizations. Research indicates that companies with strong leadership development programs are more likely to outperform their competitors. By investing in their leaders’ development, organizations not only retain top talent but also cultivate a pipeline of capable leaders poised to tackle future challenges. From improving employee engagement and retention to fostering a culture of accountability and innovation, the ripple effects of effective leadership resonate throughout the organization, contributing to long-term success.

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Agile leadership is paramount in an era marked by rapid change and uncertainty. Global leadership coaching equips leaders with the skills and mindset to navigate ambiguity, adapt to change, and confidently lead amidst uncertainty. By fostering resilience, creativity, and a growth mindset, coaching enables leaders to turn challenges into opportunities and drive positive organizational transformation. Effective leadership becomes the cornerstone of organizational resilience in times of crisis, allowing the teams to weather the storm and emerge stronger on the other side.

Effective leadership is indispensable in a world where the only constant is change. Global leadership coaching offers a transformative journey towards unlocking individual potential, fostering cultural intelligence, and driving organizational excellence. By equipping leaders with the skills, mindset, and support they need to succeed in today’s complex landscape, coaching paves the way for a brighter future where leaders inspire, teams thrive, and organizations flourish. As we navigate the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow, investing in global leadership coaching is not just a strategic choice but a catalyst for unlocking the full potential of individuals and organizations alike.

Further Reading:

The Global Rockstar Album