How to Manage in a Flat World: Get connected to your team - wherever they are (Financial Times Series)

Many business organisations work across different locations and in different countries. They communicate more and more online rather than face to face and it becomes difficult to successfully manage your team. This book shows you how to manage and work together when your closest colleagues are virtual strangers. Cover......Page 1 How to manage in a flat world......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 Foreword......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgements......Page 14 Introduction......Page 16 Part 1 The Team......Page 28 key points......Page 30 Followership......Page 31 Getting into focus......Page 32 Leading out of the darkness of ambiguity......Page 33 Behind the scenes: teams in synch with the business......Page 36 Unity of focus in complex teams......Page 38 Coca-Cola: RIP the departmental ‘silo’......Page 41 Clusters......Page 42 Shell Retail: huge workforce in a dispersed operation......Page 44 Do we all have to ‘bond’?......Page 47 United Biscuits......Page 49 If we don’t know where we are going, we will probably end up somewhere else......Page 52 Your own human internet......Page 53 High performance with a globally dispersed team......Page 54 key points......Page 56 What do we get from ‘being there’?......Page 58 Video-conferences: an irritation......Page 60 Why are we here?......Page 62 Face-to-face can be powerful, but must be used well......Page 63 All businesses are people businesses......Page 65 A level playing field in the same room......Page 66 An international team can really fire......Page 68 Benefits to being the virtual stranger......Page 69 Will face-to-face become a luxury?......Page 71 Are there hidden advantages to the virtual connection?......Page 74 Native or non-native English? Some notes on language......Page 76 How to get the meeting structure right......Page 78 key points......Page 80 Is there a Generation Y?......Page 84 Is it really culture?......Page 86 In which ways do we differ?......Page 87 In which ways are we ‘all the same’?......Page 88 Monika Altmaier, Project Leader Internationalization, Siemens Business Services......Page 90 European top team......Page 93 Defying the stereotypes: WL Gore & Associates in China......Page 94 Culture clash based on profession......Page 97 Tips to avoid stereotyping......Page 99 key points......Page 100 Can empowerment and control live together?......Page 101 Can you learn, unlearn and relearn?......Page 105 How do you set limits?......Page 106 Managing the bosses: where does followership fit in?......Page 108 Quality of relationships, not formulae......Page 109 How to improve leadership skills......Page 110 key points......Page 112 What are those special ingredients?......Page 113 Looking for the global mindset......Page 114 How important is fluent English?......Page 117 The hunt for talent: recruiting via networks......Page 118 Building the right culture will attract the people you want......Page 121 Guiding principles for international recruitment......Page 123 Part 2 The Individual......Page 124 key points......Page 126 LVMH: understanding the market......Page 129 Alstom: building long-term connections......Page 131 It is not always enough to be a virtual leader......Page 132 Understanding the world: changes that creep up on us......Page 133 Wake up: the paradigm has already shifted......Page 135 How do we make learning continuous?......Page 138 How to combine strategic and conceptual thinking for effective leadership......Page 140 key points......Page 142 Meeting face-to-face sends a positive message......Page 144 Do we have to leave the ‘real me’ at the door?......Page 145 Do we have to have the maximum everything?......Page 150 Is ‘multitasking’ really possible?......Page 151 ‘You get work-life balance complaints when you’re losing’......Page 153 How to improve work-life balance......Page 154 Ten strategies for managing in a flat world......Page 156 Leadership style needs to become empowering and inspirational......Page 158 Recruitment of the right people makes all the difference......Page 159 Communicate often and learn to communicate well......Page 160 Teams don’t just happen......Page 161 Respect cultural differences......Page 162 Work-life balance is the blessing and the curse of the flat world......Page 163 Implications for boards, managers and ‘ordinary’ people......Page 164 Changing the leadership model......Page 166 Ways of being and doing......Page 167 Lessons from the movies......Page 168 Lumps and bumps in the flat world: what would make you fail?......Page 169 Using both sides of the brain: transformingleadership......Page 170 Conclusion: How to be a stand-out manager in a flat world......Page 172 The three Cs of success in the flat world......Page 173 A new language for the flat world......Page 174 Notes......Page 177 Index......Page 178 Thanks to the internet and a globalising economy, businesses today are often stretched across different locations and different time zones, and increasingly communicate online rather than face-to-face. For a manager, it is very hard to manage and motivate a team that spans continents. Managing in a Flat World gives today's manager much-needed advice on how to communicate, manage and motivate in the flattened company and how to operate effectively in the flat world. Within this book, authors Susan Bloch and Philip Whitely expose insights from in-depth interviews and research with managers and leaders in global businesses to show the successes, struggles and triumphs amid a constant battle for balance within a changing world, based on technology. You can learn from their experience how best to collaborate as teams and groups within the flat economy, how to equip yourself as a team leader or team member with fresh ideas on ways of working with your colleagues so as to make the most of the advantages that the networked world can offer.