presentation distance leadership

Confederation of Danish Industry

DI – Dansk Industri 2014

Leading from afar


2014DI – Dansk Industri

Theoretical foundation

• “Identification with leader” by Stacey L. Connaughton & John A. Daly (Distanced Leadership from the perspective of the dispersedemployee)

• “Leading from Afar: Strategies for Effectively Leading Virtual Teams” by Stacey L. Connaughton & John A. Daly

• “Lederskab på distancen” by Anne Birgitte Lindholm

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3

13 areas of main focus



Objectives

After the training the participant is able to

• understand and act on the challenges with dispersed teams

• create a solid foundation for Distance Leadership (Distance

Charter)

• apply the principles in Distance Leadership

4



Content

• Leading from afar – Distance leadership

• The distance employee

• Distance leadership – the foundation

• Distance leadership



Dispersed teams and Distance leadership

7

• Definition – Dispersed teams:

• “Teams that are separated by some degree of time and distance”*

• Definition – Distance leadership:

• “Leadership in those contexts”*

© People & Performance A/S Sources: Cascio & Shurygalio (2003)



8

What are the benefits in terms of collaboration and leadership when allocated in the same office/location?



The advantages of physically proximate offices

• Traditional office settings provide

• more frequent and spontaneous communication

• immediate interaction for troubleshooting

• the possibility to develop and maintain relationships

• ….

9Source: Davenport & Pearlson (1998)



1. to find the most appropriate way to lead2. to handle the “loss of control feeling”

3. to work across organizational boundaries and cultures4. to create transparency about role priorities

5. to develop and keep the team vision, spirit, approach, and feeling of joint purpose

6. to maintain relations and create an atmosphere of trust

7. to optimize the team’s performance and establish appropriateperformance management

8. to motivate

9. to develop a method for realizing an employee’s potential from a distance 10. to decide an appropriate level and methods for using communication

technology

The Distance Leader’s ChallengesDispersed teams, 10 years of research, 3,000 leaders

10Source: Center for Distance leadership, US.



Content

• Leading from afar - Distance leadership






What challenges doesthe distance employee experience?

Isolation

12



Challenges for the distance employee

• fewer opportunities for informal communication

• feeling isolated from the central organization

• geographic dispersion makes effective interactions harder and increase complexity

• hard to identify with the distant leader and organization

• ….

13Reworked from Cramton (2002)



Challenges # 1Logistics and Technology

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1. Distance leads to the fact that issues are postponed until F2F is possible

2. The corporation is complicated by different time zones

3. Travel costs and time consumption influence the choices of how to leadand handle problems

Sources: Solomon, 1995 ,Townsend et al, 1998, Warketin et al, 1997; Daft & Lengel, 1986

1. Technophobia (fear) and Technophile (attraction) reinforces barriers

2. Web and phone communication is poor on cues compared to F2F communication

3. Multiple communication channels and “side communication” increasesthe complexity

4. Delays in asynchronic communication becomes an important dynamic



Challenges # 2Social interaction & culture

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1. The traditional social mechanisms does not work

2. Communication dynamics, e.g. body language and intonation, changes

3. The nuances in members’ social and professional roles are lost or distorted

4. Integrating new collegues from a distance is hard

Sources: Solomon, 1995 ,Townsend et al, 1998, Warketin et al, 1997; Daft & Lengel, 1986

1. Multiple cultures lead to misunderstandings and distorted assumptions

2. The impact from national culture increase in comparison with the companyculture

3. Certain cultural differences are multiplied by distance

4. Building trust is hard from a distance, and the troubles are reinforced by cultural differences



What matters to the individualemployee

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Identification Motivation



• The symbolic value of actions used matters even more

• Considering the signal value becomes important

• How and from whom should the distance employees hear the news?

• How can we involve distance employees in decision processes?

• Reduce “us” versus “them” mentality

• Visits to HQ, get to know colleagues

• Introduction to the national culture in HQ

• Introduction to company culture

• The distance employees are included – in the pictures hanging in HQ, in the flags

hanging on the wall

• Symbolic gifts has a place at a central spot

• Internal sources of information are spread – postal approaches, bulletin board, after-

work meetings, Friday morning coffee, on serious and "for fun" distribution lists, etc.

Identification matters

17. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly



Motivation matters

Sources: Leading from Afar, S.L. Connaughton & J.A.Daly, Motivaiton, D. McClelland18

1. The distance employees were more satisfied with their jobs than the employees closer to their leaders

2. Availability was an important factor for the satisfaction with the leader in the distance group. In fact, the physical distance was not an important indicator.



The Distance employee

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Isolation

Identification Motivation



Content

• Leading from afar - Distance leadership






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Successful distance collaboration = Discipline and Consistency



Distance Management

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Charter

PlatformMedia choice principlesTechnology accessKnowledge ManagementOrganization

Dilemma reductionReporting lines Job descriptionEscalation staircase

KPIsRelevant KPIsAligned effort prioritiesReview process

ObjectivesDistributed Line of sight (result-effort)SMART

RolesTeam rolesCollaboration roles

Ground rulesAgreed rulesAligned behaviourAvoid “problem rules”

ProcessFrequencyTeam/1-2-1Templates (e.g. agenda)Publicly scheduled



Distance Management –Objectives and KPIs

Skills

Results

Performance targets1

Efforttargets2

Skill-buildtargets3

Distance Skill-build

KPIs 6

Distance Effort KPIs 5

Distance Performan

ce KPIs 4

Behavior

Results

23



Distance leadershipAligned priorities at a distance

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Exercise

• Same groups as previously (3 persons)

• Pick one of your distance employees and make a prioritized list for the tasks and efforts

• Time: 20 minutes

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Distance Management Organization principles

• Clear about

• Base organization

• Allocation in split reference

• Reduce dilemmas

• Clear governance, who can delegate what to the distance employee

• Mechanism to coordinate ”above” the distance employee

• Ensure access to professional interaction

• Consider access to needed facilities (local markets, special facilities/ location)

• Ensure job, function, or project role description aligned to the result, effort, and skill-build targets as well as KPIs 26



Distance Management the distance escalation staircase...

Build clear criteria and a process for escalation to

• empower

• align expectations

• ensure sufficient local initiative

• overcome cultural differences

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1st floorDKK 4,000 + local impact

2nd floorWill probably trigger competitor reaction

3rd floorDemand from local government that

trigger workload in our stores

4th floor

5th floor

Decide

Decide and Inform xx

Get approval before initiating



Distance Management Platform principles

• The access to the media in use affect the distance cooperation

• Some media are better than others to certain forms of communication

• There is a risk of unequal access to influence and participation in the cooperation due to differences in access to technology

• Deliberately choose media based on:

• Message (praise, conflict, problem solving, info, etc.)

• Participants’ access, skills in using and bandwith

• The need for two-way interaction (number of cues needed)

• The signal value

. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly28



Platform – Media richness

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F2F Phone Chat

Letter

Policies

Notes/minutes

Newsletterse-mail

Simpel web tools

Virtual world(live web meetings)

Rich media Less rich media

Access to media and support

S Kilde: Daft & Lengel



Distance Management –Ground rules• Agree and Align to ground rules e.g.:

• We will identify meetings as “must” attend and “may” attend meetings. We

will all attend “must” meetings.

• Each meeting will have an agenda distributed before the meeting

• Meetings will end on time

• There will be no side conversations (by whatever media) during meetings

• F2F team meetings will, when possible, be rotated across regions

• Minutes will be distributed within three business days

• We will all respond to e-mails within one business day

• All e-mails will be less than one page (otherwise attach the file and direct

attention to specific issues).

• Avoid

• Establishing rules after a problem has arisen will reflect someone’s

misbehavior

3030 Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly



Distance Management Meetings

31Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly

Meeting Management:

• Regular meetings with agreed agendas

• Publication of meeting series and content

• Formulate standards for preparation and participation

• E-mails, Excel, presentations etc. available for reading prior to the meeting

• Give clear preparation tasks: “Prepare to present your position/impact in

your market segment”

• Product focus = use template and joint formats for the preparation to

ensure aligned expectations

Meeting leadership:

• Check In and Check-out

• Adherence to procedures agreed

• Active involvement

• Do recurring meetings also when no problems justify it (free-flow chatting)



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Lead performanceCheck-in and Check-outClear review format and

processQuality and effort alignmentRAPID execution

CommunicationOver-communicateCommunicate in picturesCreate context and coherenceFeedback loops and

Reciprocity

CultureBuild cultural awarenessCommunication stylesSense of time and rhythm

Trust buildingSelf-disclosurePersonalizationOn-site/face2face enoughSocial/shared events

Leadership Lead leadersAccessibilityDiscipline and ConsistencyTwo-way Gatekeeper

Charter

Distance Leadership

© People & Performance A/S



Distance Leadership –Communication principles

• Over-communicate

• Multiple media, e.g. mail + phone

• Multiple channels, e.g. joint information + personal mail

• Communicate in pictures

• Screen dump with arrows

• Story-telling by using examples

• Create context

• Why before what

• Frame the communication

• Describe benefits and consequences of the effort asked

33© People & Performance A/S. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly



Lead the Quality alignment

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Quality

Time”It is the leaders task to align expectations to quality and effort put in”



Distance LeadershipLead (multiple) leaders

• The distance employee will have local and distance leaders assigningtasks

• The challenge is to create consistent direction and align expectations

• The responsibility for aligning expectations to efforts and prioritiesbelong to the distance leader

• The distance leader is responsible for involving the local manager

• Informal leaders will emerge – enrol them

• Recruit the right employees for a distance position, being self-starters, independent, active in communication

35. Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly



Distance Leadership -Two stages in building trust….

• Stage 1 – building trust F2F (with a new team, employee, or leader)

• Trust is critical in creating and sustaining effective distance relations

• Trustful relations promote open, candid, and ”to the point” information exchange

• Stage 2 – sustaining trust

• A leader can successfully manage the day-to-day issues of their teams from afar –

however the problem is…

• If a leader does not engage in F2F exchanges during the initial phase, it will create a

trust deficit

• The main challenge is to engage enough in F2F and maintain the interaction frequency

36Sources: Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly



Distance Leadership – Culture

• Cultural diversity is an important influence

• Sense of time and rhythm have great influence

• Awareness on differences in the team removes frustration

• Public and agreed approaches to address cultural diversity are important

37© People & Performance A/S. Sources : Identification with leader & Leading from Afar, S. L. Connaughton & J. A. Daly

presentation distance leadership

Education

distance leadsto

distance leadership4

definition distance

connaughton john

daft lengel

members social

pictureshangingin hq

social interaction culture151