It’s an exciting week for the Global Integration team in Europe this week – our spring/summer  team meeting for Europe is happening on Thursday/Friday, so the team will all be together in England.

Outside of this, Phil Stockbridge will be in London on Tuesday and Wednesday, John Bland will be in the north of England, and Rod Farnan, Tony Poots and Kevan Hall at various places across the south.

In the USA, both Tim Mitchell and Robyn Green will be on the East Coast, and in Asia TH Ong will be in Singapore early in the week and Shanghai (PRC)  later in the week.

Looking ahead to next week, our team meeting for the Americas is happening, making our team there slightly less available

John Bland will be in Belgium, and Kevan Hall will be in the USA for part of the week. Robyn Green will be in St. Louis (USA) early in the week. And finally: we’re enjoying that Phil will be in Philadelphia (Phil Stockbridge that is).

We hope you’ll catch up with us soon. You can reach out directly to our consultants, or let our regional offices take the strain and do the hard work for you. It’s what they’re there for!

As a way of giving back to the community that helped make our Global Working video competition a success, we’ve created a report sharing what we learned from the process.

Clicking on the report below should enlarge it on your screen. If it fails to pop up, the link above it should take you directly there:

Anyone who’s spent any time with our CEO Kevan Hall will undoubtedly know two things about him: one, he’s a Brit; and two, he supports Reading FC.

A word to anyone who thinks football involves guys with large shoulder pads charging down a pitch and handling odd shaped balls – in the UK, soccer is called football. It’s played with feet, so Kevan would claim that this is far more logical. American football is more like rugby (except the Brits scrap the ‘big as a buffalo’ shoulder pads).

All of which is a short cultural diversion that takes us to the real point of this blog post, which is that Kevan’s ‘on record’ as noting a pattern: the last management book he wrote, Speed Lead, coincided with Reading’s promotion to the premier league.  And just as he pushed ‘send’ on his new book, off to the publisher for review, Reading again earned promotion.

Pure coincidence? Not according to our illustrious leader, a Reading season ticket holder. He is determinedly claiming a case of cause and effect – a direct correlation.

Every time Kevan writes a book, he squirrels himself away and we, the Global Integration team, have to really earn our time with him.

So this is our public plea to Reading FC: please stay up this time. Not only will he be a happier man as his team wins, he’ll not have to disappear off and write another book.

Oh, and congratulations, guys. Well played!

Kevan Hall, Global Integration

Global Integration offers tailored courses rather than open access, but anyone in the UK looking for a one day workshop at a reasonable rate (£250) may be interested in the one day matrix organization workshop being offered by Ashridge Business School, at which Global Integration’s CEO, Kevan Hall, will be leading the afternoon session.

The matrix is a reality for most large companies now: in global organizations people work across geographies and multiple product sets. Tension points abound and even organisations structured into simple business units have central functions that impose policies and services on decentralised units.

This workshop (June 19, 2012) will explore different forms of matrix structure, why they exist and how managers within these structures can be effective.

Kevan is joining Andrew Campbell , Director of Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, programme director of Advanced Organisation Design and author of ‘Designing Effective Organisations’ and numerous articles and books on organisation and strategy.

Campbell is running the morning session, focussing on functions, Hall’s afternoon session will focus on management.

The workshop is likely to appeal to:

-          managers working within a matrix organisation, leading a matrix organization or helping design or develop matrix organizations

-          human resources professionals: business partners, OD specialists or organization consultants

-          management consultants, strategic planners and business managers in complex organizations.

Further details at hand be found at: www.ashridge.org.uk/matrixorganisations.

Alternatively, contact Melinda Pooley on +44(0)207 404 0032 or email Melinda.Pooley at ashridge.org.uk.

May Day, May 1, is a traditional spring festival which, in the Northern hemisphere, has its origins in Pagan festivals – notably that of Beltane, the celebration of spring – adapted over time as Christianity spread. It’s exactly six months before All Hallows (Hallowe’en).

Across Northern Europe, there are festivities. In Estonia,for example, Volbriöö is celebrated throughout the night of 30 April with folk dressing up as witches in a mood of celebration, leading into ‘Spring Day’ today, May 1 (Kevadpüha). In Finland, ‘Walpurgis day’ (Vappu) is a massive carnival, leading into a day of picnics on May 1. Walpurgisnacht in Germany on April 30 has stories of witches meeting to greet the spring. Valborgsmässoafton or simply Valborg in Sweden sees huge bonfires. Traditionally in Britain, rites included dancing around a maypole.

May day traditions have adapted, grown and been expanded by students through the years and to list all of the festivals here would be a blog post stretching into next year.

In the UK, celebration of May Day was historically banned. Although this is no longer the case, there are pockets of celebrations. And a bank holiday (day off) is awarded on the first Monday of the month. (this year, May7.) This neatly bypasses the politicians’ problem of May Day, the International Worker’s Day celebration (also known as Dag van de Arbeid, Feest van de Arbeid, Journée des Travailleurs, Fête du Travail, Dia del Trabajo….) which brings workers and their unions onto the streets in over 80 countries around the World, across most continents.

This many surprise many in the US, however, where the first Monday in September is Labor Day. The focus here is a celebration of the contributions of workers – elsewhere the focus is on rights.

Add to this that, in the Netherlands (and the places it once colonised in Caribbean), yesterday was Queen’s Day, Koninginnedag, also known as Orange Day, and we have two days of festivities across the World, celebrated differently in every country, that anyone working in a cross cultural context should take into account.

When people work in an office surrounded by people who know that there’s a national holiday, it’s easy to forget that the same isn’t being celebrated worldwide. Our rule of thumb for anyone working in an international context is to expect the unexpected.

Shared diaries help, but once a month why not look together at what’s being celebrated in the six weeks ahead? The way that countries celebrate are a strong cultural clue, and as people go through their diaries you’ll probably also find out about other important personal events like people’s birthdays, weddings, graduations, and other important life events. This information is invaluable for planning, scheduling and making sure that you’re not making impossible demands of colleagues.

With Spring in the air, and a spring in their stride, our intrepid team of training consultants are out and about: if you want to hook up with any of them whilst they’re in your area/close by, you can contact them directly, or contact your closest Global Integration office and let us do the co-ordinating for you!

In the Americas this week, both John Bland and T.H. Ong will be in New York. Robyn Green’s also on the East Coast for most of the week, including Westport, and Tim Mitchell’s going to be in Oregon for the most part.

In the UK, Rod Farnan’s in the South of England, and we hope he’s taking it a little easier than usual as it’s his birthday – Happy Birthday, Rod.

CEO Kevan Hall is darting around in the UK doing various things related to his new book, a sequel to Speed Lead, which is written and should appear on the shelves the next year, as being in London for part of the week.

If you’d like a little more notice, next week Robyn Green will be in Germany should you want to catch her whilst she’s there, Later in the month John Bland will be in Belgium.

Various team members will be in Henley, in the UK, at different times in the month.

In Asia, Phil Stockbridge will be in Kuala Lumpar for just over a week in a week or so – a great chance to catch up with a key team member whilst he’s there.

Today we publish an abridged version of a leadership article by training consultant John Bland – in particular on the role of money in motivation.

People often put a lot of money and energy into their hobbies and interests, sometimes more than they put into work.

Why is that, and what are we missing in the world of work?

Key software programmes such as Linux or Mozilla Firefox were (and are) developed by IT specialists, unpaid and in their spare time.

Just think about that. They spend their day doing normal work and then in the evening and at the weekend they spend their spare time ‘working’  for free.

In his book “Drive, the Surprising Truth about what Motivates us”, Daniel H Pink forcefully challenges our understanding of rewards, and specifically the role of money in rewarding and motivating.   (See more on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc .)

His jumping-off point is that the academic work done over the past few decades consistently shows that financial rewards hinder creativity.

Think about the world of art, or music to realise the truth of this statement. Many of the World’s greatest artistic contributors lived and died in relative or abject poverty.  Their creative urge was not driven by, or rewarded with money.

Returning  to the research – in one study on rewards at MIT, students were given tasks and three levels of monetary reward according to performance.  If the tasks were mechanical, then the higher the pay the better the performance. By contrast, as soon as rudimentary cognitive skills were involved, larger rewards lead to poorer performance. So it seems that monetary rewards are ineffective if the work requires a part of the creative brain.

Another study was done in India where the rewards were made much bigger.  Here, those who were rewarded the most highly did worst of all.  And those who received middle level rewards did no better than those receiving the lowest rewards.

The implications are enormous. The startling conclusion is that higher monetary rewards lead to, at best equal performance, and potentially to worse performance.  It’s worth reading that twice – research shows that higher monetary rewards lead to at best equal, and often worse, performance

Let’s be clear: I don’t work for nothing, and neither do you.  Nor do I expect people to do so (and you shouldn’t either).   But equally, as the recent financial crisis has demonstrated repeatedly, an over-emphasis on money creates major problems.  Financial rewards MUST be coupled to something else, otherwise organizations  are in really dangerous territory.  There has to be a bigger vision, or the only reason anyone worked at a given organization would be for the money – at all levels.  Just think what an organization would look like if the only reason people worked was for money, doing only what earns them more,  avoiding  anything that earned them less.

There is probably truth in the old   “Pay people peanuts and you’ll recruit monkeys” so, firstly, it is crucial to pay people enough to get money off the table as an issue  - and then forget it. A compensation and benefits package will drive the way people work, but it will rarely motivate them.

So what is it that inspires people in their hobbies?  Why do people really work?  What really does motivate?  Great leaders, great managers, focus on the things that do get people up in the morning.

If you want to connect in person with any of the Global Integration senior team this week, here’s where you’ll find them:

Europe’s the place to be:

In the UK, CEO Kevan Hall will be in London, Brighton and Edinburgh. Phil Stockbridge will be in London, Windlesham and Oxford. John Bland will also be in Oxford for part of the week.

Rod Farnan will be in Brussels (Belgium)

And in the US, Robyn Green and Tim Mitchell will be on the East Coast, and TH Ong will be in California.

Feel free to reach out to any of them individually, or contact your nearest Global Integration office and let us take the strain for you.

If you’re interested in matrix management, global working or virtual teams, and are looking to catch up with one of senior team of training consultants this week, this is where you may catch up with them in person:

In Europe:

In the UK, Kevan Hall can be found in the Midlands (Redditch), Tony Poots in Oxfordshire and Rod Newing in Sussex.

In France, Tim Mitchell and John Bland will both be in Paris at various times this week.

Phil Stockbridge will be in Moscow all week (Yes, we know – Russia is mostly in Asia. However, it is ‘transcontinental’ and the capital is, we’re told, on the European continent.)

In the Americas:

Robyn Green will be on the East Coast all week, in Delaware specifically on Wednesday and Thursday, where you can also catch CEO Kevan Hall (Delaware, Wednesday and Thursday).

And in Asia….

TH Ong will be in the region all week, including  Singapore on Monday and Hong Kong on Friday.

If you like to catch up with any of the team whilst they’re close by, do reach out to the training consultants in person, or feel free to contact one of our regional offices and let us do the hard work for you.

Most of our senior training team will be taking a break next week, with the exceptions of Rod Farnan (Richmond, London) and T.H.Ong, who’ll be in the PRC (People’s Republic of China) in Shanghai and Beijing.

To make arrangements to meet up with any of them, we suggest calling one of our regional offices and letting us do the hard work for you!

If you’re taking a break, make we wish you a happy and peaceful Easter, Passover –  or chocolate fest.

Just for fun, we played a little with a Twitter tool,  visual.ly, on the recommendation of a Twitter ‘friend’.

According to our infographic, below, we’re not overly chatty and we’re 82% interesting. (Our Twitter address is @GlobalInteg.)

Sadly we have under 500 followers. (In reality that’s a good number – we like the people we talk to.) And we’re not sure we’d agree with the topics – mostly we tweet about matrix management issues, virtual teams/teamworking and global working.

(It was pretty hard for us to create an avatar since we’re a company not a person, so we made that one up.)

If you’re on Twitter, why not give it a go? What does yours say? Do share it with us!

(If the infographic below doesn’t show up properly on your screen, try this link:http://bit.ly/HUB3eK

 
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Last week, CEO Kevan Hall was invited to participate in a round table on the subject of ‘What makes a successful software development team?’ held by SIG (Software Improvement Group) in London. In the first of a series of blogs as a result of that event, we look at team work in the context of developers.

Andrew de la Haye, RIPE NCC, and Kevan Hall, Global Integration debate on teams

Andrew de la Haye is the CIO of RIPE NCC, the European Internet administrator. He manages a large development team, whose software has been empirically assessed by SIG as having ‘five star software’.

We examined the structure of his team and the way that he creates – and reduces – teams. Kevan Hall (Global Integration) quickly recognised that de la Haye has unconsciously fulfilled the theory initially expounded by Robin Dunbar on the size of true, successful teams. He has his developers working in small groups of around six people, but responsible to their wider community.

This helps hugely in terms of collaboration and co-operation, and means that the software engineers on the team act as a self-regulator – they can see each others’ code, care about the quality of code that’s been written and work together where necessary. There’s a clear cost imperative in having high quality software in RIPE NCCs case – poor quality will mean changes later.

De la Haye has a  visible ‘score board’ which shows each teams results, which serves to make them answerable to the wider RIPE developer community and helps keep them keen and competitive. He also has mechanisms in place, outside of simple financial arrangements, for helping reward staff and keep them motivated.

The ‘scrum’ methodology (agile development) that they use means that projects are broken into sections (each written on a post it note), and people decide for themselves who wants to work on what.

It’s clear that pride is a better motivator than pressure for the team – they have a strong emphasis on quality. Sure, there are deadlines, but the team has become adept at identifying where there will be complexity and working out solutions.

This empowerment feeds into a level of contentment amongst the team that keeps them motivated.

Consequently de la Haye can only recall one incident where someone was consistently underperforming, resolved by training.

There are, of course, wider factors at play. De la Haye recognises that he couldn’t micro-manage, even if he wanted to, because he’s not a developer himself. The company’s COO is also responsible for technology, so there are no budget conflicts. And although there are budget constraints, there is no profit imperative. RIPE NCC is a not for profit organization.

Overall, however, the great quality software that has emerged from RIPE NCC seems to be down to some great management principles, including a combination of good organization, controlled communication, rightsizing teams, empowerment and a culture of valuing quality.

Of course, not everyone agreed with everything that was said at the round table. We’ll be blogging some of the other findings over the coming days.

We’d love to hear your stories of what makes a great team ‘tick’, whether in a software development context or from another industry. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment boxes below or by emailing us.

If you’re on Twitter, and want to share your ideas there, the hashtag for the event was #greatteams. We’re on @globalinteg, and SIG is on @sig_eu.

Today’s Matrix Monday review of matrix-related literature was one recommended by Global Integration training consultant, Phil Stockbridge: An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust: Past, Present and Future, by  F. David Schoorman, Purdue University; Roger C. Mayer, The University of Akron; and James H. Davis, University of Notre Dame, The Academy of Management Review  Vol. 20, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), pp. 709-734.

This paper is as interesting for the issues it raises for further research as for the models of trust it expounds – and with organizational trust at an all time low (according to the paper) it’s an important area of research.

The paper clarifies its model of trust, tackling the widely accepted approach that trust is based on disposition and traits, arguing that trust is based on relationships. It also tries to establish the essence of what trust is, throwing into the pot factors such as a willingness to take risks and a willingness to appear vulnerable.

It distinguishes between trust at a micro level and macro level in organizations, establishing three pillars of trust – benevolence (to which little attention has been paid to date), integrity and ability. (In this context, the  paper also alludes to the role of open benchmarking as a way to establish trust.)

The paper takes a cursory look at distrust and examines the role of control in the trust equation, noting that the balance of control is a factor (too much or too little and trust is damaged). It also notes the strong cultural aspect to trust, and acknowledges the roles of affection and emotion.

All in all, the paper is a thought provoking contribution to discussions around organizational trust, a particular issue in matrix organizations.

If you’d like to catch up with any of the senior Global Integration trainers  this week, this is where they’ll be, with a proviso that the  Easter holiday period, celebrated in both the UK and the USA, is looming and people will be taking odd days of holidays to be with family.

By all means reach out to them individually, but feel free to use your closest Global Integration office to co-ordinate for you too.

In Europe and Asia this week:

Tony Poots will be in Luxembourg (officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg) and John Bland will be in the UK.

On the Europe/Asia border, Rod Farnan will be in Istanbul.

In the USA

The USA is the place to be this week if you want to catch up in person, with Phil Stockbridge in Nashville, Tennessee (we’re reliably informed he’s taking his guitar), TH Ong will be in California, Tim Mitchell in Seattle and Robyn Green on the East Coast.

We look forward speaking with you/meeting with you soon.

Processions of Nazarenos leaving the cathedral of Malaga, Spain

Lent, celebrated by the Christian Church, is almost over, and Easter is almost upon us.  Christians, and countries with a Christian tradition/history, mark the resurrection of Jesus, following his crucifixion (hanging on the cross) which is remembered on the Friday before – Good Friday.

The timing is set by moon cycles, so the dates vary, and traditions vary in Eastern and Western churches – assuming that because Easter has been held in one place doesn’t mean it’s already happened somewhere else,  although this year they are relatively close – April 8 (Western calendar) and April 15 (Eastern calendar).

In the United States, as Easter Sunday falls on a Sunday, which is already a day off, no extra days off are generally awarded, but often shops, malls and restaurants close – along with most of the very few  banks that open on a Sunday. New York is notable for its Easter parade, famous for its Easter bonnets. Good Friday, however, is a holiday in 12 states, and most businesses and public sector organizations close. Schools used to take a one or two week spring recess, but have mostly now changed. On Easter Monday, the President of the United States traditionally holds an Easter egg roll on lawn of the White House

Both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays In Canada, and Quebec awards either Good Friday or Easter Monday as a statutory holiday (although most companies give both). Good Friday is a public holiday.

Across Scandinavia Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are public holidays, although some shopping malls open for a half day. Many businesses close for an Easter break (one week).

Many Christian groups won’t join in Easter celebrations that include Easter egg hunts, egg rolling, egg painting and such, seeing them as a link to paganism. The strong link is hard to ignore: Pagan legend relates that the Goddess Eostre turned a brightly coloured bird into a rabbit, which then laid coloured eggs. This tradition is where the ‘Easter bunny’ and ‘Easter eggs’ originated, and the way that the dates fall, so strongly linked with the moons cycles, give us another clue as to its origins.

This doesn’t mean, however, that the Christian/Catholic churches take it any less seriously, marking , as it does, the end of Lent and a church event considered by many to be far more significant than Christmas, even if the trappings are less overt and less widely celebrated in many places. For Jehova’s Witnesses, for example, Easter is the only major church festival that many will mark. In Spain and many parts of Latin America, ‘Semana Santa’ is celebrated with solemn parades in which many penitents march on their knees. (The parades in Sothern Spain also have celebrants wearing masks and robes that North Americans might be more readily associated with the Klu Klux Klan.)

Because the timing is similar, and some traditions are shared, some make strong historical links between Easter and the Jewish Passover.  Indeed in some languages, no distinction is made between the two.

Passover, however, is celebrated very differently. Its origins date back to the Egyptian Pharaoh who refused to let the Jewish people leave. God sent ten plagues as a punishment, which the Jewish people were spared, and which finally had the Pharoah commanding them to leave. The full story is told at a ‘Seder’ – an event at which Jewish history is recounted – with the Passover Seder being amongst the most important.

Passover in 2012 will start on April 7 and continues for seven days until April 13th.  In the Jewish calendar, holidays begin at sunset of the previous day, meaning that Jews observing the festival will start Passover celebrations on Friday, April 6.

Importantly, observers of the Jewish faith are required to refrain from working on both April 7-8 and April 13-14 – they are ‘yom tov’ – days of rest in which all creative work is forbidden, with the exception of certain types of work associated with food preparation (such as cooking).

The middle four days are called ‘chol hamoed’, the intermediate days.” On these days only work whose avoidance would result in ‘significant loss’ is allowed.

In Israel, Passover is stringently observed for seven days. Outside of Israel, an eighth day is generally added to be sure of getting the timings correct.

Jewish people will eat unleavened bread (matzos) during the festival, to mark the fact that those leaving Egypt had no time to add yeast to their bread that day, and is symbolic of removing puffiness (pride) from their souls. Houses are thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom to remove any traces of chametz (leaven) from the home. The day before Passover begins there is a ritual search for chametz in Jewish homes, greatly enjoyed by the children, who enjoy a special place in Jewish families.

Food must be kosher (clean), and there are strong traditions around the asking of key religious questions (which must be responded to before celebrations can begin) and around what’s included in meals at various points in time.

From a business perspective, over the next few weeks it’s important to understand the traditions of the countries and individuals that you are working with. A key tenet of cross cultural working (which is now the majority of workplaces) is getting to know the people that you are working with so that you can demonstrate some cultural sensitivity around asking people to travel at key times or sharing food, as well as awarding time off or allowing for it in planning projects.

If you are from a culture/faith that celebrates these dates – or others – why not proactively share this information with your team mates?  At very least they may learn something about what’s important to you, and you may do them a real favour by stopping them from arranging meetings when everything’s closed locally or from embarrassing themselves or their colleagues.

If you want to catch up with one of Global Integration’s senior consultants this week, perhaps whilst they’re in your vicinity, here’s where they’ll be this week:

In Europe:

CEO Kevan Hall will be in Madrid on Monday, and in Edinburgh Wednesday to Thursday.

Phil Stockbridge will be in London, as will Rod Farnan (in the Heathrow area).

Tony Poots will be in Zug, Switzerland.

In the Americas:

TH Ong will be in the San Francisco area (USA), Robyn Green will be on the East Coast (USA), and Tim Mitchell  will be in Costa Rica.

Unusually this week no-one will be in Asia.

To catch up with the team or to find out when someone will be in your area, or simply for more information, do contact your closest Global integration office.

It’s an interesting and unusual week for Global integration’s senior consultants this week, who are out and about, as usual, delivering training and consultancy in matrix management, virtual teams and global working.

Phil Stockbridge will be in both Vienna, Austria, and Zurich, Switzerland but the rest of the team in either the UK or USA, should you want to catch up with them whilst they’re in your region.

In the UK, Kevan Hall and will be in the London and South East, Tony Poots will be in Oxfordshire, Rod Farnan will close to Heathrow, London, and in Brighton, and John Bland will be in the North.

In the USA, T.H. Ong will be in Santa Clara, Tim Mitchell will be in Seattle, and Robyn Green will be on East Coast.

Interestingly, Kevan Hall will be participating in a media round table on Thursday in London talking on on ‘What makes a successful development team?’ - we’ll report back on that next week.

If you want to catch up with any of the team whilst they’re in your area, you can contact them directly, use our web contact form or contact your closest regional Global Integration office and we’ll be delighted to help.

Continuing with our Matrix Monday series reviewing matrix related literature, today we summarise Managing Multiple Bosses, by Amy Gallo (Harvard Business Review, August 18, 2011).

Calling on the work of Robert Sutton, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University and the author of Good Boss, Bad Boss,  and Adam Grant, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and co-author of The Hidden Advantages of Quiet Bosses, Gallo surmises that the three key issues of having multiple bosses are overload, conflicting messages and priorities and goes on to suggest some solutions.

A short article, but thorough, if somewhat predictable.

Big congratulations go today to Global Integration’s consultant Robyn Green on becoming a Certified Leadership and Talent Management Coach (CLTMC).

The program Robyn undertook has developed and refined her existing experience in empowering individuals to expand their abilities as global leaders with all that entails. Importantly it has allowed her to share experiences and offered access to important resources.

Mostly, however, it gives her a formal qualification for what we already know she does brilliantly: helping people to get the best out of their teams.

Now she’s completely settled in at Global Integration, already adding her own unique take to the way that she delivers her training on the company’s behalf, we’ve caught up with her to see how things differ to her previous training roles.

Q: How is Global Integration’s training different to what you’ve delivered before?

Robyn:  The biggest difference I’ve experienced is that the training we deliver truly follows the model being delivered. It’s very engaging, avoids ‘death by PowerPoint.

To really have our approach play out in the program makes a huge difference. An interactive, experiential programme which reflects the approach to teamwork that we’re advocating and training means it’s not dry theory. If you don’t need participation, you don’t need a meeting – and the same applies to training. There’s a reason we train face to face. If we’ve demanded attention, it’s our duty to engage. It has to be worth it. That mindset is very powerful.

Q: Which subject matter do you most enjoy delivering?

Robyn: Remote and virtual teams! It’s one of our ‘meatiest’ courses. I’m particularly fascinated by the importance of influence in remote and virtual environments.

I love the concept of networking as an undervalued skill/process. It’s not valued nearly enough. In hierarchical organizations it was seen as schmoozing and political, but in a virtual workforce you have no choice but to network, working with and through people.

The importance of just being ‘remembered’ can’t be underestimated. If you can’t be seen, you have to be front of mind.

I also think our community decay exercise is fantastic – really practical, really thought provoking.

Q: What will the future hold?

Robyn: My new qualification fits well with the materials we train, our approach to training and our ambition for our customers. I’m now armed with a lot more practical examples than before the course and can’t wait to get out there and share them.

With the course now finished, we have additional resources (both in the US and elsewhere) meaning improved availability and capacity for our clients. Although, like all of the team, I can train cross industry, and in any place in the World – and I’ve loved delivering training in places like Vienna already – I’d like to make the most of my financial services background to help develop business on the East Coast.

Robyn can be contacted via the details given on her profile page, or by contacting your closest regional Global Integration office.

Continuing our Matrix Monday summaries of the limited literature available focussing on matrix organizations, today we look at a very recent paper, Seizing Opportunities, Overcoming Productivity Challenges in the Virtually Collaborative Workplace, by Alain Pirard, a Manager within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Strategic Services Practice in Amsterdam, and Rob Konterman, a Consultant within Cognizant Business Consulting’s Strategic Services Practice in Amsterdam.

This paper argues that virtual team working can help advance individual and collective business performance.

If the common pitfalls include short-term thinking, distractions, personal detachment and business disruption, this needs, the paper argues, to be balanced with the benefits: virtually collaborative workplaces help ease traffic jams, reduce carbon footprints and save money spent on infrastructure and energy. At the individual employee level, studies demonstrate improvements in work/life balance and job satisfaction.

The concerns, however, are very real. The paper reports that the annual cost of reduced efficiency (in the form of time lost to handling unnecessary interruptions and recovering from information overload) is estimated at nearly $1 billion for chip manufacturer Intel, for example. The very real risks to workers, performance issues, as well as some practical technology issues are also discussed.

The paper looks at how organizations can:

-        ensure employees have the right collaboration tools and devices;

-        offer communications guidelines and training;

-        stimulate face-time between knowledge workers;

-        find ways to let knowledge workers focus on core tasks;

-        manage a workforce based on results rather than on time spent.

Space is also devoted to some practical ideas and solutions from both a worker’s and organization’s perspective, and the paper includes a look at some successful programmes. In Microsoft Netherlands, productivity as a result of their virtual working programme “soared” by 25%; employee satisfaction rose by over a third; sickness leave fell; and real estate costs declined 30%. (The paper notes, however, that Microsoft is particularly well based to deliver the technology piece of the equation, something other companies might be less adept at.)  Pfizer’s “PfizerWorks” programme saved around 60 thousand hours of unproductive time. ROWE reduced staff attrition by 90%.

Previous ‘Matrix Monday’ summaries on literature related to matrix working can be found here: Matrix Monday