I was actually the World Champion discus thrower at the competition in Auckland in 2017, and I also took home a bronze medal in the men's over‐45 age group javelin competition.
The Importance of Empowerment
During my 20 years in this industry I've led many virtual teams, some of which are spread across different continents and time zones. One of the largest was a European project delivery team that comprised 30 project managers. I have also worked as head of IT for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which is not only a huge geographical area but one that can often have poor infrastructure.
Despite all of my experience of managing large global teams, there's one team that I still struggle to manage: my five daughters. However, I have learned lessons about management style from my interactions with them that are transferable to the world of business.
What kind of lessons have I learned from my family that might be applicable in virtual teams? Firstly, when there is a conflict in a virtual team it is often highly charged. Many managers, myself included in the early years, can be guilty of trying to deal with conflict within a virtual team by sending an email. Maybe you send an email and copy a lot of people, which makes the situation worse. Not facing the problem properly creates more problems, but in a virtual team setting it can be easy to hide behind technology. When you send emails like this, you undermine trust and team spirit. I urge you to avoid taking this path.
Start by calling a meeting with the person or people who have contributed to the conflict. Encourage a debate about the situation. Don't set out your opinion upfront, but instead get your team members to share their opinions and suggest solutions. If you do this early and encourage healthy debate, you will save a lot of time and effort further along.
While you're encouraging this debate, strive to find the solution where people choose what they do. You're creating empowerment. When you empower your team in this way, they'll be more committed to the solution you agree on.
If there is one leadership secret I can share with you that I've learned from leading a house of six women, it's not to underestimate the power of praise. So praise, praise and then praise some more.
Praise the result, if there's a result. Praise a sub‐milestone that someone achieves. Even if they haven't achieved anything, praise positive behaviour. If you can't see anything immediately that you can praise, look harder. There will be something there and this encouragement is the way to start improving performance, even from a distance.
The following are some questions for you to consider at this stage. They're self‐coaching questions and I invite you to write down your answers before continuing with the rest of this book.
1 Do you know your virtual team's personal interests, passions and strengths?
2 How can the unique personality of each team member find expression in the team?
3 How do you sustain interpersonal relationships over time and build on them for team success?
3 The Strengths Matrix
In the office, time seems to stand still as Adam waits for his 10.30 a.m. call with Kaito. Eventually, it's time to connect. He dials into the Zoom meeting and waits for Kaito to join him. ‘Adam, hi! It's so good to see you. How are you?’ Adam breaks into a broad grin. ‘I'm great thanks. It's great to see you too. Look, Kaito, things have changed for me recently and I've decided I want to make a go of it in the renewable energy space.’ He pauses, waiting for a reaction. Kaito smiles, then laughs. ‘That's fantastic! What are you thinking about?’ ‘Well, for a start I'd really love you to be involved…’
The half hour whizzes past as Adam and Kaito talk back and forth about all the options in the sector. A plan is beginning to fall into place, although Adam is in favour of wind energy following his talk with Georgia and given what he's seen happening off the Norfolk coast, while Kaito prefers the idea of solar. Both of them are very passionate about their preferred options, and neither is prepared to back down.
After half an hour of going round in what feels like circles, with Adam and Kaito reiterating their respective preferences for wind or solar, Adam is getting tired and frustrated. He knows he needs to put a stop to the conversation.
He interjects, ‘Kaito, look, I hear what you're saying but I really think that wind is the direction we should go in. I'll do some research on the solar projects you're talking about, but I want to start with wind energy and build from there.’
Kaito's expression changes ever so slightly. Adam thinks he looks slightly crestfallen. What Adam can't see is that Kaito, who has been making notes on a pad next to his laptop, is scribbling hard on the pad, scoring deep, dark lines into the crisp white paper.
‘Right, well, I guess I'll wait to hear from you then,’ Kaito says abruptly.
Adam seems unaware of the note of frustration running through Kaito's voice. ‘Great,’ he says, ‘I'll be in touch later this week.’
They say their goodbyes and log off. Adam sits back and exhales. He hadn't been aware that he was holding his breath. I'm doing the right thing. I know more about the wind sector than solar. Kaito will come around. He continues with his day but there's a niggling sense of unease settling into his thoughts.
**************
When Adam returns home that evening, he's still mulling over his call with Kaito. He's been thinking about it on and off all day. As he enters the house, he can hear Rose in the kitchen. He slips off his shoes, loosens his tie and walks down the hall. As he enters the kitchen, he's visibly preoccupied.
Rose is dipping a herbal tea bag in a mug of hot water. As she swirls it around trails of deep purple stain the water. Adam looks at what she's making and pulls a face. ‘You don't fancy one of these then?’ Rose asks with a smile and a twinkle in her eye. ‘I honestly don't know how you can drink that stuff,’ Adam replies. He gets himself a glass of water and sits down at the table, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he does so and allowing it to drop onto the table in front of him.
‘How was your day?’ Rose asks, ‘Did you speak to your Japanese colleague?’ Adam looks up at her and pauses. ‘I did,’ he says. Rose eyes him somewhat suspiciously. ‘Do I take it from your tone that the meeting didn't go well?’
‘Well, it wasn't exactly what I'd expected,’ Adam admits. ‘I thought he'd be really excited to get onboard but he kept talking about solar projects and I really want to focus on wind energy, at least initially. It felt like we were going round in circles so I just put my foot down and told him wind was the way to go.’
He pauses. Rose picks up her tea having removed the tea bag and sits next to Adam at the table. ‘Do you think it was wise to just dismiss his views? I thought you said he was an expert,’ she asks.
‘He is, but I mean, it's my company and I have an idea of where I want it to go,’ Adam says, almost with a touch of petulance in his tone.
‘I understand that you're excited about this and, believe me, I am too, and so is Georgia. But Adam, you've worked in oil for the last 20 years. I know that you've had some involvement with wind energy because of what happens locally, but I thought the whole point of this meeting was to get the input of an expert in this space, the renewable energy space?’
Rose waits for a response. Adam's gaze shifts and he looks at his phone. The message
