A colleague recently landed a job for Export Trading Co. LTD, an agro processing company in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with offices throughout Sub Saharan Africa. I wondered: Is it any easier to become assimilated into a new culture today than it was for me when I took a temporary assignment in Hong Kong two […]
Real Cultural Assimilation Takes Patience, Time and Willingness to Adapt Read More »
As our workforce becomes more scattered, organizations are being forced to rethink how they deliver training. While the array of solutions may vary, one trait these organizations have in common: They are scaling back or altogether eliminating classroom training in favor of distance learning. Most don’t have the experience or tools to make this move
Moving to the Virtual Classroom: 8 Steps to Keep Learners Engaged Read More »
It can be really awkward to candidly discuss cultural differences when your colleagues work across the hall. But when colleagues work across the continent or on the other side of the world, these conversations becomes exponentially harder. Yet, by missing the opportunity to openly explore how cultural differences affect its ability to collaborate, a team
Navigating Through Invisible Cultural Tripwires Read More »
When we ask clients to name the toughest challenge associated with leading virtual teams, there is one answer that always pops to the top of the list: Building trust. Or in some cases, it’s re-building trust. Building trust is hard for any team, but it is especially hard for virtual teams, whose members have few
Building Trust Within Virtual Teams – Small Steps Add Up Read More »
Normally, I ascribe to the 80/20 rule when it comes to planning meetings or designing training. That is, I know I can’t possibly predict every single situation that might arise, so I do my best to anticipate what I think will happen 80% of the time for 80% of the participants. As far as the
Virtual Meetings: Design for Worst-Case Scenarios for Best Outcomes Read More »
Let’s face it. We’ve all made some pretty poor decisions. Sometimes it’s because we feel we have to keep moving, in any direction. Other times we just don’t want to have to think too hard, so we make the choice that requires the least scrutiny. When we make a bad decision that has fairly minor
6 Essential Guidelines for Making Better Decisions, Virtually Read More »
Guided Insights Quick Tips Guides – recently updated with new templates: 123 Tips for Planning and Leading Exceptionally Engaging Virtual Meetings 122 Essential Tips for Leading Amazingly Productive Virtual Teams 101 Essential Tips for Designing and Leading Virtual Learning Programs that Keep People Interested, Engaged and Focused All three guides are available in softcopy form
Tips Guides – Make it Easy to Apply Dozens of Short, Practical Ideas Read More »
How many emails can I write while “participating” in a weekly review meeting? Which ideas can I repurpose so I don’t have think of new ones? How many calls can I avoid by blasting a group IM? How many minutes can I save by outsourcing dinner prep to the local pizza joint? Yup, for many
Balance Innovation and Expediency for a Supercharged Team Read More »
Precious few virtual teams have explicit team norms, even for aspects of teamwork where the absence of shared norms can really trip a team up. Excuses include: “When would we have time to talk this through?” “Everyone pretty much knows how we need to work.” “We’re too busy.” And my favorite: “It’s too late to
Untangle your Virtual Team with 10 Most-Needed Norms Read More »
Quick: What’s the #1 skill successful virtual leaders must have, which is usually hardest for them to cultivate? If you said “listening,” you’d be right. Why it’s so important is pretty obvious. Virtual leaders must learn to listen for and interpret an enormous amount of information, within seconds, without benefit of body language or eye
You’d Be a Great (Virtual) Communicator If Only You Could Just Be Quiet Read More »
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Nancy Settle-Murphy
Overcoming Time and Distance to Achieve Exceptional Results
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