My Top Ten Tips for Leading Globally Inclusive Teams

I have been managing and working with global teams for about a decade now, and it has been one of the great joys of my career. Collaborating with such a diversity of people and cultures has truly enriched my life and my perspective. But the skill to lead inclusively in a global environment isn't something most of us are born with. I've learned a lot through my experiences over the years, and I hope that I will continue to grow as a global leader. But in the meantime, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite learnings so far.

1. Use technology to your advantage. I'm old enough to remember when virtual meetings were all done over the phone, and I promise you that using video conferencing is much more personal and engaging. Most companies these days will have access to video conferencing tools, instant messaging, and shared drives. Some companies also use collaborative project management suites, whiteboards, and platforms that allow you to edit files at the same time. Think about all of the tools that your company has to offer and experiment with how you can use them to bring your team closer together. Pro tip: be careful not to over-index on some of these tools. For example, as much as I prefer a video conference to an old-fashioned phone call, being on camera all day can be exhausting. That's especially true if the call is late in the evening or early in the morning. Using a good mix of tools is a great way to maintain a balance for everyone.
2. When scheduling meetings, consider the time zones of all involved. This one feels like a no-brainer, but you might be surprised at how often people fail to do this consistently. And in my experience this typically comes down to the meeting scheduler making faulty assumptions about what others are willing or able to do. Sometimes we might assume that people in other parts of the world will regularly adjust their schedules to accommodate the time zone of the company headquarters. Other times we might assume that because someone dialed in to an early morning call before that they're happy to do it again. The key to success here is to not make any assumptions. Have an open conversation with your teammates to clearly outline what their preferred working hours are. Understand what personal constraints might impact their ability to be flexible. Do they have children that they need to get ready for school each morning? Do they have a regular commitment at 5:30 pm on Wednesdays? Ask the question and respect the answer. Everyone needs to be flexible some of the time, but being respectful of everyone's needs is half the battle. And the other half is making sure that you spread the need to be flexible around evenly.
3. Create opportunities to crowd source meeting agendas. This works particularly well for regularly-scheduled team meetings or All Hands. Giving everyone around the world an opportunity to shape and contribute to a meeting agenda can be an important part of feeling like they are visible and valued. And if everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute, it can also help ensure that you are not inadvertently spending more time on one part of the world over another. Depending on the size of your team, it may make sense to limit contributors to your direct reports. And as the leader, you should always own making the final decisions about what are the right priorities for any given meeting. But I find that encouraging team members to routinely share what they are interested in talking about makes for richer discussions.
4. Publish meeting agendas in advance. This tip can be particularly helpful for teammates for whom English is not their first language. Having an agenda to review in advance can help some non-native speakers of English prepare for the meeting and also follow along more easily during the conversation.
5. Follow-up with published notes after every meeting. Again, this tip can be particularly helpful for some non-native English speakers, but it's a helpful practice in general. Being able to review the notes after a meeting can help some non-native speakers of English be more confident that they aren't missing anything. It's also useful for anyone who missed the meeting or for anyone who may need to refresh their memories about what was discussed or decided.
6. Rotate responsibilities around the world. If you have regular tasks that need to be performed, set up a rotation that gets everyone involved. For a regular team All Hands, for example, you might have a designated note taker or someone to facilitate an icebreaker. Or, you might choose to spotlight a different project in each meeting. Plan a rotation schedule in advance that allows you to thoughtfully and evenly distribute those tasks to a wide variety of team members. Make sure everyone is included. Pro tip: don't plan too far in advance. I have found that I inevitably have new team members to include on the rotation eventually, so I usually plan these rotations no more than six months ahead.
7. Don't schedule a meeting at all. Meetings can be helpful touch points, but they can also be a challenge to schedule in a global environment. In between those valuable touch points, make the burden lighter on everyone by leaning into asynchronous ways of working. Again, consider the collaborative tools that you have and use them well. Pro tip: be sure to plan ahead here, too. If you need to get input from someone located on the other side of the world, you're going need to build extra time into your timeline to make that happen. Don't get caught having to ask someone to work late at night just because you have a deadline tomorrow and didn't think about their needs in advance.
8. Create opportunities for team members to share about themselves. These opportunities can be either synchronous or asynchronous. For example, in a meeting you can ask a warm up question where everyone shares their favorite food. Or, you can set up a discussion thread in one of your collaborative tools to ask a question of the week, and encourage everyone to contribute. These questions or discussions can be about the team's personal or professional experiences, but if you choose to ask a question about their personal experiences just be careful to keep it high level. Different cultures have different levels of comfort with sharing information about their personal lives. Keep it light and fun. What's most important is that you and the team are demonstrating a genuine interest in each other, a respect for what makes you different, and a willingness to learn from each other.
9. Partner people from different parts of the world on projects. Another great way to build trust and mutual respect on your team is to create meaningful ways for team members from different cultures to interact through the work that you do. Collaborating on a project gives them an opportunity to get to know each other both professionally and personally. When they're done they will better understand each other's strengths and how they can work and learn from each other.
10. Check in. A lot. This one is a good practice with virtual teams in general, and all global teams will be to some degree virtual. When you're not working in the same office it's easy to feel disconnected or sometimes even invisible. Checking in with team members frequently is the best way to mitigate that. Make sure that you have regular, predictable one-on-ones and team meetings on the calendar. Pro tip: try not to reschedule those one-on-ones too often. When your calendar gets busy, it can be tempting to move a one-on-one because there is only one other person impacted. But nothing says "you don't matter" better than having a one-on-one with your manager constantly rescheduled - or, even worse, cancelled. In addition to scheduling regular touch points, also take the time to reach out over whatever instant messaging tool your company uses and casually check in, especially when you know someone is working extra hard. Sometimes all you need to say is "Good morning" or "How are you?" to let them know that you remember that they exist and that you care about their wellbeing. Checking in casually is also a good way to let team members know that they don't have to wait for regularly-scheduled meetings to ask questions or to ask for help.

I hope you found these tips helpful and that you find working with global teams as rewarding as I do. And when you get a minute, comment down below and let me know what your favorite tip is for leading inclusive, global teams.?