Two Mornings, One Mission: Driving Cross-Geographic Connectivity

How many ‘mornings’ do you have? I have two – my first at 07:30 (UK time) includes a neighbourhood walk to my local coffee shop for my flat white, accompanied by my dog, Percy-Manolo, followed by arrival to the office and meetings with my EMEA team. My second at 13:30 (08:30 US East Coast time) sees me start the day with our New York/US team, usually accompanied by a strong English breakfast tea. As a typical morning person, I love having the opportunity to start the day twice and as a leader within the business, working with cross-geography teams is a highlight of my role and a big reason?why I’ve stayed so long at 爱德曼 .

Working with Julia Gilmore , an EVP on our New York team is also a highlight of my role as we partner on a cross-geography NYLON (New York / London) account. Together, we’re constantly exploring ways to deepen connectivity within and between teams across 爱德曼 's network. Recently, Julia and I took it ‘back to basics’ in a candid discussion about what connectivity and integration truly mean for our teams and clients. Here’s an excerpt from that conversation:

ME: We often talk about the need for integrated, connected teams across geographies. But what does that actually mean to you?

JULIA: I think on a grander scale, integration means when every member of the team can kind of bring their special skills and their unique value to the team, ultimately unlocking value for their colleagues and clients. What that means in reality is a lot of different things – it could be geographic integration like you and I working across time zones or it could be creative integration, bringing in the best creative minds to our business. In short, I think there's a lot of different ways to consider but it is all about letting people do what they do best.

ME: I love the idea of letting people do what they do best and certainly think this approach applies to geographic integration – let’s look at who in the network is best placed to do the job at hand and not be limited by where they sit. Admittedly, it’s not always that simple, so what do you feel are the biggest barriers and how can we overcome them?

JULIA: I see the challenges as falling into two buckets – one practical and the other emotional. Starting with the practical, we cannot ignore the time zone differences. I can wake up and already have a heavy inbox with emails from the EMEA team who have been online for hours and it works the other way – we will be online when other regions are sleeping. If you are new to cross-geo. teams that can be overwhelming, worrying about what you’ll wake up to.

The flip side to this is our ability to ‘follow the sun’ for client work. It’s fantastic to know that our team in the US can hand things over to your team in London before we log off and vice versa. It allows us to be agile and efficient – to imperatives in today’s fast-moving world of communications.

From an emotional perspective, we need to consider that different offices and markets have different ways of doing things and a lot of the time we might be thinking ‘what if someone does it differently from me’ – it’s a control thing and something that takes some getting used to.

ME: I totally agree, especially that both can be overcome to unlock more value for everyone involved – it just requires a mentality shift.

JULIA: Yes, to that – we need to make sure people embrace being outside of their comfort zone and I think as a company we do nurture this kind of ‘safe’ environment where people feel it’s okay to experiment and try new things. Working as ‘one-team’ across geographies and bringing in the best wherever people are sat will only serve to make the work better and create a more enriching experience for each team member.

Given this, we as leaders need to make sure everyone sees the value of this way of working – from entry level all the way up to senior leadership so it flows with them throughout their career.

ME: I’ve been working in cross-geo. teams for many years now but I’m interested – what one piece of advice would you give to someone who's just started working across geography or that someone that wants to start working cross geography?

JULIA: My number one piece of advice – talk with your peers in different countries. Be curious about what their day-to-day is like, have them be part of your daily list of people to chat to. Be open and inclusive and curious! An example could be – ask about national holidays or cultural events happening – this will not only allow you to get to know your peers better but also better service your clients – if the US has a holiday, then we can foresee that and EMEA or APAC can lean in. It’s all about seeing how we can best work together.

ME: So – the million-dollar (or Stirling or EURO) question. What are you doing as a leader in the business to equip colleagues and clients to foster greater connectivity and integration?

JULIA: One of the things I find works well are prompt questions. Ultimately, I don’t want to create extra layers of admin or work for my team and colleagues and so I find prompt questions or ‘nudging’ to be useful – an example could be asking someone if they have run the work past the EMEA team if it has a regional dynamic or has our media team given their perspective. It’s all about having that ongoing dialogue about why it’s important to invite those different perspectives earlier in the process. The prompts are intended to spark curiosity in my teams, so they ask those questions themselves the next time.

In terms of clients, that’s an interesting one as every client is different and at a different stage of the connectivity journey. We are lucky that our clients embrace connectivity and push us for more. But I do think the prompt questions applies here too – even asking if they would want us to back-channel on their behalf between regions can be a useful first step.

ME: This is when the sparks fly, right? When clients and teams are all aligned on the value of cross-geo. collaboration. A perfect non-account example of this was my recent participation at Edelman’s Global Leadership Academy ?– 70+ colleagues from around the network spending three days together to share insights and discuss idea. What do you think is the biggest value add when working like this?

JULIA: I think there's a couple of things. I think the value of just, you know, meeting new people, having those additional connections is an incredible value add to anyone’s career. Knowing I can ring you up in London and ask questions or someone in our other locations is incredible! Then there is the value of unlocking new and interesting ways to solve a client’s business challenges. To use your analogy, sparks really do fly when we get on a call together and share ideas and that is what I love about our teams. It’s also about that a-ha moment for clients when they very clearly see the value of having cross-geo. teams bring to their business. Long may it continue!

What about you—how do you foster connectivity in your work? I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences on collaborating across regions and time zones.