Question

1. You were just assigned to manage a team with resources in Boston, Phoenix, and Singapore. There had been previous complaints that the team was disconnected and that there were frequent communication issues that affected project quality and timeliness. Describe how you would manage both production and communication on the team.

2. As an experienced manager in an IT organization, you are tasked with mentoring a new manager who has only worked with resources in the southern United States. The team members on the new team include three people from New Jersey, two from South Carolina, four from Argentina, and five from India. What suggestions would you provide for the new leader to prepare for communication with the diverse group to ensure that all of the team members feel included and engaged?

Answer 1

1. You were just assigned to manage a team with resources in Boston, Phoenix, and Singapore. There had been previous complaints that the team was disconnected and that there were frequent communication issues that affected project quality and timeliness. Describe how you would manage both production and communication on the team.

Managing remotely located resources is not a complex task as made out to be, but without proactive efforts on building trust and setting appropriate communication channels, team performance will get adversely impacted. I will follow below methods to derive maximum productivity and build right team culture:

• Set expectations: No one in the team, remotely located or closely located shall feel they are being treated differently. Manager shall set-up right expectations in terms of how the performance is going to be evaluated, what are the goals to be achieved and then proactively follow on the progress in achieving the goals.
• Set regular meetings: Wherever possible and within agreed budget, shall always make time to visit team members in person, especially in the early stages of project.
• Team communications: I will set right cadence on communication channels – setting right expectations on responding to a email, regular connects through phone calls/video conference (ensuring timezones are considered and no one is made to stretch all the times). Setting frequent, recurring team meetings accommodating everyone’s schedule will go long in establishing right communication cadence.
• Learning meetings: I will encourage everyone to share the work they are doing with other team members so that all the members gain from the work even though it is being carried out remotely.

2. As an experienced manager in an IT organization, you are tasked with mentoring a new manager who has only worked with resources in the southern United States. The team members on the new team include three people from New Jersey, two from South Carolina, four from Argentina, and five from India. What suggestions would you provide for the new leader to prepare for communication with the diverse group to ensure that all of the team members feel included and engaged?

• Being a manager balancing relationships and task orientation
• Leverage relevant technology available in market for conducting team meetings – web conferences, video conference, virtual present, encouraging mobile connectivity
• Check and conduct an audit on the projects frequently to make sure that the key information is passed on appropriately.
• Conducting sessions to understand different cultures and the business jargons used in each region at onset of project is typically very effective.
• Encourage team members to share bit of their culture like festivals, events so that team is connected and find more ways to understand
• Send personal note to members of remote location on their festivals/events