Managing a global business with virtual workplaces, in which employees operate remotely from each other and from different locations around the world, will become more and more common in the near future.
In this sense, as organisations become more diverse, effective communication will be essential to future success. Communication will be the vehicle for driving change, outlining expectations and rallying employees around a core vision, mission, values, purpose and common message.
Particularly when one is managing a geographically diverse workforce that spans the world and crosses cultures, a comprehensive communication strategy can strengthen the organisation and support its success, while those that lack such a strategy could face many disruptions. In short, in the future organisation without walls, communication will be even more important when people are working at different locations, as they must have the same understanding about how to move toward the common goal.
Importantly, the role of culture must be taken into account when designing a good communication strategy. Leaders and executives need to ensure that the messages employees receive are interpreted as intended, in order to avoid possible misunderstandings that could cause harm to the organisation. Given how quickly information spreads by way of social media and other outlets, even a small misinterpretation or misunderstanding can quickly be magnified and cause serious trouble.
However, I am not saying that technology is bad. Rather, I think business relationships can be enhanced and intensified by technology as long as we are using the right technologies in the right ways. Instead of abandoning technology in favour of a more human way of working, we need to find ways to make technology evolve to complement and expand human potential.
Personally, I believe that technology is a great global equaliser, especially when one is leading a global firm, but we need to remember that technology alone does not have the ability to influence people. Thus, when using technology for whatever reason, we cannot afford to lose sight of the human or high-touch aspect. In other words, we need to use the advance of technology to reinforce our touch.
Another critical point essential in managing a global business is to make sure that the organisational vision and values become a global language. They must be globally understood and embraced as well as being clear and simple enough. Needless to say, in a global business environment, values and vision must be the bedrock on which people base their effort. Here, technology can certainly serve as a global equaliser.
Furthermore, in a large-scale and cross-border organisation, we need to be reminded that sending a single e-mail to hundreds or thousands of people is no longer perceived as effective communication. Instead, after sending, we need to communicate the message again and again, in different ways to different audiences, and we need to even step back from to time to time and communicate yet again. In other words, we need hyper-communication to create the relentless sharing of messages that could eventually lead to progress and change. Former Avon CEO Andrea Jung expressed the concept memorably when she said, “There’s no such thing as over-communication in a global business.”
Of course, it’s not just about communicating positive news and messages. High-touch communication is even more critical when it comes to delivering the tough news. The key differentiator is the way you integrate high-tech with high touch; you need to be aware that some tools can cater only to some specific purposes.
For example, face-to-face meetings are much more critical in helping you achieve certain business objectives. This is because in-person meetings are much better at accelerating and deepening relationships much faster than if you were to communicate solely with high-tech tools. On the other hand, high-tech tools can do the job better when delivering supporting data, keeping in touch or connecting to a distant audience.
Needless to say, new technologies have made it easier for us to keep in touch across distances and over time. Global organisations have to work harder to develop a strategy that will deliver the right message to many diverse parts of the world, because if we don’t understand how to communicate with a diverse group of people, they would end up not understanding what we are trying to tell them.
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Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand’s leading Organisation and People Development Consultancy. She can be reached by e-mail at arinya_t@apm.co.th or https://www.linkedin.com/pub/arinya-talerngsri/a/81a/53b
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