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312 PART 4: THE LEADER AS A RELATIONSHIP BUILDER

IN THE LEAD Basil, MySQL’s director of support, works in a basement offi ce next to his family’s
washing machine, so he knows from experience that people working virtually can
feel isolated. When he signs in to the MySQL chatroom each day, he greets each
support team member by name. Basil even staged on online Christmas party, gath-
ering staffers from places like Russia, England, and Germany into a cyber get-
together, where he played Santa and dispensed virtual drinks and gifts. “When a
company is as spread out as this one,” he points out, “you have to think of virtual
ways to imitate the dynamics of what goes on in a more familiar work situation.”
Occasionally, top executives get the entire MySQL staff together online through
a system dubbed “Radio Sakila,” which combines a typical conference call with
instant messaging.
MySQL managers have built in numerous communication channels to keep
people talking across time and space. Team leaders recognize the limitations of text-
based electronic communication, such as how easily miscommunication can occur
in the absence of nonverbal cues. It’s their responsibility to help people develop and
follow guidelines for communication. As Basil has found, there are times when an
old-fashioned telephone conversation works best. “Voice is more personal than text
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and more helpful in building real understanding,” he points out.
MySQL is a fl edgling example of a new form of organization, one with
which most leaders have little experience. Some researchers suggest that as com-
panies strive for better ways to harness knowledge and respond more quickly
on a global basis, many, like SQL, will come to resemble amoebas—collections
of people connected electronically who are divided into ever-changing teams
that can best exploit the organization’s unique resources, capabilities, and core
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competencies.
Why Global Teams Often Fail All of the challenges of virtual teamwork are mag-
nified in the case of global teams because of the added problem of language and

cultural barriers. Building trust is an even greater challenge when people bring
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different norms, values, attitudes, and patterns of behavior to the team.
Members from different cultures often have different beliefs about
Action Memo
such things as authority, decision making, and time orientation. For
example, some cultures, such as the United States, are highly focused
As a leader, you can provide language and
on “clock time,” and tend to follow rigid schedules, whereas many
cross-cultural training for a global team
other cultures have a more relaxed, cyclical concept of time. These
and guide members to set aside their
behavior.
different cultural attitudes toward time can affect work pacing, team
preconceived ideas and assumptions for
communications, and the perception of deadlines. Members from dif-
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ferent countries may also have varied attitudes about teamwork itself.
In Mexico, U.S. companies trying to use teams have run into trouble,
because the concept of shared leadership confl icts with traditional values
that there should be status and power differences in organizations. 74
Communication barriers can be formidable. Not only do global teams have

to cope with different time zones and conflicting schedules, but members often
speak different languages. Even when members can communicate in the same
language, differences such as accent, tone of voice, dialect, and semantics can
present problems. A survey found that senior leaders consider building trust and
overcoming communication barriers as the two most important—but also the
two most diffi cult—leader tasks related to the success of global teams. 75

Leading the Global Team If managed correctly, global teams have many ad-
vantages. Increasingly, the expertise and knowledge needed to complete a project