3 factors to make great teamwork across countries while playing a regional role (3)

We have explained the importance of understanding the difference of each sub-region in this article. Meanwhile, we’ve also covered the details of how to leverage the same resources for the approach of regional goals in this article. Now we are moving to the third factor ‘transparent communication’. This factor is to help you with your daily work at the execution level with the local/sub-region team, some sub-sectors below.

No stereotype

As we sit in our country but take care of businesses of a region, many of us would make a judgment on our perspectives, however, this stereotype is dangerous. Remember one thing that we are not local and we need more solid perspectives from our local team. It is important to be open-minded welcome all information from the ground level.

Build the full picture

Continue with the concept of no stereotype, we need to collect as many references as possible while we are reported a situation. For example, I once noted that the one government direction has changed to purchase a specific product(which is not our focal product) and it would reduce our sales. The next thing I did was to collect information from the government website, check the local news, and observed some public data sources. The purpose of doing so is to confirm the truth and to have a rough idea of the scope of influence. We can take action only after we have a full picture.

Authorization and appointment

Again, we are not at the local market, meaning to say we don't have the local connection and related channel there. So it is important that we authorize the local team for the coming execution. The key here is to appoint a proper candidate(normally discuss it with the country leader) as a project manager for further tasks. For example, if we are running out of stocks locally, it is much proper to have an operation role there instead of a commercial or supply role as the project manager for the issue. A fair guy with a clear understanding to corrdinate supply and demand is better than a person directly from both sides.

Get involved and periodical check

Now, our role is turning into another project manager once we have a full picture and have a proper local PM. The key here is to make sure our local team is on the right track and collect/fulfill their escalations about the tasks. We need to have a goal and general ideas of execution based on our full picture, and support the local team with what they need to roll the ball on the progress. A periodical check or a tightening frequency you can consider if the tasks are urgent. Make sure the region and the locals are not dropped away.

Summary

Start with the difference, continue with the leverage, and execute with transparent communication. The three factors help us to make great teamwork while acting as a regional role. The communication in between relies on our full understanding of the situation, appointing the proper local key man, and getting involved in the team, and continually moving the progress. I will keep your post and add new content from my ongoing journey, stay tuned.