7 Tips for Managing a Global Workforce

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These days, business is global, and for many of us, that means that we need to employ and manage a global workforce. As you will know. This is not exactly a simple or easy task, no matter how experienced you are as a manager, because, when your team is scattered all over the place, it brings unique challenges that you must work hard to solve. 

The good news is, below, you will find 7 tips that will help you to approach these nuances with simplicity and with all of the tools and tricks you need to ensure that, although your workforce may be global, you can work together as one cohesive unit.
 
1. Get to know the regions you operate in

The first thing you are going to want to do if you are serious about managing your global workforce more effectively, is to ensure that you visit all of the regions where you have employees once in a while. Fully immerse yourself in the culture, get to know the people who work for you and let them get to know you, and this will build the trust you need to be able to manage and instruct them effectively and of course it will give you an insight into how they work and what will motivate them best so that you can actually do that.

2. Take cultural competence seriously

When you’re managing a global workforce, it is important that you encourage all of your staff to have a decent level of cultural competence. This includes things like cultural awareness, inclusive policies and the ability to communicate across cultures - this is where tools like the Transifex AI Translation Platform come in handy, allowing you to create workflows where people in different locations and speaking in different languages can communicate and work together on projects seamlessly. If you are able to do this effectively, then you will find that it is much easier to not only drive success globally within your organization, but also to increase employee satisfaction levels too.

3. Use local expertise to your advantage

When you have employees located all over the world, it would be very foolish not to use that to your advantage and not to lean on their local expertise whenever you can. You should always be looking to create business policies that take into account time zones and local legal compliance, for example, and your global employees are the best people to consult on this.

Not only that, but you can use their local expertise to find out what kinds of marketing will work in their jurisdiction, for example.

4. Avoid assumptions

It’s a really bad idea to make assumptions about various locations because, even if you have visited, unless you are a native, you will not have a true picture of what’s what in any given place, and to make assumptions could be to make mistakes and maybe even offend your workforce in those regions.

Cultural nuances can be very difficult to work out when you are just visiting the area from time to time, so it is a really good idea, if you want to be a good manager, to make a real effort to ask questions and really try to understand what is and is not appropriate in every region you manage. Not only will this lead to you doing things right, but your employees in those regions will also appreciate the effort you are making to understand them and what they need to succeed in your business and be treated fairly and appropriately. Remember that you do not have all the answers, but you can listen to your employees and learn a lot from them, and that’s okay. It’s a journey.

5. Develop a global talent strategy

It’s a really good idea to develop a talent strategy that works on the global level to ensure that the most talented employees can rise to the top over time, so that you can ensure that your top talent is as diverse and capable as possible, This means that you should always be looking at the whiole picture aconsidering employees from every region for promotion, and working out good ways of making this possible, using the best tech to ensure ytou can stay connected.

It also means keeping a close eye on your talent globally, so that you can identify their strengths and weaknesses and work out who might need to be upskilled in what, for example.

6. Adapt your policies for each region

It is also a good idea to be aware that each region might have different needs, and be able to adapt your policies accordingly. Of course, you need to ensure that you are being fair to everyone in every location, but you also need to remember that equity does not mean treating everyone exactly the same, but rather giving them what they need to thrive.

Different regions may be bound by different cultural and religious expectations, and ways of working, for example, and it is okay to take them into account and modify policies so that they can be accommodated, as long as you are also being fair to everyone. So, get HR on it, but don’t just ignore it and hope that things work out without any flexibility at all.

7. Be flexible

As mentioned above, being flexible is really important in your approach as a global manager, and arguably, it is the most important thing you need to do to ensure that you are a good manager for all of your employees, and not just the ones who are closest to you. You need to be willing to listen and adapt whenever an issue arises; you cannot afford to have a rigid approach to management because what good management looks like is different depending on the location you are in. It really is that simple.

Managing a global workforce can be tricky, but as you can see, there are some tips you can use to make life easier for you and your staff, and give you the best chance of getting it right!

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