Global virtual teams are a fact of life. But many of them do not live up to their full potential. According to a recent RW³ survey of nearly 1,400 business people in 80 countries, 85% of them now work on global virtual teams and one of their biggest challenges is “colleagues who do not participate”.One secret to more active participation is for global virtual team leaders (and members) to always practice and model truly deep and active listening, which is epitomized by the Chinese symbol “Ting”.
(Source: TsaiComms LLC)
Starting from the top left in this graphic, we need to:
- Listen with the Ears – What is the other person saying on the phone call?
- Listen with the Mind – What is she really saying in her email? And what is she not saying between the lines?
- Listen with the Eyes – How does he look on video conference or webcam? Engaged? Distracted? Bored?
- Listen with a Oneness and Focus – Really concentrate during the conference call and avoid multitasking or just waiting to say what you want to say.
- Listen with the Heart – What emotions is she expressing in her urgent text? Frustration? Confusion? Anger?
- Treat him like a King / her like a Queen – Treat your counterpart with unconditional respect in all of your communication and to encourage reciprocity.
Clearly, all of this is much harder to do long distance, but it is well worth the effort.
To find out more ways to collaborate inclusively across cultures, please watch our Cultural Wisdom webinar below.
