Page 93 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

72 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

teaching new skills and transferring new technologies. “My team was
truly global,” he says. “It was comprised of people from five countries,
working in multiple time zones and in several organizations.”
His ability to manage this mobile team has been tested in various
ways. First, he had people on his team from a number of countries.
“People come with varying perspectives, and communications, espe-
cially at the start, which have to be consistently monitored,” he says.
Second, he had inter-institutional cultural issues. His project in-
volved organizations from multiple government organizations and
educational institutions. “There was jealousy across organizations
about how much budget each is given as well as the amount of recog-
nition each is given for contributions to the project.” Finally, he didn’t
have the opportunity to pick his own team. Therefore, he didn’t have
established relationships with members from the start. “I had some
folks whose egos were well ahead of the organizational good,” he says.
“When you see hoarding of information, it is a pretty good indicator
that the people are putting themselves ahead of the team good.”
Bob believes that developing and maintaining trust was one of
his most important jobs. “When the trust bonds fail or are weak,”
he says, “immense energies get directed at politics and building al-
legiances rather than working as a team.” His previous experience had
taught him the importance of building social capital—the value cre-
ated through the relationships people in the organization have—for
helping to assure the highest level of productivity. He believes that
the most important part of building high social capital is the need to
establish that elusive thing called “trust.”
We won’t pretend it’s going to be easy—establishing trust mobilely
is one of the most difficult things you’ll have to accomplish as a leader,
and yet it is the key to long-term success for your project and for your
organization.