Lessons learned on leading teamseffectively accross bordersGlobal Summit of WomenMay 2011
Ana García Fau - CEO Yell Publicidad
Yell Publicidad
• Revenues: 517 MM€• EBITDA: 158 MM€• Margin: 30.5%• Customers: 438 M• Professionals: 2,300
FY 2010 figures
Latinamerica:• 30% of revenues• 1,325 professionals
• Part of Yell Group• Leading directory company:
print, online, mobile, telephone• Presence in Spain, Italy, Chile,
Argentina and Peru
Step 1: Consider the business and strategic challenges first
• Business transformation: from print towards digital
• Faster growth in emerging markets
• Avoid the country-wide strategy mistake!
• Room to operate as a group?
Get the right people to do the job
• Recruiting is key!– Difficult to identify local
talent
– Proper job descriptions
– Will they fit with the culture?
• Analyse the “skill gap”
Build a team you can trust… and give it visibility
• Bring on board people you can trust that share the vision
– Expatriates vs reverse expatriates
– Change members of the team, if necessary
• Balance local vs non-local at Board and Executive Committee levels
• Equal opportunities: promote cross-border talent
A shared vision
• Engage local top management in the process
• Continuous contact and communication
• Group objectives vs country objectives
• Ensure building from what is “common”: focus on “what we agree”
• Create a sense of identity withthe “mother company”
• Make top local management visible
Acknowledge their “uniqueness”
• Take time to understand and address local challenges • Encourage them to “speak up”• Leave room for local specificities• Address diversity and cultural differences:
– Promote cultural awareness and tolerance (code of ethics)– Practice empathy: respect different working schedules, bank holidays…
Building an effective cross-border team
• Local enough? Global enough? • Preference for management styles
and ways of working accepted everywhere
• Sharing best practices (both ways)• Leverage on local team strengths
(centers of excellence)• Coordination of core activities,
functional reportings: finance, operations, legal, purchasing…
• Common IT platforms and processes if appropriate
• Define right degrees of autonomy
An effective team brings results!
Day to day…
• Common standard operating procedures and reportings
• Monthly business reviews • Avoid information overload• Focus on what´s important
Have a structured contact plan: address the distance issue
• New technologies make it easier and cheaper!• Balance F2F meetings, conference calls, video
conferencing– Local visits; ensure visits to headquarters as well– Conference calls are proper meetings– Document sharing facilities, e-mails
• Choose the correct channel• Organise team building and strategic events• Encourage functional meetings rotating the “host”
Some issues to think about
• Is this not working due to distance issues?
• Would it work if they work in the same office as me?
• Am I practicing good management and leadership style?
• Knowing how difficult it is to manage teams effectively across borders… do I make my “remote” boss´ life easier?