Managing a Global Matrix Organization Structure

The world is your oyster and with every passing day, this statement is becoming more applicable. A direct outcome of this change is the incredible transformation that the business world has witnessed. Today, irrespective of where you start out, there is no dearth of opportunities or limit to what you can achieve.

For us leaders, this modification in the business landscape has translated into immense growth. A company can now be truly global. It can function as one unit with the same objectives, goals, and outcomes. To enable this, all of us have had to adapt. Businesses are continuously reevaluating and restructuring themselves to achieve efficiency and productivity. Traditional management hierarchies are making way for more sophisticated and complex systems that empower fast growing multinationals to stay on a par with their global counterparts.

Adapting to growth

One such solution is the Global Matrix Structure. While binding the company under a single shared vision, Matrix structures aid in enhancing productivity and delivering quicker solutions. Broad objectives and a concrete agenda with clearly defined operational metrics are the cornerstones of implementing this structure successfully. With the aid of technology, transparent and real-time communication ensures seamless application and consistent results.

Critical Considerations – While implementing a Matrix Structure, a substantial effort should be devoted towards the continuous reinforcement of the company’s vision, objectives, project plans, and agendas. Effective communication on these essential elements is necessary to stay on track to be on the same page with diversified teams. Resources should be invested in building relationships throughout the company. Crafting a work culture around the company’s vision and values, and driving unity matter more than ever as numbers grow.

Challenges are many

For employees, coordinating across reporting lines to accomplish their goals and meeting their targets can get complicated. In a Global Matrix Structure, the organization’s growth directly translates to higher complexity for the employees. Reporting to multiple managers while ensuring productivity can become a challenge. To successfully implement and sustain this structure, certain precautions are necessary. Miscommunication in such a setting can have immense ramifications. As mentioned earlier, communication is key to not only ensure alignment of vision and goals but to also develop trust across the whole matrix.

Our workforce can be described by a single term – global, but that does not mean standardized. In a global setting, it is even more important to be mindful of unique cultures. The interaction of cultures, work styles, and mindsets, ideally leads to an exchange of ideas and learning. Adapting to local culture is the only way to be successful on a global scale. However, standardization is not your enemy either.

Critical Considerations – Standardize internal SOPs, processes, and policies as a certain amount of standardization helps everyone work better together without ambiguity. A fatal blow to any Matrix Structure is inconsistency amongst employees and managers about organizational goals. In organizations of enormous length and breadth, no effort to reinforce collective goals will go to waste. Connect and bind collective goals to individual growth as it is easy to lose sight of collective goals when individuals try to adapt to new teams and projects.

Methods to succeed / How does one succeed?

To ensure the continued success of a Global Matrix Structure, it is crucial to focus on employee needs. Considering that your workforce functions across the globe while reporting to more than one manager, invest in creating assurance amongst them by providing them with clarity. Matters that hold high importance in an employee’s life are performance evaluation, professional development, coaching, accountability and conflict management. At every step, ensure clarity on every single aspect that directly affects an employee’s professional life.

Critical Considerations – Use the strengths of a Matrix structure to ensure that knowledge exchange, training modules, and skills get transferred on a global level. Employees value organizations that make an effort to contribute to their growth. Provide clarity regarding professional growth by making it easier for employees to discuss these matters with a senior in close proximity. Reduce the hoops and hurdles, to ensure that your employees at no point in time feel confused about their points of contact and managers.

Put a mechanism in place to broker discussions in case of conflicting priorities. Appoint and communicate a decision maker and leader for every project to avoid power struggles in the team. Finally, drive interdependencies for progress amongst team members. Some genuine collective/collaborative effort can bridge all gaps ensuring success for everyone.

Creating self-awareness for Development

As individuals, the process of personal development is a never-ending one. Climbing up the corporate ladder requires constant efforts. While the learning and training on the professional front remain a focus, there have to be conscious efforts to evolve as a person and leader. Professional progress is an endeavor that demands growth from every aspect of your personality. Advancing in your professional life demands that you constantly evaluate your approach towards the world and your team. The ability to be able to mold yourself as per the demands of a job is priceless in today’s ever-changing world. One such skill that will enable you to make these changes is the ability to be self-aware.

A leader wears multiple hats, adapting oneself to play a different role in each situation. A leader should be able to motivate people, take a calculated risk, make difficult decisions, have business acumen and updated skills etc. How does one perform each task and be in each role when there is so much to do? Answers lie in getting to know yourself well. Self-awareness is becoming aware of your strengths, weaknesses, emotions, motivations, and areas for improvement.

Being self-aware translates to knowing and identifying your thought process, the logic behind each decision, and understanding the need to seek assistance. Self-awareness also means understanding the motivation and emotion behind your behavior and the factors that influence. As it is crucial to take well-balanced, practical and impartial decisions as a leader, becoming self-aware helps you be in-tune with yourself much more effectively. 

Becoming self-aware is possible through continuous effort. The following pointers will help you develop this ability over a period of time.

• Personality Testing

  Understanding your personality, impulses and core traits through personality tests is a good way to get started. Tests such as Myers-Briggs, Predictive Index, DISC and Strengthsfinder will help you evaluate yourself. They will illustrate your areas of improvement and weaknesses. These tests will reveal your natural strengths, emotional drivers, behavior, conflict resolution skills, and communication abilities. An ideal way to start the process of self-reflection, personality testing will help you define your journey of personal growth.  

• 360 Evaluation

  360 multi-rater assessments will allow you to gather information and feedback from all the stakeholders of your company. This anonymous method lets you attain candid feedback from your peers, superiors, and employees. Accepting this feedback will let you make the necessary adjustments to your behavior and methods to be able to lead your company more efficiently and effectively.

• Feedback

  In addition to the formal channel of 360 Evaluation, ask your peers, senior and mentors for periodic feedback to get a new and different perspective. While doing so, ensure that you approach them with an open mind and a willingness to listen without justifying yourself. A receptive approach to these conversations will let you discover true insights while developing a bond of trust. Avoid defending yourself or explaining your thought process while having these conversations to build credibility. Do ask good questions to understand their feedback better.

• Experiment

  A great way to discover your own likes and dislikes is by trying out new things. Each new experience comes with an opportunity to learn something about yourself. While the experience itself may be positive or negative, it will surely provide you with an insight into your attitude and approach towards challenges.

Using Self Awareness to Your Advantage

Understanding yourself is a strong foundation for future success. This knowledge will empower you to make changes which will influence your career significantly. Being self-aware becomes a strength especially while making strategic career moves and planning your future.

As a leader, self-awareness is an ability of utmost importance as it will enable you to make informed decisions like hiring individuals for the leadership team. Accepting your weaknesses lets you find teammates who complement your abilities; knowing yourself lets you guide your teammates on the best way to make each team endeavor successful. Being self-aware while understanding others will allow you to surround yourself with people who can help you achieve collective goals more effectively, resulting in success for yourself and your team.

Lack of Collaboration Causes Workplace Failures

The primary challenge in globally dispersed organizations is to ensure that the workforce operates productively to accomplish corporate goals and meet market demands.  It is important for these organizations that goals permeate through to the local teams and business units to ensure maximized worker productivity and meeting of market demands. Leaders of the organization are called upon to set standards around internal communication and productivity of the workforce.

Business Unit Goals Focus vs Company Goals

Leaders are the foundational members of a company and their style has a direct impact on how employees engage with each other.  Leaders must know the people on their team well and understand their strengths and skills in order to determine the best way to facilitate achievement of goals and objectives for their unit and the company as a whole. 

In organizations with a more command-and-control-style leadership approach, bureaucracy is more prevalent and communication between employees and departments or business units may be strained. Leaders in these organizations may be driven by achievement of departmental or business unit goals versus the larger collective goals of the organization.  However, this style of leadership often results in employees practicing behaviors that might negatively impact the larger collective. Employees may feel encouraged to keep information to themselves, reject new ideas for fear of failure, and possibly work against others, despite everyone working for the same company. The organizational impact of this style of leadership is poor employee morale and job satisfaction. 

Encouraging Collaboration

In a decentralized leadership approach, on the other hand, collaboration is encouraged and a more democratic style of leadership may be adopted. This style of leadership is built on consensus building and allows leaders to leverage the skills and knowledge of their workforce.  The ultimate goal should, however, not be lost on a leader.  They should work to manage employees so that they have limited barriers to effectiveness, feel empowered to look for new opportunities to grow their career, and equipped with the knowledge and abilities to successfully deal with the challenges of their job. This requires a leader who – as suggested in a Wall Street Journal article on leadership styles [1] – can adapt their style to meet the needs of their particular group of employees and the situation of their organization.    

Leadership Style Impacts the Bottom Line

Leaders of an organization must be cognizant of the impact their style has on the bottom line results of the organization. In a study conducted by Daniel Goleman at the turn of the twenty-first century, the results revealed, “that a manager’s leadership style was responsible for 30% of the company’s bottom line profitability.”  Therefore, leaders must be aware of how their style could cause ineffective communication throughout the organization, less productive employees, and eventually, less competitiveness of the organization.  Leaders must also be aware that other underlying issues may be prevalent throughout the organization which could cause a less productive workforce such as general fear of sharing knowledge and resistance to change and new ideas.  In these cases, other styles of leadership may be more appropriate.  For instance, the affiliative style, which emphasizes team work and harmony to accomplish goals, may be best when groups are prone to working in silos and resisting communication. Such a style can highlight the importance of working together for the collective good of the group versus adversarial relationships that reduce the productivity.  Such an acknowledgement can demonstrate how a leader can be mindful of changing or improving their style to produce better results for the company.    

Culture of Trust

In order for organizations to overcome operational ineffectiveness, a culture of trust must be established, whereby employees feel comfortable sharing with others in the company.  In fact, a study conducted by the IBM Institute of Knowledge-Based Organizations (IKO) noted that the most important factor to establish strong employee relationships and knowledge sharing is trust.  This study further revealed that there are two kinds of trust, benevolence based trust - individuals do not intentionally harm each other, and competence based trust - individuals believe the other person is knowledgable, which improves communication and knowledge sharing.  Both kinds of trust can exist independently of each other and individuals do not always need to share both types of trust with others. However, both types of trust support different goals for the organization, and therefore, organizations should find ways to promote both types of trust within the organization and between employees. 

Infrastructure & Systems for Collaboration

Another important factor for organizations is the existence of robust systems to support the teamwork of employees in order to achieve organizational goals.  These systems include technological infrastructure that supports communication and collaboration, formal and informal networks for employees to learn more about others (e.g. mentoring programs, communities of practice, lunch-and-learns, etc.), timely, well-designed training that is easy to access by the employee, and an appraisal and reward system that promotes the desired behavior.  These systems can support a more open environment where communication flows easily between individuals, trust is developed, and knowledge is shared to complete work, generate new ideas, and solve problems of the organization. 

Building Trust IN Organizations

In both cases, establishing trust and supporting robust systems, leadership is required for success. The study conducted by the IBM IKO noted three actions that managers can take to build more trusting organizations:

• Create common understanding of the operational activities of the organization. To create a common context of the work to be accomplished and the goals of the group will help to build shared language and a shared view for how work is accomplished.

• Model behavior expected of employees. It is important that employees see their leaders demonstrating the behaviors being asked of them. This starts with actively listening to others and encouraging employees to communicate and share their concerns. It is important that employees believe their leaders are trustworthy before they will feel comfortable sharing with others.

• Bring teammates together. While physical distance may prevent all employees from coming together face-to-face, leaders should work on ways in which team members, regardless of physical location, can interact with each other. These opportunities will go a long way in building trust and supporting the systems in place that can facilitate effective working relationships for the common good of the group and the organization overall.

These actions taken by managers can undercut silos of communication, strained relationships, and fear and begin to create a culture of sharing and trust. 

 To keep this really only makes sense if you can link to the Wall Street article in question and say “as suggested in this Wall Street Journal article”

A Structured & Methodical Way to Success

A carefully arranged, spotless desk. A laptop with a logical filing system. An alphabetically organized cabinet. The above all sound like the signs of an organized person, don't they? While they do provide a basis, there is much more to being organized and methodical. These attributes go beyond a person's habits and everyday quirks, they become deeply ingrained, a part of the personality, thinking process and style of work. Small changes in your environment and becoming more organized can help you save time, work with greater speed, and with a clearer mind. However, to truly be structured and methodical, we have to delve deeper.

There are many tools and techniques that can help you become more methodical. Being methodical adds structure and focus while empowering you to manage your time and resources better for the future. But does this mean following a set of rules that work for everyone? Absolutely not. The concept of being ‘methodical’ is fraught with preconceived notions which aren't always true.

While we imagine spotless desks and clutter free desktops, adding structure to your work life should be done in a way that works for you, personally. So the focus should be on finding ways to streamline your work habits and thought processes to save time and energy.

As you contemplate which changes will work for you, here are some guidelines to get you started.

Prioritize – Being in a leadership role translates to an often overwhelming number of commitments, tasks and meetings. Organizing and allotting time in the order of priorities lets you focus on the important matters and give them sufficient attention. This is the time to delegate, evaluate and realign tasks to ensure they stay on track. Remember to review your plan as the day progresses as changes are inevitable.

Seek simplicity – Becoming methodical is a long-term process. To add structure to your work life, do not use complicated tools or methods. Increasing the complexity of the process means that long-term usage becomes difficult and cumbersome. Find ways that work for you and will continue to work for you, even if they seem old-school or technology-dependent to others.

Focus on maintenance – Once you work towards adding structure to your daily life, ensure that it becomes a way of life by periodically cutting out any clutter that may have accumulated. Whether it is a file on your desk or an unresolved tasks, it is best to deal with it as soon as possible to keep things from accumulating. Reevaluate your priorities and change your procedures as time passes to ensure that you make the necessary modifications resulting from changes in your role, technology, etc.

The Next Step

Making these changes is just the first step to becoming methodical and organized. Extend the same logic to the way you approach your tasks and projects. Adding a framework or structure ensures that you start with a macro view of the tasks, identifying requirements and bottlenecks at the beginning. A plan with clear milestones and goals, detailing the process of completion guides you through the steps and keeps you on track. It will save you from constant changes in the scope of work and delay in completion.

Apart from this when you start with a broader perspective and structured approach, it is easier to set realistic expectations and keep the whole team on the same page. Begin with determining the ultimate objective and periodic milestones. Chart your journey as you add requirements and tasks to be completed to reach each milestone and ultimately the overall objective.

Integrating a methodical and structured approach into your life and work is a long-term commitment. While it may seem like a daunting change, gradual steps will help you reach your goal of a more systematic way of functioning. The key is to find out the changes that seem feasible and embracing them with an open mind. The correlation between being methodical and lasting success is undeniable. To be able to revisit and reevaluate past strategies without wasting resources, planning future efforts in an organized, sustainable manner is a strength and a rare key to success. Start with a small change to begin your step-by-step journey to success.  

Eight Ways to Boost Your Performance at Work

Being somewhere in the middle of the professional hierarchy can be a confusing place. Neither are you hand-held through tasks as you were years ago, nor do you have the ultimate decision-making authority like your seniors do. It can often feel like a race where you do not know which direction to run. So, here are eight aspects to absorb and imbibe from your leaders as you climb the ladder.

Alliance and Collaboration

Pay keen attention to fostering relationships, and you will gradually build the ability to network with people. Some people possess this skill inherently, while others need to hone it. Do not be disheartened if it doesn’t come naturally. Always remember that once you have nurtured the habit of networking, you will have a host of collaborators to influence your path forward and aid you in making important decisions. Ensure that you do not fall into a pattern of working in a silo. The best ideas come when they are bounced off others.

Influence and Negotiation

At the leadership level, the onus falls on the executive to ensure that results are produced and that the team is on track. As your career progresses, ensure that you put yourself in your leader’s shoes, observe the way they influence the team and negotiate both with people and around hurdles. Be a good listener from the start, and when you reach a leadership position you will already have the quality of listening instilled in you, making you an executive who engages with everyone.

Entrepreneurial Spirit

When you observe an entrepreneurial streak in a mentor or leader at the workplace, you’ll know that this is someone to learn from. Whether it is to constantly innovate, seek change, or question everything, an entrepreneurial spirit gives you and consequently your organisation an edge. Additionally, do not be hesitant when offering new ideas and suggestions. If you have something different to offer that your team could benefit from, then speak up.

Learning Agility

You may be at a stage in your career where you are learning something new every day. While at times it may feel like an information overload and breaks are of course imperative, do remember that the learning should never stop. When you do reach an executive position, it is not time to quit the learning game. Not only will you be able to implement all that you have learnt before, you also develop agility, and grow even further professionally.

Political Savvy

Being aware of how things work around you at the office is important. How decisions are made, how approvals are given, and what the bureaucratic processes are – all these things will help you navigate the organisation. Make sure to give back as well. Mentors and superiors might need help at times. Whether it is finding solutions to their pressing problems, or providing insightful data that can help them make decisions, it is crucial to develop mutual respect and a reciprocal support system.

Understanding Stakeholders

Every function of the organisation and every step of the hierarchical ladder, ultimately affect the stakeholders. Whether it is the investors or the customers, you have an impact on those who influence the company’s decisions. Be aware of this at all times, that your job is not just a series of tasks carried out day after day, but rather an integral part of the smooth functioning of the company and those who are invested in it.

Being Proactive

A common thread that runs through every aspect is that complacency is something to avoid. Be on the lookout for new skills, new insights and new opportunities. Offer to help out a colleague on a project that you have no experience with, ask your leaders questions, volunteer to train a new intern and hone your own mentorship skills – these are all ways to elicit and sustain passion at work.

Work-Life Integration

Finally, while your professional life is important and so are all the learnings that come with it, do not forget that you have a life outside of the workplace. Enjoy the smaller moments in life, spend time with family and friends, go out and let your hair down occasionally, and ultimately you will ensure that work never feels like a chore.

This article first appeared on Times Jobs.