Collaborating and working in teams is de-facto for all successful corporate efforts. Most teams in organisations are globally spread out and dispersed. The pandemic accelerated this with an increase in remote working teams.
Often, organisational structures are setup to drive central consistency and efficiency while maintaining local relevance for organisations in regional markets. Consistency drives specialisation in a sub-function, that can then be optimised at scale across a country/region/globally. As an example, think of company & product messaging, which can be created once and used everywhere in a consistent manner to the brand. And the team creating the messaging are specialised in it, with the adequate research etc., to back the strategy, approach, and choices in the messaging. Furthermore, while looking beyond a single function, there is a need for cross-functional collaboration to drive business success; typically, across product – marketing – sales – finance – post sales support – customer service etc.
Teams along with dotted lines connecting team members in an org chart constitute a matrix team. These dotted line constructs may appear for example, as specialised teams or cross-functional teams collaborate with other local/regional teams. A core facet of working with matrix teams is the ability as a leader to move away from command/control. In the past, I have written about how we now need to rely on influence rather than authority in teams today, especially those faced with constant change.
Successful matrix-ed teams are grounded on a few basics, including (a) A unifying vision in the strategy that is usually cascaded top-down (b) Consistent vocabulary that’s spoken across the teams – including strategy elements, priorities, data sets etc. (c) Consistent goals/targets and KPIs that are defined and measured the same across the company (d) A decision matrix that puts some structure around the roles and how choices are made.
With the above as background, lets now look at how a leader can drive strong influence in matrix-ed teams while leading the business forward.
Five ingredients to successfully leading matrix-ed teams
- Inclusion that builds trust: I firmly believe that it all starts with inclusion first. As a leader, strive to build the inclusion, right from team meetings to email communications and everything in-between. A strong foundation on inclusion cultivates trust and transparency in the team and credibility for the leader. Find opportunities to praise and highlight team member achievements. Often, the good deeds and achievements (professional or personal) are nested under teams and don’t make their way to cross team conversations. A good leader starts with inclusivity (of both hard line and dotted line team members) in spirit and action. That lays the foundation.
- Speaking the common language: To build a collaborative and shared view of the future, it is imperative for all to speak the same language (from the strategy, to approach, and KPIs, the tactics etc). This communication should be in clear terms with no uncertainty, along with goals and targets that are transparent. This common language and narrative should be consistently repeated during planning, execution and subsequently tracking/reporting of performance. When done this way, it establishes clear accountability for different team members and there are minimal to no surprises during execution or tracking.
- Respectful and patient: As a leader, it is important to empathise, be respectful and be patient, an integral element of being able to influence matrix-ed teams. Establish ways of a “give and take”, where your asks (takes) are on non-negotiables and the “gives” are elements that are less stringent. Consciously build this into the fabric, and having this degree of latitude makes the team more flexible, and less brittle. As you are on this journey, coach team members who are finding it hard with dotted lines and adjusting to the execution or team dynamics. Close coaching as a leader is important so you can help them navigate waters — aim to crawl, walk, and then run in the journey. A culture based on respect further increases the trust quotient.
- Recognise and reward: As a leader, constantly scout for opportunities to reward your direct team and extended (matrix-ed) team members. Who doesn’t like a good pat on the back? A key part of your job as a leader is to bring into the spotlight the team wins and constantly strive to grow and expand even on the small wins.
- Constant communication – 1.1 and in team meetings: As a leader, and particularly in managing a newly formed matrix-ed team, bias to over communicate in team meetings, emails etc. More is better as teams establish the rhythm, build mutual trust and look to collaborate closely. Particularly remember to do so when other stakeholders also come up or when the direct manager of your dotted line team members are present. Its hard for anyone to go against positive momentum established in actions and conversations!
Leaders will inevitably in their career run into managing matrix-ed and geographically disparate teams. Learning to manage via influence rather than authority, via the five ingredients above, is a key skill that one must master to successfully lead matrix-ed teams through change and to growth.
Srihari Palangala , Senior Director & Head of Marketing, International Medium Business, Dell Technologies
