Team leaders in the international matrix organisation – virtual intercultural leadership

Situation:

This training course was originally developed for the supply chain managers of an international company in the medical field. The participants were responsible for between 4 to 10 employees in a matrix organisation. Leadership responsibilities were in part for direct subordinates and partly for specialist employees who were assigned to the team in the international context. The leadership task had previously been very much operationally and functionally based.

The skills enhancement was aimed at developing leadership competence, in particular with regard to the requirements of successful performance as network managers. It is literally a question of virtual leadership in an intercultural context,in the best sense of the term.

Aims:

• Understanding the leadership function as a team leader with superordinate responsibility for a specific process
• Shaping the performance process in the matrix organisation actively and across individual locations
• Developing approaches to culture-sensitive thematic and relationship-based marketing
• Managing the process instead of acting operationally
• Developing ideas for the design of communication and information within the network
• Improving employee leadership in the virtual organisation

Contents:

• Successfully shaping the leadership task of the team leader in the matrix organisation - the "two-boss model"
• Areas of tension between the line and the matrix in an international context
• Promising positioning strategies for themes, performance and teams
• Perceiving, understanding and incorporating cultural differences
• Shaping performance processes in a holistic way across locations and using all the resources of the network
• Developing performance standards for processes, together with measurement and early-warning systems, for the management of developing performance
• Establishing and effectively using feedback processes
• Delegation of responsibility in networks and securing results
• Minimum requirements for communication and information
• Dealing with conflicts
• Leadership of employees — both direct and assigned for a specific purpose
• Identifying the intercultural aspects of team leadership and taking these into account in everyday operations
• Preparing a team development approach

Methods:
Individual, pair and small-group work, discussion, trainer input, exchange of experiences

The seminar is held on a process-oriented basis. The interests of the participants and the situational analysis which is carried out on the morning of the first day can have an effect on the actual procedure of the seminar.

Duration: 4 days (as a stimulus event in the 2 + 1 +1 day mode)