Most of the companies Tribe works with are global enterprises with North American headquarters. Typically, one of the issues in these organizations is the desire to unite employees across the world and help them feel like they’re part of something larger than their country location. Our goal is to use internal communications to help make the world a little smaller by connecting employees around the globe.
If that’s a priority for your company, you might consider these five practices:
There’s power in diversity of perspective and experience, and that’s one of the strengths of a global workforce. At the same time, we want to align employees across the world with a shared sense of purpose and values that guide their day-to-day work. To do that, you need to not only articulate a vision and values, but then communicate them consistently.
If most of the leadership team, and possibly the communications team, is based in the U.S., it’s easy for internal communications to become American-centric. To unite employees around the world, you need to give visibility to the people, projects and news of other countries. For instance, if you have an employee publication, be sure to include a mix of content on employees outside the U.S.
The pandemic dramatically increased the use of video meetings in most organizations, which helps to connect employees to their colleagues around the world. But your internal communications can also help to build human connections across geography with photography and videos that include people in several countries. We’ve developed methods for using Zoom to shoot video remotely.
Create opportunities for people to work together across geography on issues that are important to your culture. If you have an employee publication, you might create an editorial board of employees in different countries. Or you might build global teams to collaborate on cultural issues like sustainability and DE&I, or on business challenges, like reducing the time spent in meetings.
Although many employees are accustomed to accommodating the business hours of headquarters, regardless of where they live, don’t make it harder for them than it needs to be. Encourage a cultural practice of scheduling meetings to be as convenient as possible for far-flung attendees. If you have locations in India or Australia, for instance, keep meetings as early in the morning, U.S.-time, as is practical.
