I came across a radio program yesterday that referenced a new study - Cross-cultural recognition of basic emotions through nonverbal emotional vocalizations.

You can read the abstract here but in essence, the researchers studied how very different cultures (Western cultures compared with individuals from remote, culturally isolated Namibian villages) used non-verbal responses to express emotions.

They found that vocalizations communicating several negative emotions - anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise were recognized across both cultures

However most positive emotions are communicated with culture-specific signals that are often  ort recognized by the other culture.

If this is more widely true it has consequences for cross-cultural communication – do we read negative emotions easily but have more difficulty picking up the positives from someone from a very different culture – maybe we need to be more explicit when expressing positives in a cross cultural context.

Jan 29 2010

Have a great Christmas

Dec 19 2009

For anyone who has participated in the “managing visibility” part of our remote and virtual teams training - you may enjoy this comedy sketch where 2 regular travellers discuss what they do.

Sound familiar?

p.s. This link may not be available to view in the USA due to YouTube copyright rules.

Nov 10 2009

Autor de um livro em que introduz o conceito “liderança veloz” - tradução possível para “speed lead”, que é como se diz em inglês e é assim que soa melhor -, Kevan Hall é um homem que se dedica a acelerar os processos de decisão nas empresas.

Mais de Jornal de Negocios

Oct 20 2009

Our book Speed Lead has now been translated into Portuguese by a Brazilian publisher. You can get your copies here

Os 4 Cs nos Negócios

Oct 02 2009

Kevan Hall will be running a Speed Lead masterclass in Porto, Portugal on 16th October in association with the University of Porto Business School.

In this short session we will focus on how to streamline cooperation and communication, decentralize control and build new forms of community based n the Speed Lead principles,

Download the event brochure and booking details here speed-lead-masterclass-porto-oct-2009

If you would like to host a similar Speed Lead event please contact us here

Oct 01 2009

Managing relationships between HQ and local operations is always a challenge. In tough times the relationship can be put under pressure as cost cutting and central control bite deep. However in challenging times it is even more important that we maintain a positive relationship to prevent delay, cost and dissatisfaction.

In our latest podcast Managing the HQ & Local relationship we discuss some of the reasons for this and what we can do to create more positive HQ and local relationships.

If this is a challenge in your team or organization we can help with training or consulting support.

Sep 11 2009

It seems that many organizations are responding to the downturn by creating more integrated central functions like IT, HR, Legal etc…

It is  a logical response driven by both cost cutting and the needs to get more synergies and share scarce skills across the organization.

In the past month we have been contacted by major companies in the Pharmaceutical, Financial services, FMCG. Energy and other industries who are actively restructuring their central functions to be more integrated.

Whatever the motivation this increased integration of central functions is leading to more and more matrixed, virtual and international working.

In most cases the focus right now is on the strategy and structural issues in making this happen, after this attention tends to move to aligning critical systems with the new structure. It can be a long time before anyone thinks about the skills implications- and it is the skills, not the structure, that makes these more integrated and complex organizational forms work. It is great to see some progressive organizations getting this on the agenda right at the start of the project.

Find out more about some of the people management challenges in operating more integrate central functions in our podcast Creating a more integrated IT function the focus is on IT but many of the challenges are relevant to other functions too.

See more about the skills needed to succeed in complex organizations.

Is your organization creating more integrated central functions too?

Jul 20 2009

New research shows that 13 of 14 common workplace-relationship problems, such as broken commitments, mistrust and misrepresentation of information, occur more than twice as often with virtual teams and take longer to resolve than for teams located in the same building. Read the full article here.

Not surprising really with the increased complexity of the environment and more limited face time to resolve issues.

As the article points out it is all about the skills and processes surrounding remote working that makes it work or not.

We developed the first ever commercial remote and virtual teams training and have delivered over 100,000 participant days of training to over 300 major organizations in over 40 countries - find out more about what we think is important in virtual teams training.

Jul 16 2009

I was interviewing some executives recently in an organization famous for its strong individual objectives and metrics driven system of management.

The problem with individual objectives and clear measures is that they can drive managers to be “one dimensional” and very focused on meeting objectives. This can cause real problems in a matrix when, for example, functional and business objectives are not aligned or legitimately compete.

When bonuses and careers depend on hitting your own objectives and metrics it can be hard to find reconciliations to the complex trade-offs and dilemmas that are normal in a matrix.

Sometimes competing objectives and metrics are desirable - for example focusing sales people on sales volume and commercial people on risk management to balance each other in large bids. On other occasions conflict is created when insufficient alignment is in place.

At junior levels people can be successful by focusing on their metrics and objectives and working hard. At middle and senior management level in a matrix this can be counterproductive where it is necessary to take other competing priorities and metrics into account and to make trade-offs.

This is a common issue in very results oriented companies with a matrix structure and suggests that we may need a different performance management system for these complex organization structures. One that rewards doing the right thing for the organization rather than the department or other entity.

How is this managed in your organization?.

Jul 15 2009