High Functioning Global Teams: What’s the Secret Sauce?

Monday, October 21, 2024

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM MT

Location:Careers 360, Exhibit Hall

Career Center Speaker(s)

Maya Lipert, PhD (she/her/hers)

Associate Director
AbbVie
North Chicago, Illinois
Benjamin Ortiz Cardona, PhD

Senior Scientist II
AbbVie
Lopa Bakrania, PhD, RAC (she/her/hers)

Executive Director, Head of CMC-RA
Biohaven Pharmaceuticals
Erika Walsh, PhD (she/her/hers)

Associate Director
Organon
Libertyville, Illinois

Career Center Moderator(s)

Morgan Giles, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Associate Principal Scientist
Merck & Co., Inc.

The continued growth of global organizational structures and remote work arrangements have resulted in an increase in geographically dispersed teams in recent years. While this diversity in experiences, location, and culture can bring competitive advantage, these teams can become disjointed and ineffective when improperly managed. Leaders at all levels, including early-career managers, are faced with the task of creating a trusting, cohesive work culture across diverse time zones, cultures, languages, and perspectives in this new reality. In this session, best practices for managing global, geographically dispersed teams will be discussed including creating common purpose, ensuring inclusion, building a team identity, and successful communication approaches. Strategies to avoid distrust, siloed ways of working, and subpar performance due to distance will also be examined.

Learning Objectives:

Understand the unique challenges faced by employees and managers in geographically dispersed teams.
Become familiar with strategies to improve the effectiveness of global teams, particularly from a management perspective.
Learn tangible actions to improve virtual leadership skills to succeed at leading global organizations and avoid common missteps.