What Managing Global Teams Actually Requires

I’ve managed teams across three continents and in three languages. At the Gates Foundation, my analytics initiatives involved stakeholders from global health programs, technology teams, and leadership across different regions. Before that, I coordinated projects that brought together digital businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and technology providers across multiple countries. The one thing all of these experiences have in common is that managing people is never the straightforward part.

Tools help. Frameworks help. But what actually makes a team function is far more human than any project management platform can solve.

Clarity Is the Foundation

The single biggest cause of team dysfunction I’ve seen is ambiguity. People don’t fail because they’re incapable. They fail because they’re not clear on what’s expected, who owns what, and what success looks like. I’ve watched talented teams spin in circles because nobody took the time to define roles, responsibilities, and deliverables in plain language.

At the Gates Foundation, every initiative I led started with one question: who is accountable for what? Not who’s involved. Not who’s consulted. Who owns the outcome? That distinction sounds simple, but it changes everything. When accountability is clear, decisions happen faster, conflicts get resolved earlier, and people stop waiting for permission to act.

Structure Without Bureaucracy

There’s a balance between too much process and not enough. I’ve seen both extremes. Government projects in Europe sometimes had so many reporting requirements and approval layers that the actual work got buried under administration. On the other side, I’ve seen startups with zero structure where every week felt like starting over because nobody documented decisions or tracked commitments.

The right amount of structure depends on the team and the stakes. At Lucin Solutions, we help clients find that balance. Enough process to keep everyone aligned and accountable. Not so much that it slows the team down. A lightweight weekly check-in with clear action items often does more than a 20-page project plan that nobody reads after week two.

Managing Across Cultures

Working across languages and cultures taught me that communication styles vary dramatically, and ignoring that creates friction. In some cultures, disagreement is expressed directly. In others, silence is the signal. Some teams expect detailed written instructions. Others work best with a verbal conversation and the trust to figure out the details.

Being fluent in different languages has given me more than just language skills. It’s given me an awareness of how differently people process information, give feedback, and build trust. When you’re managing a global team, that awareness is the difference between a team that collaborates and a team that coexists.

Removing Obstacles Is the Job

The best thing a manager can do is get out of the way. Not by being absent, but by actively identifying and removing the obstacles that prevent people from doing their best work. That might be a decision that’s been stuck in approvals for two weeks. A resource that hasn’t been allocated. A conflict between two team members that everyone is pretending doesn’t exist.

At the Gates Foundation, I built operational frameworks specifically designed to surface these blockers early, before they became project risks. The same approach works for a 10-person team at a growing company. You don’t need enterprise-scale tools. You need someone paying attention and acting on what they see.

Building Teams That Outlast You

The ultimate measure of good team management is what happens after you leave. If the team falls apart the moment you step away, you didn’t manage a team. You held one together. The frameworks, the documentation, the decision-making processes should all continue functioning without you.

That’s how we approach every engagement at Lucin Solutions. We don’t just manage projects. We build the systems and habits that keep your team performing long after our engagement ends.

If your team is growing and you need help building the management structure to support that growth, let’s talk.