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Matrix Teams

Managing matrix teams can be tough; cross-functional, often geographically spread, multicultural teams with whom you often hold little formal authority pose the best of managers with a challenge.

Our matrix management training courses are designed to help team leaders understand and thrive in the matrix organisational environment.

Helping managers to motivate and drive positive engagement within teams and individuals, the training also focuses on how best to navigate the matrix structure and associated best practices.

Matrix Management Courses

Our training courses come in two forms:

  • Adapted courses are off-the-shelf courses that are ready to go. Delivered over half or full days, the contents have been developed, exercises designed and structure already tested over the past 10 years. Small adaptations are made to the course based on further understanding of a client's needs.
  • Bespoke courses are 100% tailored. The starting point is a client's needs and the result can be anything from a conventional training course, intensive consultation and program design, a day's interactive training with professional actors or a simple online webinar. We design what the client wants.

If you would like to see the content of our adapted course, please contact one of the team.

The topics below are typically covered and include (but are not limited to):

  • The makeup of high performing matrix teams
  • Differences in areas such as leadership, decision making and team collaboration vs traditional teams
  • The challenges of leading, integrating and motivating a matrix team
  • Appropriate communication and levels of control for matrix team leaders
  • Transitioning from leadership to functional engagement
  • Cross functional accountability for matrix team leaders
  • International considerations such as cultural drivers, language and time differences
  • Adapting leadership approaches and engagement tools to meet the needs of all members of international matrix teams
  • The challenges of working in a matrix team for team members
  • Strategies to ensure that communication, dealing with issues, escalation of ideas, appropriate levels of responsibility and decision making within the teams are facilitated

Case Study: Cross-Cultural Matrix Management
Our client was an IT company which had recently acquired another company in the UK. As a result of the take-over the British team had to start to integrate into the global matrix organisational structure that was in place. Most, if not all, managers struggled leading to poor productivity, loss of personnel and a downturn in revenues.
Our job was to reverse this through an intensive 3-day matrix management training course with 20+ senior managers in the UK. The course combined traditional training with intensive coaching.
The success of the course led to its replication in Germany at company HQ.

Commisceo Training Style

Our participants are diverse and so too are their learning styles. Based on a review of attendees, the intended training outputs and per-assessment activities, Commisceo trainers establish the most suitable training tools and methodologies to engage their participants.

These may include, for example, interactive group activities, discussions, brainstorms, case studies, problem solving, storytelling, role plays, buzz groups, presentations, lectures, online learning, webinars, visual materials and self-reviews.

Our training style is

  • Fun
  • Current
  • Engaging
  • Self-reflective
  • Constructive
  • Positive
  • Open-minded

Above all we believe our training style is effective.

Please contact one of the team if you have any questions.

One of our consultants will then call you to discuss your needs in more detail. Following this, they will develop a training solution which is most relevant to your company needs.

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Our Training Approach

Our name - Commisceo - perfectly describes our training ethos.

Commisceo is Latin, meaning “to unite, to mix, to mingle”; it infers that through people coming together, mingling and sharing knowledge, that unity can be brought about.

Many businesses and organisations appreciate that their staff need this understanding - with the global economy more important than ever they are investing in training courses, resources and intranet content to bring about “cultural competence”, “cultural sensitivity” or “cultural awareness”.

We feel many of the cultural awareness courses on offer today are defunct; they tend to be based on old, tired, monocultural paradigms and on top of that stick to the standard training-room-style format. Very few achieve true “cultural awareness” - in fact, if anything many courses entrench people further in their own cultural definitions rather than allow them to break free of them which is exactly what is needed.

As leaders in cultural awareness training and coaching we have adopted a different approach. We emphasise self-critique, skills based cultural understanding and experiential learning.

Our focus is on creating ‘global mindedness’. We don’t want “culturally conscious” people at the end of our courses, we want “culturally unconscious” people in that culture never becomes an issue for them; they don’t even think about culture as they have the skills, insight and know-how to think beyond this and see things holistically. No matter where in the world, or who they work with, they know how to make things work.

Our Cross Cultural Trainers

We are very proud of our trainers.

We believe they are the best in the business in terms of their know-how and more importantly, how they relate to and educate others.

Where do our cross-cultural trainers come from?

Professionally all our trainers are people from industry. If we deliver a course on management in Indonesia, our trainer would have been a manager in Indonesia.

If we are designing and delivering a team-building course for a global brand, our trainer would have been a manager of a multicultural team for a global brand.

Our trainers are picked specifically for individual clients based on professional experience.

Trainers are also chosen for their training styles and charisma; we don’t do ‘stand in front of audience and talk’ training. Our style is engaging, interactive, explorative and creative. All our trainers reflect this in how they deliver. Although all are natural motivators and educators, they all keep abreast of innovations and developments in methodologies, tools and the like.

The final requisite for our trainers is to wholeheartedly share our beliefs in why and how we train people. A shared ethos ensures our clients receive outstanding consultancy pre- and post-training.