--- title: "International Projects: Things Getting Tough? Talk It Out" id: "13581" type: "post" slug: "international-projects-things-getting-tough-talk-it-out" published_at: "2012-10-01T11:58:51+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-17T17:13:53+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/10/01/international-projects-things-getting-tough-talk-it-out/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2012/10/01/international-projects-things-getting-tough-talk-it-out.md" excerpt: "Managing international projects is a challenge for associations of all stripes. But nothing fixes problems quite like picking up the phone." taxonomy_category: - "Organizational Strategy" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AssociationsNow" - "Communications" - "global projects" - "Leadership" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Director" - "Executive Team" - "Manager" - "VP" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » International Projects: Things Getting Tough? Talk It Out In the nearly four years I’ve been covering associations, I’ve seen globalization generate both the most excitement and the most frustration within the industry. Executives intuitively know that expanding their organization’s global reach is important, but figuring out how to do it is the kind of thing that leads to you talking a lot at formal “What’s Keeping You Up at Night” education sessions. (Or at informal ones, better known as bars.) Even [settling on the right price to charge for products (opens in a new tab)](http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/ANowDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=185327) overseas isn’t easy. The task is no easier for associations that already have strong global presences. How do you sound out their needs? How do you get them to work together to generate new ideas? On that front there’s a lot of wisdom in Keeley Wilson and Yves L. Doz’s [“10 Rules for Managing Global Innovation,” (opens in a new tab)](http://hbr.org/2012/10/10-rules-for-managing-global-innovation/ar/1) published in the October issue of the *Harvard Business Review.* > Companies that are smart about global innovation create an explicit role for senior executives in their projects. Wilson and Doz, coauthors of a forthcoming book on the topic, make a point that isn’t very popular in this era of [flex-time (opens in a new tab)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flextime) and [ROWE (opens in a new tab)](http://www.gorowe.com/) : If you want results on global projects, you need some old-fashioned top-down management. “Companies that are smart about global innovation create an explicit role for senior executives in their projects,” they write, stressing that global projects come with an increased risk of misunderstandings. If you don’t have a person who’s job is to get people on the same page — if not in the same place — the likelihood of a plan falling apart rapidly increases. So how does this designated taskmaster get the job done right? A good part of the answer, the authors suggest, is already in your skill set. They cite one project that had fallen off schedule until a project manager stepped in and made an important adjustment. “With senior management support,” they write, “he successfully introduced a protocol requiring that all initial communication on a topic be voice-to-voice.” Allow me to take that out of *HBR*-speak for you: The project manager made sure everybody talked to one another. That’s good advice for a global project, where misinterpretations abound amid cultural differences and misinterpretation of email tone. But it also applies to the everyday domestic business of an association. Perhaps even ratify it as a rule: If there’s any chance that what you mean to say will be misinterpreted, pick up the phone or walk over to a colleague’s office. So what have you seen in your global projects? What’s OK to handle over email, and what do you need to talk out? (TMG archive photo) [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#Communications](https://associationsnow.com/tag/communications/) [#global projects](https://associationsnow.com/tag/global-projects/) [#Leadership](https://associationsnow.com/tag/leadership/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## You Might Like - [VideoXperience Design Project (XDP)August 25, 2017](https://associationsnow.com/2017/08/25/xperience-design-project-xdp/) - [Video2025 Summit Award Recipient: American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationOctober 3, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/03/2025-summit-award-recipient-american-speech-language-hearing-association/) - [VideoChallenge Legacy Mindsets at MMC+TechApril 17, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/04/17/challenge-legacy-mindsets-at-mmctech/) - [VideoSneak Peek: Highlights from Day 2 of the 2025 ASAE MMC+Tech ConferenceMay 14, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/05/14/sneak-peek-highlights-from-day-2-of-the-2025-asae-mmctech-conference/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2012%2F10%2F01%2Finternational-projects-things-getting-tough-talk-it-out%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !