Distance is really the acid test of leadership.

Why, because distance exposes poor leadership skills faster than anything else. With your people located away from you, it is impossible for you to "firefight" your way to success. You are not there to manage their activities.

To successfully lead people across distances and cultures (and still have a life), you need to move from managing by activities to leading by outcomes. If you delegate activities to your people, who owns the achievement of the outcome those activities support? Right! - You do, the leader, and does that sound good? Probably not!

Those leaders, who succeed in leading people at a distance, focus on delegating OUTCOMES and focusing their people on OWNING the achievement.

When was the last time you washed a rental car? Probably never! ... Because you don't own it. In leading your people across distances and cultures, would you rather have them renting or owning their job? The difference between them renting and owning always shows up in the size of your inbox.

Your people, who OWN their job, will always feel challenged to solve problems before bringing them back to you. However, the people who are renting their job, will do just as a rental car with a problem, they will give it right back to you.

The more OWNERSHIP your people take, the more successful you both will be.

Remember,

OUTCOMES drive OWNERSHIP, and ownership drives COMMITMENT.

... And this is WHY Ownership is Key!