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As managing director of eBay Canada, I oversee the Canadian business of the global ecommerce leader headquartered in San Jose, Calif. While Canada is a top 10 market for eBay – Canadians spend more than $1-billion on eBay every year – our office is small in comparison to the United States … a familiar story for CEOs or senior executives running Canadian subsidiaries. Despite our relative size, the eBay Canada team is well-respected by our California peers; we've established a high degree of trust and we're seen as being easy to work with. But, this hasn't happened by chance; rather, it's the result of a concerted and ongoing effort, with many lessons learned along the way.
Make connections, don't make work
Working in a subsidiary market can be isolating; critical information flows often skip smaller markets, leaving teams scrambling or ill-prepared. It's essential to find ways of staying informed without increasing the burden on peers at HQ. At eBay, that may mean participating in meetings that may not be immediately relevant: my team often sits in on calls (while multi-tasking) to listen for nuggets of pertinent information. We look for the easiest or lowest-touch way of being looped in. In the end, the onus is on us to find ways to stay connected without using up the goodwill of our colleagues at headquarters.
Invest in building internal advocates
It takes time and ongoing effort, but robust and diverse relationships with peers at headquarters make all the difference. I travel to San Jose once a month, and I make sure my team goes as often as possible, too. We use these trips as opportunities to build positive rapport, educate peers and leaders on the Canadian business perspective, and keep our market top of mind. We work proactively to create Canadian champions who understand the scale of our victories or context of our challenges, and who advocate for us in both formal meetings and hallway conversations. We also work to diversify our advocates; when organizational changes, promotions or departures occur, we don't want to be left without any Canadian champions at HQ.
Swag diplomacy
It may sound crazy, but a branded maple leaf shirt or water bottle can be a highly effective way of cementing a relationship or saying thank you. In fact, we spend a ridiculous amount of time coming up with the next great swag idea to appeal to our U.S. colleagues.
Highlight Canadian talent
A key benefit of working in a smaller market is that roles are frequently broader with greater spans of control. As a result, we find that eBay Canada team members often have a more comprehensive understanding of the business overall and are able to see synergies or potential conflicts more easily than peers in larger, more specialized organizations. This Canadian "edge" is something I work to showcase by involving Canadian talent in global planning sessions and projects. Not only does this give my team additional opportunities, it also helps to reinforce Canadian capabilities and build long-term trust in the Canadian team, which leads to greater autonomy. And, when top Canadian talent is inevitably recruited by global teams, we gain new Canadian champions.
Find the right balance of engagement
As a Canadian leader working for a global company, I'm challenged with striking the right balance between managing our Canadian operations and managing our engagement with headquarters. While reducing engagement with HQ can free up resources for local initiatives, it also increases the risk of not providing enough context for resource asks, or worse, creating surprises that erode trust if something goes wrong. On the other hand, over-engaging with HQ risks inviting micro-management or creating the impression of being dependent. Getting the equilibrium right is critical to creating the autonomy necessary to manage the local market while ensuring that you have established trust and goodwill at headquarters.
These lessons are by no means exhaustive; finding the right balance of engagement and effort is an ongoing challenge for me. Effectively managing our relationship with headquarters is not only one of my key responsibilities, it's a critical enabler of my success as a leader and the success of my Canadian team.
Andrea Stairs is managing director of eBay Canada.