Time (Zone) Travelers

Inside a room known as the "temporary technical-operations center" (the actual technical-operations center is still being outfitted, across the hall from the temporary one), Philipps sits at a computer for a few minutes, checking to see that there are no problems requiring his attention. He pops up and goes over to chat with Jam Mulcare, the integration lab manager. Mulcare, a native of the British Virgin Islands, will act as a kind of air-traffic controller for data during the games, making sure that it flows smoothly from place to place. Peter Hamilton, an Aussie who joined Atos after the Sydney Games, is in charge of the system that will provide data to broadcasters. It must work flawlessly: At the peak of the Olympics, there will be 19 venues up and running, and Atos's systems must be available 24-7, since the media will be reporting around the clock.

Philipps's Atos team in Athens is made up of a mix of Greeks and other nationalities from around the world; the tech teams in Turin and Beijing will similarly include a number of locals. They'll help Philipps understand the culture, language, and work habits of the local organizing committee. "Even with all of the Olympic experience we've had," he says, "the cultural thing makes a huge difference, because 95% of the people you will work with are local." And they all have different styles. "When we did Salt Lake City, the Americans like to have a lot of meetings, talk a lot before making a decision. People there like to have consensus, to make decisions in common."

"In Greece, you have a much stronger hierarchy," Philipps continues. "You cannot get a guy to do something without his boss agreeing. Which can be more efficient, or it can be more bureaucratic. In China, I'm still trying to understand how that will work, how I'll have to adapt. In every country, you find that 'yes' means something different, 'maybe' means something different, 'I'll do that right now' means something different. Your management style needs to change."

Few managers are so adaptive, and few companies can parachute into a new country every two years and set up a vast, complex, and vital operation; at Atos, that's just the way business is done. And it's worth it. While the games aren't Atos's primary profit source, they are an opportunity to showcase its abilities all over the world. "What we do is like the circus," says Santiago Codola, a manager who works in Atos's nerve center in Barcelona. "You move from place to place. You have a short time to prepare, and you have to make the show look like the best in the world. Then you move on." Next stops for this global circus: Turin and Beijing.

Fast Take: The Globe-Trotter's Guide to the Galaxy

A rule book for global execs is a bit of a contradiction in terms, because listening and flexibility are key. But here's what some time-zone itinerants have picked up in their travels.

• "State visits" -- those fly-in-fly-out formal calls on overseas facilities -- tend to be a waste of time. So says Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting Group. What you'll get is a show and a handshake, not a real feel for real problems.
• Frequent teleconferences beat infrequent videoconferences. "And when you schedule conference calls, you should share the pain," says Claude Philipps of Atos Origin. "Don't always make the team in Barcelona wake up at two in the morning."
• Use technology that supports "presence detection" -- instant messaging, for example -- to tell you when a colleague is or isn't available. Terry Walters of Plantronics swears by Skype, software that supports voice conversations over the Internet: "You can see who's online and who's busy," he says.
• Make sure regular teleconferences or videoconferences happen at a regular time and day. "That way," says Walters, "if you need religion, you can be there. It's like going to church."
• Don't expect tight bonds among team members who collaborate only via teleconference, email, and instant messaging. "You need to get your people together in one place if you want them to really appreciate how good everyone is, and how good you are as a team," says Bob Armstrong at GE Healthcare Technologies.
• Pick a system for Web collaboration, and stick with it. IBM Lotus's QuickPlace, Groove Networks' Workspace, and other systems all have their relative merits. But the level of participation drops sharply when companies switch from one system to another.
• English may be the de facto language of global business, but efforts to speak like the locals can help build stronger bonds. "At our Christmas party in Mexico, I give a speech in Spanish every year," says Walters. "I rehearse it pretty carefully. I haven't yet given speeches in Chinese, but I will."

Sidebar: Staying Aloft