Power Teams Beyond Borders: How to

Work Remotely and Build Powerful

Virtual Teams Peter Ivanov
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 Power Teams
Beyond Borders
Power Teams
Beyond
Borders
How to Work Remotely and Build
Powerful Virtual Teams

Peter Ivanov
This edition first published [2021]
© 2021 Peter Ivanov

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ISBN 9781119763000 (ebk)
ISBN 9781119762997 (ebk)
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 I dedicate this book to my daughters Raina, Sophia, Gergana, Elena
and Maia and to all the children in the world whose future depends on
the decisions, dedication and commitments we make today. By uniting
global talents we can resolve the toughest challenges of humanity.
 Contents

Introduction xiii
How I learned to Develop Virtual Power Teams xvi
2020: The Tipping Point for Global Change? xvii

Part I: Building Trust and Clarity: Discovering,

Dreaming and Goal-Setting 1

1 From Failure to Amazing Success in Global Teams 3

What Causes Global Teams to Fail? 9
What Do All High-Performing Teams Have
in Common? 10
Establishing Your Foundation 14

2 Personality in Focus 17
How to Start Building Trust in Your Team 21
The Importance of Empowerment 23

3 The Strengths Matrix 27

How to Uncover People’s Natural Strengths 34
How this Works in Practice 36
Why Personality in Focus and the Strengths
Matrix is a Magic Combination 37
How to Create a Team Vision 38
4 Interdependent Goals 41
Start by Defining the Hottest Issues for your Team 46
The Thinking Behind Smart Goals 48
Creating Smart Goals 50
Name your Team 51
Developing your Strategic Roadmap 51

vii
viii Contents

Sharing Responsibility 52
Getting the Best from your Team 52

Part II: Establishing Structured Communication:

Active Collaboration and Coopetition 55

5 How Everyone Can Contribute and Shine 57

How to Maintain Engagement in your
Regular Team Meetings 67
Always Have an Agenda 68
Change the Format Once a Month 68
Allow People to Ask Questions 69
The importance of Time Management 69
Making Time for Personal and Professional 70
Don’t Have Too Many Meetings 71
How Often Should Virtual Teams Meet in Person? 71
Setting the Agenda for an Annual Meeting 72

6 Bridging Time Zones and Knowledge

Management 75
Finding the Optimum Time for Meetings 81
Coping with Language Barriers 82
How to Deal with Challenging Accents
(And Make Sure Everyone is Understood) 83
Agree on a Channel for Urgent Communication 85
Knowledge Management 86
Encourage People to Join a Community 88
Build Regional Zonal Communities 89
Best Practice for Online Communication 90

7 Regular Feedback 93
How to Structure a Performance Feedback Session 98
Learn the Difference Between the Development Plan
and Performance Feedback 99
Why is this so Important in Virtual Teams? 100
Practice Generous Listening 101
 Contents ix

Use the Magic Words 102

Speak About Possibilities 102
Tips for Sharing Team Feedback 103
The Formula for a Virtual Power Team 105
Key Takeaways on Feedback 106

8 Cross-Company Cooperation and Coopetition 107

An Evolving Environment 111
How to Build Trust 111
The Need for a Collaboration Agenda 112
Structured Communication is Essential 112
Finding your Optimal Culture 113
Don’t Forget Personality 114
Defining Intra-Organisational and Inter-
Organisational Coopetition 114
Where Does Inter-Organisational Coopetition
Come From? 115
Where Does Coopetition Lead? 115
Why you Should Explore Cross-Company Coopetition 116
High-Profile Examples of Coopetition 117
How to Establish your Win-Win 118
Developing the Right Mindset for Coopetition 119

Part III: Uniting Global Teams: Leveraging

Global Community 121

9 Praise, Praise, Praise 123

What Qualities do you Need to Stay Motivated
When Working Virtually? 129
How to Motivate and Retain Key Team Members
When you Work Remotely 130
How to Make Decisions in Hybrid Teams 133

10 Building the Optimal Team Culture 135

Case Study 139
The Leadership Scale 142
x Contents

Tips For Leaders To Adjust Their Leadership Style 144

The Four Levels of Meetings 145
Tips for Adjusting Your Decision-Making Process 147
Tips to Adjust to Different Conflict Styles 149
Finding Your Optimal Team Culture 149

11 Establishing a Winning Spirit 151

My Team 155
The Early Stages of the Project 155
Taking a Different Approach 156
The Road to Tenerife 157
The Outcome 158
How to Apply This to Your Team 158
What if You Don’t Have the Budget to Be Generous? 159
Use Tangible Tokens 160
Don’t Forget About People’s Families 161

12 Next Generation Leaders 163

Building Virtual Power Teams Under Virtual
Power Teams 168
Ways to Develop Next Generation Leaders 169
Top Tips 169
Case Study 170
Virtual Power Family 172
Why it’s Important to Foster Gravity in Your
Virtual Family 173
What Can You Learn From Being Part of A Virtual
Power Family? 174
Applying These Principles to Long-Distance
Relationships 175
Maintaining Global Friendships 176
Connect With Your Parents 176
Co-Living to Be Part of A Community 177
The Importance of Community 178
My Advice for Living and Working Remotely 178
Setting Up Your Virtual Working Environment 179
 Contents xi

13 Building Power Communities 183

Case Study: Youth Against AIDS 187
Lessons for a More Remote Future 191
The Importance of Frequent Updates 193
Regular Updates are Essential for
Strengthening Bonds 193
Be Clear On Your ‘Why’ 194
Case Study: Teach For All 195
Empowerment and Trust Building 197
Responding to Any Major Change or Disruption
(Including A Pandemic!) 198
Case Study: The Covid-19 Pandemic 198
The Road to Digitalisation 201
Career Visibility When Working Remotely 204
Conclusion 207
Using the 10 Big Rocks to Foster Gravity 207
Focus on Gravity 208
Epilogue 211
Index 215
 Introduction

I want to start by reminding you of five words, which nearly

50 years ago, cast the world simultaneously into fear and hope,
and which are still a symbol of the unexpected that calls for urgent
action. For three men and their families, these five words meant
a one-week life-or-death struggle. These words are: ‘Houston,
we have a problem.’
Think back to 1970, which incidentally was the year of my
birth. It’s 11 April and the clock in Houston shows precisely
13:30. It’s at this moment that the American space agency NASA
shoots the spaceship Apollo 13 into orbit, with the aim of landing
on the moon in four days’ time.
On 13 April, there is a loud crash and the three astronauts
look out to see a plume of white as their oxygen flows out
into space. The two oxygen tanks in the service module have
just exploded. The initial reaction back in Houston is one of
panic – no one has planned for such a disaster. The families
of the three astronauts are horrified. If you’ve seen the film
Apollo 13 you might remember that at this point in the mission,
the spaceship is getting close to the moon. If they continue to
fly according to their original plan, they won’t have enough
energy to reach the gravity of Earth and therefore return to
the Earth’s surface.

xiii
xiv Introduction

MOON

EARTH

It’s now clear that the mission to land on the moon has failed
and all of their planned lunar research has been blown away. The
focus now is on the lives of the three astronauts. This is a matter
of life and death.
Back in Houston, it’s 37-year-old Gene Kranz who is in
charge at Mission Control when the fateful call from the astro-
nauts comes in. Kranz quickly realises that to save the astronauts’
lives, he has to win one fight: the fight for energy.
In space, energy is everything. You need it to move the
spaceship, to navigate, to communicate with Mission Control
and, of course, to sustain life. At this point, every single unit of
energy now means the difference between life and death. They
need a miracle.
What does Kranz do in this historic moment? He gath-
ers his whole Houston team into one room. The tension and
 Introduction xv

nervousness is palpable. He lays out the challenge. Brains go

into overdrive. Ideas rush around. Everyone’s hearts are full with
care, fear and hope. Kranz listens carefully to each and every idea
being put forward.
Eventually he calls for silence. Then he pulls everyone
together – and not just the team in the room with him. He has
the three astronauts and hundreds of scientists and engineers
from across NASA listening as he calmly says:

‘We haven’t lost a man in space until now and as long as I’m
responsible, we won’t. Failure is not an option.’

The seven days of the Apollo 13 mission were filled with

incredible strength of character, flashes of genius, feats of engi-
neering and, above all, an extraterrestrial triumph of leadership.
As we all know, Kranz and his team succeeded in safely
bringing the Apollo 13 astronauts home. But what Kranz also did
was succeed in pulling together all these people spread around
space, through the magical gravity force of one of the strong-
est virtual teams the world has ever seen; one whose goal was
aligned to one purpose only, to save the lives of the three astro-
nauts on the spaceship.
On 17 April, Apollo 13 landed, or rather splashed, back to
Earth with the command unit carrying the three astronauts land-
ing safely in the Pacific Ocean. The rescue was hailed as a mira-
cle. This is a virtual power team at work.
You might be thinking that the Apollo 13 was an exceptional
case and not one that has applications in general business. But
how many of you have worked on a project which has experi-
enced an unexpected change? How often is the budget reduced
but you still have to deliver? How often is the go-live date
brought forward? How often do team members spread across
different locations lose motivation, resulting in a deterioration
in the team’s performance?
xvi Introduction

Personally, I’ve heard the statement, ‘Houston, we have

a problem’ more than once in my career, although thankfully
never in relation to a life-or-death situation. But for the projects
I was working on, it was critical.

How I Learned to Develop Virtual

Power Teams

In the last 25 years, I’ve had the opportunity to live and work
all over Europe. I began my career as a data analyst and have
worked across many areas of technology, leading a number of
large, multinational virtual teams. Most recently, I was the head
of IT services for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa,
where I built and led a large team spread across various coun-
tries, time zones and from very different cultures.
Through this experience, and if I’m honest mostly from my
mistakes, I’ve developed a highly effective method for creating
and leading virtual power teams. But in recent years I started
questioning my mission and exploring how I could use my tal-
ents to change the world for the better. This was when I decided
to leave the worlds of IT and mathematics behind and pursue my
dream of becoming an inspirational speaker and coach, focus-
ing on uniting people despite distance. It’s this passion that has
resulted in this book, where I’m sharing my passion for and
knowledge of building virtual power teams.
I like to think of virtual power teams as atoms. You have
the nucleus in the centre and then the various particles orbiting
that nucleus. In a virtual team, you’re building an atom. Your
individual team members are the particles and you need to keep
them around the nucleus, despite the physical distance between
individuals.
 Introduction xvii

I’ll let you into a secret now. The nucleus of this power team
isn’t the manager or the boss, it isn’t any member of the team. It
is the purpose and goal of the team that acts as the nucleus, con-
stantly pulling everyone back together.
In this book, I’ll explain how to set this goal in such a way
that it’s aligned with the individual goals and strengths of your
team members, while aligning with the overarching purpose and
vision of the team. I’ll also give you effective tools to put this vital
nucleus in place.

2020: The Tipping Point for Global Change?

Globalisation and digital transformation have introduced new

challenges in leadership and communication. Teams and pro-
jects are often decentralised, crossing international borders,
time zones and cultural boundaries. Leading such virtual teams
xviii Introduction

requires very specific organisational knowledge, including how

to select qualified experts, knowing which virtual platforms to
use and how to structure, support and lead your team. These are
among the topics I’ll cover in the following pages.
But the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us further.
More people than ever before have been working from home
in 2020, and we rose to the challenge. This extended period of
remote working means we have to take more team decisions
remotely, resolve conflicts from a distance and find new ways to
lead and manage effectively.
What I want to share with you is that virtual teams can
achieve much more. I want to open your eyes to the possibili-
ties available not just to organisations but to society, if we can
ignite global talent to address the monumental challenges of our
time: Climate change. Hunger. Pandemic response. We have the
power to overcome these challenges, all while bringing opportu-
nities to young professionals in every corner of the globe.
 PART I

Building Trust and Clarity:

Discovering, Dreaming
and Goal-Setting

‘A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together
is reality.’
John Lennon

1
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 year 1900, according to the report of the Indian Office, was
272,023. This excludes "the Indians of Alaska, but includes
the New York Indians (5,334) and the Five Civilized Tribes in
Indian Territory (84,750)—a total population of 90,084. These
Indians are often separated from the others in statistics
because they have separate school and governmental systems."

Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,

1900, pages 47-49.

INDONESIAN RACE.

See (in this volume)

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: THE NATIVE INHABITANTS.

INDUSTRIAL ARBITRATION.

See (in this volume)

NEW ZEALAND: A. D. 1891-1900; and
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE).

INDUSTRIAL COMBINATIONS.

See (in this volume)

TRUSTS; UNITED STATES.

INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION, The United States.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE).

INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1895-1896.

Strike of glassworkers in France.

A great strike of French glass workers, beginning in the

summer of 1895, ended the following January in a lockout of
the men, leaving thousands without means of subsistence.
INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1897.
The great dispute in the British engineering trades.

"The strike originated in an effort on the part of some of the

men employed in London to introduce the eight-hour day. As a
consequence of this movement, the Employers' Federation voted,
on July 1st, that in case the threatened movement in favor of
eight hours should be carried out 'notices will immediately be
given by the members of the associations affiliated to the
federation that a reduction of hands of 25 per cent. will take
place of the members of such unions in their employment.' This
challenge of the employers was quickly taken up by the
Unionists. The Amalgamated Society at once gave instructions
that in all cases in which notices of lockout were issued to
25 per cent. of their members, the remaining 75 per cent.
should hand in notices to cease work at the same time. The
result was the inauguration of a dispute, which took in part
the form of a lockout, in part that of a strike, but which
from the beginning was carried on with an ominous display of
bitterness and obstinacy on both sides. The membership of the
different societies concerned in the dispute was estimated, by
the Labor Gazette in July, at over 109,000. All of these were
not, of course, actually on strike. … It seems as if the
employers had been quite ready to enter into this contest with
the view of crushing the union, or at least of teaching it a
lesson; but the result is a very widespread industrial
conflict, which is producing results far beyond those
immediately concerned."

Yale Review
(November, 1897).

"The number of work people directly affected by the dispute

was about 25,000 at the outset, but as the area of the dispute
widened the number of firms and of workmen involved gradually
increased, until the lock-out involved 702 firms and 35,000
workmen directly and 12,500 indirectly. … Though the immediate
cause of the general dispute was the demand for an eight
hours' day in London, the real questions at issue between the
parties had become of a much more far-reaching kind, and now
involved the questions of workshop control and the limits of
trade union interference. During October and November
negotiations under the Conciliation Act took place between the
Board of Trade and the representatives of the parties with a
view to arrange a conference between them. As a result of the
correspondence both sides assented to the following basis for
a conference suggested by the Board of Trade:

1. The Federated Employers, while disavowing any intention of

interfering with the legitimate action of trade unions, will
admit no interference with the management of their business.
The Trade Unions on their part, while maintaining their right
of combination, disavow any intention of interfering with the
management of the business of the employers.

2. The notices demanding a 48 hours' week served on the

Federated Employers in London without previous request for a
conference are withdrawn.

3. A conference between representatives of the Federated

Employers and the Trade Unions concerned in the dispute shall
be held forthwith. …

Pending the conference the employers agreed to suspend all

pending lockout notices, and the Unions not to interfere in
any way with men in employment. …

"The sittings were held on November 24th and two following

days, and again on November 30th and three following days,
after which an adjournment took place until December 14th in
order to allow the men to vote as to the acceptance or
otherwise of the proposals made by the employers. … When the
Conference resumed its sittings on December 14th the result of
 the ballot of the men was declared to be:—For the terms, 752;
against, 68,966. Discussion of the proposals was, however,
resumed and continued over four days by a sub-committee of
three representatives on each side, who consulted with their
colleagues when necessary. The terms were somewhat amended. …
On submitting these amended conditions to the vote of the men
1,041 voted in favour of their acceptance and 54,933 against.
The truce which had been arranged over the period of
negotiations was brought to an end by this vote, and fresh
notices of lock-out were given in various centres, which
considerably increased the numbers affected. …

"On January 13th, however, an important change was made in the

position of the men. The London Joint Committee, the body
which took the first actual step in the dispute by ordering
strike notices to be given in certain London shops, passed the
following resolution:—That we intimate to the Employers'
Federation that the demand for an eight hours' day, or
forty-eight hours' week be withdrawn. That before such
intimation is given the above resolution to be sent to the
Executive Councils of the Societies represented on the Joint
Committee for their approval or otherwise. … This resolution
received the approval of the trade unions concerned, and the
withdrawal of the demand for a 48 hours' week was intimated to
the Employers' Federation, which, however, still insisted on
the acceptance by the unions of the 'conditions of management
mutually adjusted at the recent Westminster Conference' as a
condition of returning to work. The men asked that the
employers' notes and explanations should be read as part of
the proposed agreement, and eventually, after renewed
negotiations between the parties, a provisional agreement was
arrived at and submitted to the votes of the men, who ratified
it by 28,588 to 13,727. The final agreement was signed in
London on January 28th, and work was resumed in the following
week. …

{268}
 "Naturally, after so long a stoppage the resumption of work by
the men was a gradual process, but the number unemployed owing
to the dispute, including those indirectly affected, sank from
44,500 at the close of the lock-out to 7,500 at the end of
February, 2,000 at the end of April, 1,500 at the end of May,
and 1,000 at the end of June. … Some idea of the indirect
effects of the stoppage on trades related to those engaged in
the struggle may be formed from the fact that the percentage
of unemployed members in trade unions of the ship-building
group rose from 4.4 per cent. in July, to 14.1 per cent. in
December."

Great Britain, Board of Trade (Labour Department),

Report on the Strikes and Lock-outs of 1897.

INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1897.

Great coal miners' strike in the United States.

A general strike of the coal miners in the various districts

of the United States began in July, 1897. The territory
covered five states and involved about 157,000 men. The
strikers asked for an advance in wages on the ground that it
was their right to share in the increase of business
prosperity and advanced prices. A grievance for which redress
was asked was that of being obliged to buy at the company
stores, paying in company's orders, to be deducted from their
wages. The principal grievance was the 54-cent rate, paid by
Mr. W. P. De Armitt of the New York and Cleveland Gas Coal
Company. The men employed by Mr. De Armitt had signed a
contract to accept a rate 10 cents below that of other
operators, in return for which he had abolished company
stores, gave steady employment, and paid promptly in cash. His
men were satisfied with the arrangement, although the
prevailing price for mining coal was 64 cents a ton. Most of
them, however, were finally forced by the organization to join
the strikers. The strike lasted until September 12, when
 matters were arranged in a convention at Columbus, Ohio, when
a uniform rate of 65 cents was adopted.

A tragic feature of the strike occurred at Lattimer,

Pennsylvania, where a mob of marching miners, resisting the
sheriff and handling him roughly, were fired upon by armed
deputies. Eighteen were killed and about forty wounded.

INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1898.

New England cotton mill strike.

In January a general strike, affecting 125,000 operatives,

resulted from a reduction in wages in 150 cotton mills of New
England. By April most of the strikers returned to work at the
manufacturers' terms.

INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1898.

Coal miners' strike in Illinois.

This strike, beginning in May, originated in the refusal of

the mine operators to grant the rate of 40 cents a ton, agreed
upon after the strike of 1897. The operators refused to
compromise and the miners were upheld by the United Mine
Workers. Riots arose in the towns of Pana and Virden upon the
attempt of the mine owners to import negro workers from the
south. Governor Tanner, in sending troops to restore order,
enjoined upon them to protect citizens, but on no account to
assist mine owners to operate their mines with imported labor,
The governor's attitude provoked much criticism. A serious
outbreak occurred on October 12, at Virden, when 14 persons
were killed and 25 wounded. The strike at Virden was settled
in November, the mine owners agreeing to the demands of the
miners. The trouble at Pana lasted until April, when a
settlement was arrived at.

INDUSTRIAL DISTURBANCES, Wide-spread: A. D. 1900.

Anthracite coal miners' strike in Pennsylvania.
 A great strike of the anthracite mine workers of Pennsylvania,
which began September 17, practically ended October 17, when
the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and the
Lehigh Valley Coal Company agreed to abolish the sliding scale
in their respective regions and to grant an advance in wages
of 10 per cent. net, the advance to remain in operation until
April 1, 1901, and thereafter till further notice. Mr. John
Mitchell, president of the Mine Workers' National Union, in a
speech soon after the end of the strike, said that of the
142,000 men concerned "at first only 8,000 men were in the
union or organized. Nevertheless, the day the strike began,
112,000 men laid down their tools; and when the strike ended,
after 39 days of non-employment, all but 2,000 of them had
joined the ranks of the union."

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, in the United States.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1897.

INITIATIVE IN SWITZERLAND, The.

See (in this volume)

SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1894-1898.

INSURANCE, Compulsory, in Germany.

See (in this volume)

GERMANY: A. D. 1897-1900.

INTERCONTINENTAL RAILWAY, The.

See (in this volume)

RAILWAY, INTERCONTINENTAL.

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.
 See (in this volume)
ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL.

INTERNATIONAL CATALOGUING, of Scientific Literature.

See (in this volume)

SCIENCE, RECENT: SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL CONGRESS.

An important step in promotion of the development of

international commerce was taken at Philadelphia, in October,
1899, by the assembling of an International Commercial
Congress, under the auspices of the Philadelphia Commercial
Museum and the Franklin Institute, with the co-operation, not
only of the city and the State, but also of the Congress of
the United States. Some forty governments, and a great number
of chambers of commerce and other business organizations were
represented, and much good was expected from the meeting. It
adopted resolutions urging co-operative and assimilated action
by all nations, in the registration of trade marks, in the
preparation of trade statistics and agricultural reports, and
in the establishing of the parcels post. It commended the
Philadelphia Commercial Museum as an example to be imitated;
urged the construction of an interoceanic canal, recommended
free trade in artistic works, and pleaded for the pacific
settlement of international disputes by arbitration.

At the time of the session of the Congress, a National Export

Exposition was being held at Philadelphia, under the same
auspices, with great success.

{269}

INTEROCEANIC CANAL.
 See (in this volume)
CANAL, INTEROCEANIC.

INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY, The Tehuantepec.

See (in this volume)

MEXICO: A. D. 1898-1900.

INTER-STATE COMMERCE, American.

Arbitration of industrial disputes.

See (in this volume)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1898 (JUNE).

INVENTIONS:
Comparison of the Nineteenth Century with preceding ages.

See (in this volume)

NINETEENTH CENTURY: COMPARISON.

IRADE.

See (in this volume)

TURKEY: A. D. 1895.

----------IRELAND: Start--------

IRELAND: A. D. 1890-1900.
Hopeful work in the organization and systematization
of Irish agriculture.

"Can nothing be made of an essentially food-producing country

situated at the very door of the greatest market for
food-stuffs that the world has ever seen? Government has at
last moved in this matter, but, as usual, not before private
initiation had shamed them into action. Mr. Horace Plunkett
and his friends went to work ten years ago, pointing out that
Ireland had natural resources equal or superior to those of
countries which were driving her few products out of the
English market, and preached the organisation, the
co-operation, and the scientific methods of agriculture which
in those other countries were inculcated and subsidised by
state agencies. Then the Congested Districts Board, under the
auspices of Mr. Arthur Balfour, began its beneficent work.
Then came in 1895 the Recess Committee, on Mr. Plunkett's
suggestion; and finally, in 1899, the recommendations of that
Committee's invaluable Report were practically embodied in the
creation of a Board of Agriculture and Technical Instruction.
This body has scarcely as yet begun its work, but its main
business will be to do throughout the whole of Ireland what
has been done in the least hopeful districts by the Congested
Districts Board, and over a larger area, but with very
inadequate means, by the Irish Agricultural Organisation
Society, of which Mr. Plunkett has been the moving spirit.
Things are therefore only at their beginning. … The main
purpose of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society has
been not to create new industries but to organize and
systematise the one already existing—the characteristic Irish
industry of agriculture. It has done the work which in France,
Denmark, Canada, and a dozen other countries that can be
named, is being done by a State department; and the efforts of
its promoters have brought into being such a department for
Ireland also. The Society spent in nine years £15,000 of
subscriptions. This neither can last nor ought to last. It is
the business of the Department, if it does not supersede the
Society, to subsidise it."

Stephen Gwynn,
A Month in Ireland
(Blackwood's Magazine, October, 1900, page 573).

The most effective work done thus far, by the official and
private agencies above mentioned, appears to have been in the
organization of co-operative creameries and dairies.
IRELAND: A. D. 1894.
Cooling of the Liberal party towards Irish Home Rule.

See (in this volume)

ENGLAND: A. D. 1894-1895.

IRELAND: A. D. 1896.
A new Land Act.

"The celebrated Land Act of 1881, supplemented by Acts in the

same direction, placed the land of Ireland, as everyone knows,
under a system of perpetual leases, at State-settled rents,
renewable every fifteen years; and, in 1896, the time was at
hand for revising the rents fixed from 1881 onwards, and for
renewing the leases made during this interval of time. An Act,
accordingly, was passed through Parliament in order fully to
accomplish this end; and, incidentally, it dealt with many
other things connected with the Irish Land System, and with
the legislation inaugurated in 1881. It enlarged the sphere of
State-settled rent, bringing within it certain classes of
tenants which, hitherto, had been excluded from it; it placed
the law for exempting tenants' improvements from rent, to a
considerable extent, on a new basis; and it introduced, for
the first time, what is called the principal of 'compulsory
purchase' into the system of 'Land Purchase,' so named in
Ireland, always a favourite policy of Lord Salisbury's
Governments."

Judge O'Connor Morris,

The Report of the Fry Commission
(Fortnightly Review, November, 1898).

The new bill (59 & 60 Vict. ch. 47) was carried successfully
through Parliament by the Government, with skillful management
on the part of Mr. Gerald Balfour, the Secretary for Ireland,
after many amendments and much debate. It was a compromise
 measure, reluctantly accepted and satisfying no interest or
party. The general feeling with which it was passed is
described as follows: "The practical result of the discussion
was to show that the bill did not go so far as Mr. T. W.
Russell, a member of the Government and the representative of
the Ulster farmers, wished; that the section of the
Nationalists headed by Mr. Dillon were anxious to throw cold
water upon it, but afraid to oppose it openly; and that Mr.
Healy and his friends, as well as the Parnellites, were ready
to do their best to ensure its passing. But while the
representatives of the tenants were ready to accept the bill
as an installment of their claims, they at the same time
pronounced it, to be inadequate. … The Dillonites were
unwilling to give the Healyites and the Parnellites the chance
of taunting them with having lost the bill, whilst the
landlords hoped for an improvement of the purchase clauses and
a reform of procedure in the law courts. … The debate on the
third reading, although not forced to a division, was
spirited; the landlords opposing it because it was too much of
a tenant's bill, and Mr. Davitt opposing it because it was too
much of a landlords' bill. Mr. Dillon and his followers voted
for it, but in their speeches did all they could to run it
down, while the Parnellites and Healyites did all in their
power to support it."

Annual Register, 1896,

pages 160-161.

{270}

IRELAND: 1896-1897.
Report of a Royal Commission on the Financial Relations
between Great Britain and Ireland.

"At various times since the passing of the Act of Legislative

Union between Great Britain and Ireland, complaints have been
made that the financial arrangements between the two countries
were not satisfactory, or in accordance with the principles of
that Act, and that the resources of Ireland have had to bear
an undue pressure of taxation. Inquiries into the truth of
these allegations have frequently been called for"; but it was
not until 1894 that provision was made for a thorough
investigation of the subject. In that year a Royal Commission
was appointed, with Mr. Childers, ex-Chancellor of the
Exchequer, at its head, "to inquire into the financial
relations between Great Britain and Ireland, and their
relative taxable capacity, and to report:

(1.) Upon what principles of comparison, and by the

application of what specific standards, the relative capacity
of Great Britain and Ireland to bear taxation may be most
equitably determined.

(2.) What, so far as can be ascertained, is the true

proportion, under the principles and specific standards so
determined, between the taxable capacity of Great Britain and
Ireland.

(3.) The history of the financial relations between Great

Britain and Ireland at and after the Legislative Union, the
charge for Irish purposes on the Imperial Exchequer during
that period, and the amount of Irish taxation remaining
available for contribution to Imperial expenditure; also the
Imperial expenditure to which it is considered equitable that
Ireland should contribute."

The Commission made its "Final Report" in 1896, submitting the

conclusions on which its members were unanimously agreed, and
presenting, further, no less than seven differing reports on
other points upon which agreement could not be reached. The
summary of conclusions in the unanimous joint report was as
follows:

"In carrying out the inquiry we have ascertained that there

are certain questions upon which we are practically unanimous,
and we think it expedient to set them out in this joint
report. Our conclusions on these questions are as follows:

I. That Great Britain and Ireland must, for the purpose of

this inquiry, be considered as separate entities.

II. That the Act of Union imposed upon Ireland a burden which,
as events showed, she was unable to bear.

III. That the increase of taxation laid upon Ireland between

1853 and 1860 was not justified by the then existing
circumstances.

IV. That identity of rates of taxation does not necessarily

involve equality of burden.

V. That whilst the actual tax revenue of Ireland is about

one-eleventh of that of Great Britain the relative taxable
capacity of Ireland is very much smaller, and is not estimated
by any of us as exceeding one-twentieth."

Great Britain,
Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command: C.—8262, pages 1-2).

The report was keenly criticised in England, and the fact that
it emanated from a Commission in which the majority were
partisans of Irish Home Rule was used by the Conservatives to
disparage its conclusions. A new investigation of the subject
was called for. The subject came before Parliament in the
session of 1897,—first in the Lords, and later in the Commons.
On the 30th of March, Mr. Blake, a member from Ireland, moved
a resolution in the House of Commons, to the effect that the
report of the Commission had established the existence of an
undue burden of taxation on Ireland and made it the duty of
the Government to propose remedial legislation at an early
 day. The debate which this opened was continued during three
nights, at the end of which the motion was negatived by a vote
of 317 to 157.

IRELAND: A. D. 1898 (July).

The Local Government Act.

A bill which had great success, so far as it went, in

satisfying the representatives of Ireland in the Parliament of
the United Kingdom, was brought forward there, by the
Conservative Government, in February, 1898, and carried
through both Houses in July. It was accepted by the Irish as
"no substitute for Home Rule," but as a recognized "step in
that direction." It had been foreshadowed in the Queen's
Speech at the opening of Parliament, and described as a
measure "for the organisation of a system of local government
in Ireland substantially similar to that which, within the
last few Years, has been established in Great Britain." This
important Act established County Councils, Urban District
Councils, Rural District Councils, and Boards of Guardians,
all elected by ballot every three years, on a franchise
broader than the Parliamentary franchise, since it gave the
local suffrage to women. The same Act extended to Ireland the
provisions of the Act for the relief of agricultural land, and
contained some other welcome provisions of financial relief.

61 & 62 Vict. chapter 37.

"To understand the extent of the change which is now

determined on … it is necessary first to describe the system
of Irish Local Government which is about to pass away forever.
Broadly speaking, that system consisted of three parts, viz.:
the Grand Jury, the Poor Law Boards, and various forms of
Municipal Government in towns and cities. … The Grand Jury was
about the most anomalous and indefensible institution which
can be conceived. It consisted, usually, of a couple of dozen
persons chosen from a larger number selected by the High
 Sheriff for the county or the city, as the case might be, the
High Sheriff himself being the nominee of the Lord Lieutenant,
who acted on the recommendation of the Superior Court Judges,
who, in their turn, always recommended some leading landlord
and magistrate. … The Grand Jury in every Irish county, down
even to the present year, has always consisted almost entirely
of members of the landlord class, and mainly of Protestants
also. To bodies thus constituted was entrusted the control of
all public roads and other public works of the county, the
contracts therefor, the management of the prisons, the care of
the public buildings, the power to contribute to infirmaries,
lunatic asylums and fever hospitals, the appointment of all
the paid officials of the county, and the right to levy a tax
called the county cess, which, of late years, has produced
considerably more than a million pounds sterling annually.
Associated with the Grand Juries were smaller bodies, the
members of which met at 'Presentment Sessions' once or twice a
year to initiate county works. Those bodies also were
non-elective, and represented mainly the landlords and
magistrates of the respective counties. In the old days, these
Grand Juries became—not unnaturally—not merely nests of jobbery
and corruption, but an agency of social and political
oppression. …
{271}
For many years past, indeed, the Grand Juries have not been
open to all those charges. They have not, as a rule, been the
corrupt jobbers they were forty or fifty years ago. Their
administration of the business entrusted to them has been
fairly honest and efficient. But in their constitution they
have, on the whole, continued to be what they were. …

"The Boards of Poor Law Guardians have in the course of time

become more or less popular bodies, and, besides their
original function of dispensing relief out of the rates to the
destitute poor, have been invested with the management of so
many other matters in recent years that their title is now
really a misnomer. They are, for instance, the sanitary
authorities in all rural and in some urban districts; they
have to do with the registration of births, deaths, and
marriages, and—not to go through the whole list of their
powers and duties—they have had the administration of the
Laborers' Acts, under which a good deal has been done, since
the year 1883, to improve the homes of agricultural laborers.

"It remains to notice the system of Government in the towns

and cities. In this case there has been some degree of reality
in the phrase, 'local self-government'—at least, for the last
forty or fifty years. Down to 1840 there was no really
representative system of government in any Irish town or city.
… Since the year mentioned the corporations have been more or
less representative, and since 1854 the smaller towns in
Ireland have been allowed the right to possess municipal
institutions of a less important, but still representative,
character. In respect, however, of both the corporations of
the cities and of the town boards of the smaller civic
communities, the franchise for municipal purposes has been
ridiculously restricted. In Dublin, the population exceeds
300,000; the Parliamentary electorate is upwards of 40,000;
but the municipal electorate amounts to only about 8,000 or
9,000; and the same story is true of all the other
municipalities, except a few which, like Belfast, have by
special acts of Parliament obtained extensions of the suffrage
peculiar to themselves.

"Here, then, was a state of thing's which, assuredly, required

mending, and, as I have said, innumerable efforts to mend it
had been made up to last year with no result. Last summer,
however, the reform now virtually accomplished was announced
to the House of Commons one afternoon by Mr. Arthur Balfour,
without anyone having asked for it and without any warning
whatever. The chief features of the measure may be briefly
described. In the first place, the ground is cleared by
absolutely sweeping away the Grand Juries for fiscal purposes.
Those bodies are still retained for their original
 purpose—that, namely, of dealing with indictments. … With them
go the Boards of Guardians as they are at present constituted.
Bodies will still continue to exist under that name, but they
will be no longer constituted as they are now. … In the place
of the Grand Juries and the Boards of Guardians there has been
set up a rather complicated system of County Councils and
District Councils, these latter being sub-divided into two
classes—Urban District Councils and Rural District Councils;
and at this point one provision applicable to all those
bodies, and also to every Corporation and Town Board in the
country, may be conveniently mentioned. It is that which
enacts that the electorate in each case shall be the
Parliamentary electorate, in addition to peers and to such
women as would, if they were men, be qualified for the
Parliamentary franchise. Here is manifestly a great reform in
itself. … The change is a vast one, in view of the narrow
foundation on which even the most popular Irish local
institutions have hitherto rested. It means the transfer of
power from a class to the people. It means the ousting of what
used to be the English garrison in Ireland from what it had
come to regard as its inalienable heritage. It marks the entry
of the Irish Nation, after ages of weary waiting, into at
least a considerable portion of its birthright. To the County
Councils, which will thus repose on a thoroughly popular
basis, and one of which will be established in every county,
will be entrusted all the fiscal business of the Grand Juries,
with one exception. The excepted business is that of assessing
compensation for malicious injuries."

J. J. Clancy,
The Latest Reform in Ireland
(North American Review, September, 1898).

IRELAND: A. D. 1900 (April).

Visit of Queen Victoria.

For the first time in nearly forty years, Queen Victoria paid
 a visit to Ireland in April, and held court in Dublin for
three weeks, being cordially received and treated throughout
with respect by well-mannered crowds. Apparently the visit
gave satisfaction to most of the Irish people.

IRELAND: A. D. 1900-1901.
Parliamentary elections.
Triumph of the United Irish League.
Its absorption of the Nationalist party.
Its programme.

The elections to a new Parliament (see, in this volume,

ENGLAND: A. D. 1900, SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER), held in October,
resulted in a sweeping victory for the United Irish League, a
new organization formed by Mr. William O'Brien, which,
according to the "London Times," "has practically absorbed the
whole of the Irish Nationalist party" and "is the successor in
title of the old Land League." "Mr. William O'Brien," says the
"Times," "returned his own followers to Parliament from
practically every Nationalist constituency in Ireland. … For
the moment at least all the other successors of Mr. Parnell
are vanquished or in captivity, and Mr. O'Brien finds himself
at the head of a party which for the first time in ten years
has the right to call itself 'united.'"

On the opening of the Parliament, in the following February,

the new League was soon brought to its attention by Mr.
O'Brien, who moved, on the 22d, to amend the Address to the
King, which was then under discussion, by adding to it the
following: "Humbly to represent to your Majesty that this
House has observed that a combination of the agricultural
classes in Ireland has been formed, under the name of the
United Irish League, with the object of accomplishing reforms
which alone, in the opinion of nine-tenths of the
constitutional representatives of Ireland, can arrest the
continued depopulation of that country and the decay of its
only great national industry.
{272}
These reforms being, first, the creation of an occupying
proprietary in substitution for the present unsettled and
vexatious system of dual ownership of land; and, secondly, the
utilization of extensive tracts, at present lying practically
waste in the congested districts, for the purpose of supplying
holdings of sufficient extent to a hard-working and deserving
population, who for want of land are compelled to live in a
condition of chronic privation and even famine on the borders
of those fertile depopulated areas; that the movement which
has been carried on for the past three years for the promotion
of these objects has been marked by the disappearance of those
crimes of violence and secret conspiracies which were used to
the discredit of all former agrarian combinations in Ireland,
and the league, basing itself on the principle that its
struggle is in the nature of a great economic industrial
dispute between the tillers of the soil on the one side and
the rent-owners, supported by a vast capital and territorial
influence, on the other, has relied for success upon those
combinations for mutual protection and appeals to public
opinion which the trade union laws have expressly authorized
in the cause of disputes between capital and labour of a
non-agricultural character; that, nevertheless, this House has
observed that the forces of the Crown have been
unconstitutionally employed, and public justice has been
polluted in the interest of one of the parties to the dispute;
that the right of public meeting has been capriciously
suppressed; that prosecutions for conspiracy and Whiteboyism
have been instituted in reference to open and advised appeals
to public opinion and measures of mutual protection, which are
indisputably within the right of trade unions in ordinary
industrial struggles; that the power of contempt of Court has
been unconstitutionally and oppressively abused for the
purpose of inflicting prolonged sentences of imprisonment
without trial; that the right of trial by jury has been
outraged by the systematic exclusion from the jury-box of all
jurors sharing the politics or creed of the accused, and the