Virtual Team Services
A reality for more
organizations and employees is the increased operation of virtual teams.
In this age of global competition, mergers, acquisitions, mobile workers
and distributed business operations, these teams face the critical challenge
of achieving results in an effective and timely manner, in spite of
time and distance barriers.
Equip your leaders with the right tool at the right
time for effectively managing virtual teams:
How
to Lead From a Distance
This quick-read booklet gives leaders the tools needed
to build trust, communicate effectively, lead productive virtual meetings,
and get results!
A simple description
of a virtual team is: a group with a common purpose or goal where one
or more members of the team are not co-located, and where most of the
communication is via a technology medium, not via face-to-face.
Whether it’s
individuals who are telecommuting as part of a team, project teams that
span the globe, or organizations that are completely virtual, it seems
that everywhere you turn you hear or read about the growth of virtual
teams. But, what makes virtual teams successful and well functioning?
Critical
Success Factors for Virtual Teams and Leaders of Virtual Teams
While there are
similarities between traditional (co-located) and virtual teams, there
also significant differences, which if ignored, can lead to the failure
of the team.
Learn
about the range of training programs, workshops and seminars available
for virtual teams and virtual leaders:
Training
Developing the right skills to effectively lead and
work in the virtual workplace is critical to the success of your leaders
and team members.
It is essential that virtual team leaders and members pay attention
to the dynamics of virtual teams, the communication challenges distance
workers face, and creative solutions remote teams must employ to achieve
superior performance.
Successful virtual teams:
· Identify factors that are critical to the
effective functioning of virtual teams. At a minimum, this involves
some analysis of what makes virtual teams different. This could also
include establishing norms of behavior, communication standards or other
factors critical to team success
· Apply appropriate communication skills and
'distance dialogue' techniques that are vital to the productivity of
team members who telecommute or work remotely. Without thorough attention
to communication skills, teams can fail. The virtual world is different,
and failure to attend to those differences can lead to misunderstandings
and loss of productivity. Simply assuming people will function well
virtually because they did so in traditional teams is a recipe for failure.
· Recognize the best ways to leverage available
technology options to achieve effective communication, team development
and project completion goals.
· Build a foundation and establish a plan for
working successfully as a member or leader of a geographically dispersed
team.
Ensure
that your virtual teams are built for success!
Learn
about the range of training programs, workshops and seminars available
for virtual teams and virtual leaders:
Training
Developing
the right skills to effectively lead and work in the virtual workplace
is critical to the success of your leaders and team members.
Order the practical guide for leaders, trainers, and members of virtual
or dispersed teams.
Guide
to Building Virtual Teams
Or,
for quick resources for your team members, order:
Booklet:
Tips
for Teleworking Effectively with Your Remote Team
Mini-Book:
Working
Well with Your Team
Problems with Virtual Teams
There are a variety of reasons and imperatives for the existence of
virtual teams. At the same time, there are potential problems with virtual
teams, particularly at the team member level.
Most research studies report that members of virtual teams perceive
or experience problems with:
· Isolation. Regardless of where you are working,
it is easy to feel distant and remote when you are functioning as part
of a virtual team. Silence or lack of communication can be interpreted
as a lack of concern—which in turn, can increase one’s feeling
of isolation.
· Trust. Remote workers need to feel that they
can trust others to live up to their commitments, and that others trust
them.
· Communication. Lack of communication or infrequent
communication can be seen as lack of responsiveness or lack of caring.
Remote workers can only do so much proactively—they need to feel
others are proactive as well.
· Job Security. Often, those away from “the
action” and working in remote locations feel extremely vulnerable.
Their sense is that they will be the first to go in any downsizing situation
because there is no one protecting them or advocating for them.
· Advancement. Much of what applies to job security
also applies to career advancement. Remote workers can feel they are
ignored or not considered when it comes to promotion or advancement
opportunities.
Many
virtual teams include home-based telecommuters. To help these remote
workers be effective and successful, give them an excellent source of
targeted, practical, and easy-to-use information for home-based virtual
team members by providing the book, “101 Tips for Telecommuters,”
a widely acclaimed resource for ensuring the success of virtual team
members who telecommute.
Give
home-based virtual team members the best-selling book on telecommuting.
Order:
101
Tips for Telecommuters
Schedule
a training
program today for your telecommuters. Learn how the
Successful
Telecommuting
program
can equip your home-based virtual team members with the skills, information,
and mindset to be highly productive and highly motivated.
How
an organization and its leaders cope with the potential problems associated
with virtual teams is a critical determinant of the ultimate success
of their virtual team/workforce.
In addition to those
problems that can arise with team members, leadership of virtual teams
can also be a challenge. It does require some different skills to lead
a virtual team—not the least of which is the ability to let go
of some control. Many managers battle with the notion that “if
I can’t see you working, you must not be working.”
Virtual teams encounter
a variety of barriers to traditional approaches to communication. Time
zone differences, cultural diversity, and our increasing dependence
on technology tools can complicate the communication process. In many
instances, the lack of nonverbal cues and/or eye contact adds greater
complexity to the situation. Further, the level of comfort with remote
communication methods can negatively impact the dynamics of virtual
teams, causing confused and delayed communication.
Another way to look at the communication issue is look at the distinctions.
In the virtual workplace, some communication will be synchronous (everyone
communicates with one another at the same time, e.g., Instant Messaging,
and much of it will be asynchronous, e.g., e-mail. Both forms offer
opportunities and complexities. Knowing when to use a certain medium
(and when not to) is important for effective virtual teams.
Develop effective team skills for virtual team
success and improved productivity. Our video-based team development
program can be used for training, team meetings, or web-based events.
Improve the effectiveness of your virtual team now!
Order the video program:
Bridging
the Distance: Virtual Teams on the Road to Results
Or schedule an in-house training
program for your virtual team members and those associates who support
them. Learn how the
Bridging
the Distance
program can equip your virtual team members
and their support associates with the skills, information, and mindset
to work together effectively to ensure high productivity and the best
in collaboration.
Skills
for Virtual Teams
What can virtual teams do to improve their effectiveness, productivity,
and rapport? Whether it's:
· a formal team or a loosely organized project team;
· a permanent team or a temporary one;
· an internal team; or
· a cross-functional team including clients, suppliers, or partners,
It's essential that your teams consider these elements and skills critical
to virtual team success:
Know
and Nurture Your Team
Identify
all the members and key supporters of your team. Establish ways to keep
in touch with all team members and support partners with a focus on
building rapport, sharing information, and ensuring that everyone feels
included in the activities and successes of the team.
Stay
in Touch with Team Members
Certainly
communication occurs when it's essential to job requirements, but it's
also important to stay in touch with co-workers for non-task purposes.
This not only strengthens the foundation of relationships, it assures
co-workers that those team members who work remotely are indeed present
(albeit in a virtual way!), available, and aware of them and their issues.
Remember, team members interpret silence as a lack of concern.
Be Creatively Accessible
The
demands of your job, pressures of life, and the distances that separate
virtual team members make being accessible a triple challenge. Therefore,
it's vital that virtual teams establish clear guidelines regarding accessibility.
Agree on best ways to convey different types of information; frequency
for checking e-mail, voicemail, and other sources of information; and
expectations regarding responsiveness to messages.
Master
Effective Interaction Skills
While
traditional interactions in the workplace involve face-to-face meetings
that incorporate eye contact, gestures, and body posture, virtual interactions
can be supplemented in ways that minimize the negative effects of "distance
dialog." Key communication and interaction skills for virtual teams
involve effective listening, clarifying what was said and meant, establishing
agreements, and checking for understanding. Effective planning, management,
and follow-up in connection with distance meetings reinforce these skills.
Another interaction skill that deserves attention is disclosure—that
is sharing your thoughts, feelings, rationale or something personal
about yourself. While this skill has to be used carefully, it has a
positive impact on building trust and developing personal relationships.
Deliver Results with Distance Delegation
Those
who successfully work remotely or as part of a virtual team find themselves
benefiting tremendously from the use of appropriate delegation skills.
When delegating from afar, it's important to clearly communicate the
task or process to be accomplished, listen carefully for confusion or
concerns, discuss issues, clarify agreements and follow-up action, and
establish communication points and accessibility guidelines.
Reach
Agreements that Foster Commitment and Collaboration
Setting
clear agreements regarding accountabilities and commitments with team
members, supervisors, and support staff minimizes a plethora of difficult,
unpleasant, and time-consuming problems. Agreements must sometimes be
forged between co-workers who are peers, partners, or collaborators.
In these cases, support and commitment are obtained through influence
rather than through the assignment of tasks and responsibilities. In
a nutshell, team members must be skilled at effective agreement-setting
which involves stating needs; explaining importance; establishing expectations;
listening for objections; discussing barriers and solutions; and ensuring
adequate follow-up.
Establish
a Foundation of Trust
Underlying
every successful relationship is trust. Trust is established in working
relationships through reliability, consistency, integrity, and familiarity.
It is particularly vital that virtual team members establish trust in
relationships with colleagues and supervisors since distance and the
absence of day-to-day interactions creates pressure that can erode the
fragile bonds of trust.
For
more on building trust, please order the booklet:
Foundations
of Trust for Virtual Teams
Research Notes on Trust
·
Current research on virtual teams indicates that familiarity
is the major contributor to building trust. In other words, if team
members know one another—either through face-to-face interactions
or virtually—they have a greater chance to establish trust over
time. Therefore, if you have a long-term project, trust will occur over
time. If you are faced with a short-term project, it may be wise to
bring the team together initially to build familiarity with one another
quickly.
· Mistrust seems to occur more with teams that
are a mixture of remote members and co-located members. This does not
appear to be the case when all the team members are remote. However,
when a portion of the team is co-located and some work from a distance,
mistrust can result because those who are co-located talk to one another
more frequently and see one another working.
For
more information, check out:
Virtual
Teams Achieving Real Results
Help
team members understand the critical role of trust in achieving success
of the entire team.
Order
the booklet:
Foundations
of Trust for Virtual Teams
Develop
effective team skills for virtual team success and improved productivity.
Our video-based team development program can be used for training, team
meetings, or web-based events.
Improve the effectiveness of your virtual team now!
Order the video program:
Bridging
the Distance: Virtual Teams on the Road to Results
Or schedule an in-house
training program for your
virtual team members and those associates who support them. Learn how
the
Bridging
the Distance
program can equip your virtual
team members and their support associates with the skills, information,
and mindset to work together effectively to ensure high productivity
and the best in collaboration.
Distance does not influence trust one way or another—familiarity
does. In other words, the more familiar you are with team members, the
higher the trust level will be. What does that mean you should do as
a virtual team member? As the leader of a virtual team?
Leading
Virtual Teams
Effectively leading
the virtual workforce is a crucial task—for all levels of leadership.
How frequently one communicates, how one communicates, and through what
mediums become crucial questions that leaders must address.
Equip your leaders with the
right tool at the right time for effectively managing virtual teams:
How
to Lead From a Distance
This quick-read booklet gives leaders the tools needed
to build trust, communicate effectively, lead productive virtual meetings,
and get results!
Or schedule an in-house
training program for your
virtual team leaders. Learn how the
Leading
in the Virtual Workplace
program can equip your leaders with the skills they
require to effective manage from a distance to maintain productivity
and morale.
Effectively
lead home-based virtual team members with this valuable resource:
“Managing
Telecommuters” is a comprehensive sourcebook for managers of remote
workers. This book discusses effective leadership of geographically
dispersed teams, coaching for superior performance, distance communication,
and effective use of technology tools.
Order now:
Managing
Telecommuters:
A Guide to Effectively Leading from a Distance
To some extent the
adage holds true that leadership is leadership, regardless of the situation.
The virtual world does hold challenges, however, that do not exist in
more traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ organizations. Some
of these challenges may be caused by technology, some by distance, some
by culture, and some through the personalities of the people involved.
Because of the differences in the virtual world, while one needs basic
leadership skills to be effective, those skills alone do not guarantee
effectiveness.
What can
you as a leader do?
·
Don’t forget the basics. While the medium may change,
basic leadership skills are still required.
· You can’t over communicate. You don’t
casually run into virtual team members, and they don’t have “water
cooler” conversations with other team members. You need to communicate
on a constant, planned basis.
· Set clear expectations. Be clear about what
you expect people to do. Ambiguity can be extremely detrimental to virtual
teams.
· Don’t worry about how they do their job or when.
You can’t look over their shoulder; however, you can offer assistance
and coaching.
· You can’t measure effort at a distance. Instead,
measure results. You can’t look through the computer
to see how hard someone is working. Evaluate people on their outputs
and their contribution.
· Being technologically proficient is also a
requirement for leaders of virtual teams. While effective leaders don’t
have to be technicians, they do need to be able to use all of the available
technology options.
· Encourage brainstorming. Too often virtual
teams take the efficient route, quickly dividing up tasks and responsibilities
to get the job done. Encourage teams to step back and brainstorm the
best solutions. It may take longer, but it’s more effective in
the long run.
· Know the cultures of your team. With the rise
of virtual teams, there is a strong possibility that members of your
team will be from other cultures or countries. Treat this as if you
were visiting the country. Learn something about their culture –
don’t assume they will adapt to yours.
While
we believe the preceding comments on leadership are important, leadership
in the virtual workplace boils down to three critical differences. These
are:
•
Communication
• Trust
• Performance
Virtual
Team Products/Services
Order
the resources you need to help your virtual teams be stronger and more
productive.
The
practical guide for leaders, trainers, and member of virtual or dispersed
teams:
Guide
to Building Virtual Teams
The
best tool for leaders:
How
to Lead From a Distance
Workshops/Seminars:
Leadership
in the Virtual Workplace
Order the video:
Bridging
the Distance: Virtual Teams on the Road to Results
Schedule
an onsite program:
Bridging
the Distance
Provide
skills for your telecommuters:
Successful
Telecommuting
The
booklets:
Foundations
of Trust for Virtual Teams
Tips
for Teleworking Effectively with Your Remote Team
The
mini-book:
Working
Well with Your Team
The
book:
Managing
Telecommuters:
A Guide to Effectively Leading from a Distance
The
best-selling book on telecommuting:
101
Tips for Telecommuters
