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Hyper-individual
Online
Glocal
Sharing economy
A.I.
Complexity
Big data
Access
Innovation
Gig economy
Gen whY
Robotics
Transparency
Augmented
Exponential
VR
Wirearchy
Collaborative
Communities
Environmentalism
3
What is virtual distance?
Physical
distance
Operational
distance
Virtual
distance
Affinity
distance
4
Virtual distance and working – the pros and cons
High virtual distance often means that:
• Innovation declines by up to 90%
• Time and budgets are exceeded by more
than 50%
• Decrease in trust by up to 80%
• Well-being is reduced by 80%
• Objectives and role clarity decrease by up
to 60%
1. Virtual distance has a significant
impact on performance.
2. When the virtual distance is relatively
high, actual performance drops
significantly compared to when the
virtual distance is low.
Then WHY?
→ Because we can get our
hands on the best minds
→ Because we reduce time
and travel expenses
5
The psychology of virtual distance
1. Recognise
2. Trust
3. Loneliness
4. Cultural and contextual
5. Communication
6. Direction
6
Types of virtual teams and collaboration – a quick questionnaire
Questions (yes/no):
1. Do your colleagues/team
members normally work during the
same hours?
2. Do your colleagues/team
members normally work in the
same physical space?
3. Do your colleagues/team
members share the same culture?
Space
Time
Culture
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Type of team and collaboration Challenge
A
Different time
Same space
Different culture
Cross-shift interaction
Multicultural interaction
B
Different time
Different space
Different culture
Cross-time zone interaction
Multiple locations interaction
Multicultural interaction
C
Same time
Different space
Different culture
Cross-geography interaction
Multicultural interaction
D
Different time
Same space
Same culture
Cross-shift interaction
E
Different time
Different space
Same culture
Cross-time zone interaction
Multiple locations interaction
F
Same time
Different space
Same culture
Cross-geography interaction
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The 3 T’s
Team building
• Face-to-face meetings
• Virtual team building
• Train the use of social
technology
• Learn to hang out online
Techniques
• Develop shared and
common goals
• Share contextual
knowledge
• Team facilitator
Technology
• Collaborative tools –
synchronous/
asynchronous
• Share point
• Visual tools
• Virtual decision support
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Expand your technological repertoire
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From emails to social texts
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How do we reduce the experienced virtual distance?
Cultural distance
Social distance
Relationship distance
Interdependence distance Physical
distance Operational
distance
Virtual
distance
Affinity
distance
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The most common response to virtual collaboration and leadership
• By phone
• By email
• And perhaps Lync/Skype
A lot of one-to-one communication
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The shift from F2F collaboration to virtual distance collaboration
Job
Engagement
Collaboration
Teams
Co-leadership
Time
Control
Broadcasting
Department
Leadership
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A good virtual leader
Should be competent in the same leadership
skills as other talented leaders:
• EQ
• Building followership
• Building trust
• Cultivating collaboration
They also need to:
• Develop a type of “natural” disciplined collaborative authority – without being
too autocratic or abdicating
• Spend time on building up and creating purpose in the virtual team
• Clearly define and delineate roles and responsibilities
• Provide time, budget and other resources
• Develop both social and technical infrastructure to support the team
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Expectations of the individual virtual leaders
1. Focus on co-ordination
2. Availability
3. Balanced information flow
4. Feedback
5. Fair
6. Determination
7. Honesty
8. Focus on development
• Understanding the business
• Technical competence
• Interpersonal training
9. Building a sense of community
10. Respectful
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How to build virtual trust
1. Communicate openly and often – “subtitle”
2. To gain confidence – give confidence
3. Be honest and transparent
4. Establish strong ethics, culture and values
around the mission, networking and the
organisation
5. Do what you say you will do and make
your actions visible
6. Make sure that your interaction is
consistent and predictable
7. Set the tone for collaboration
8. Be available and responsive
9. Maintain confidentiality
10. Be aware of your language
11. Provide social team time – also online
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Collaboration via emails
1. Have a “no scrolling” rule
2. Avoid group replies
3. Keep group lists updated
4. Do not keep everyone’s attachments
or full dialogue in email replies
5. Check email regularly
6. Use the subject line
7. Use automatic replies when
necessary
8. Establish email culture in the team
9. Have a no spam rule
10. Use filters to sort emails
11. Use different emails, if you sign up to
a public website
12.Use blind addresses when you email a
group
13.Know your recipients’ configuration and
email them accordingly
14.Keep your inbox lean
15.Manage your address book
16.Never write confidential or private
content in an email
17.Teach your team about appropriate or
inappropriate emails
18.Do not open suspicious emails
19.Be careful about writing emotional
content
20.Never use emails to address
performance or interpersonal issues
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Online meetings and facilitation – good ideas
• Understand and know your
technology
• Virtual meetings or workshops are
real
• Have a co-facilitator, focusing on
chat and technical issues
• Always use a webcam
• Speak clearly
• One person for one computer
• Communicate explicitly
• Think about plan/agenda and
objectives first, then the technique
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Online – the basics
Visual
• You are on
• Fill the video image
• Have good “table manners”
• Remember good lighting
• Use a picture, if video streaming
quality is bad
Audio
• Always use headsets
• Use mute when you do not speak
• Be aware of voice volume
• Avoid speaking all at once
• Minimise interruptions from the
outside
• Pay attention to noise and sound in
the background
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Virtual distance leadership and collaboration – a model
1. Creating context
• Who are we?
• Where are we?
• What is our role?
2. Cultivating community
• Virtual team spirit
• Collaboration
• Organisational citizenship
3. Co-activating leadership
• Shared leadership
• Leader intent
• Informal authority
Collaborative
leadership
Cultivating
community
Creating
context
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The art of collaboration
Collaboration is when
individuals or groups work
together, combining their
strengths and negating each
others weaknesses to
accomplish a set of goals.
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What makes a good collaborator
P2P
Motivators:
• Competence
• Autonomy
• Relatedness
Group
Motivators:
• Pleasure
• To feel an active participation
• A wish to be recognized
Trust
Recognition
Authenticity
Enthusiasm
You are who you
say you are
knowing that what
you are doing is
appreciated by
others
I am happy to
share with this
person/these
people
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Hyper-individual
Online
Glocal
Sharing economy
A.I.
Complexity
Big data
Access
Innovation
Gig economy
Gen whY
Robotics
Transparency
Augmented
Exponential
VR
Wirearchy
Collaborative
Communities
Environmentalism
Q & A
