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Staying on Track withVirtual Teams

Presented by Bottom-Line Performance, Inc

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Who We Are

Here today:Sharon Leanne GayleShelby Kristen Nancy

Staying virtual:– Kirk

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Who are you?

Team members? Team leaders? People who work virtually at least part time? People who have experienced the

challenges and rewards of teamwork?

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What Are We Going to Do Today?

Explore the challenge and promise of virtual teams. Simulate a virtual team experience – with all the

challenges and promises. Debrief: Assess portions of the experience and

identify some of the lessons learned.

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Virtual Teamwork

Dramatic increase in virtual work environments – up 63% in past 2 years.– More and more people work from home – at least

part-time. What’s the hype and the promise?

– Technology enables us to stay connected and work remotely. We can be faster, more efficient, and have better whole life balance.

– Virtual is AWESOME…or is it????

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Virtual Work vs. Virtual Teamwork

What’s the difference between telecommuting and virtual teaming? When IS it a team?

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Competencies Required for Teams

Demonstrating teamwork (members) Fostering teamwork (leaders AND members)

– What’s “good” look like for each competency?– What’s the challenge of doing this?– What gets added to these challenges when we make

teamwork virtual?

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Does Your List Match Ours?

Communication Environment Collaboration Efficiency Innovation Clarity - task, role, etc.

Virtual Teamwork Challenges

Many challenges are the same, but they manifest themselves differently.

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1. Organize into your teams. Signs indicate where your team should sit.

2. Select a leader. You get 60 seconds to do so.

Let’s See Virtual Teaming in Action

Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines !

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Team Members: Here’s What to Expect

Your team leader will return with your task, which you must complete in 45 minutes or less.

You’ll have $10,000 to spend. Each team splits into headquarters and remote site;

each location responsible for ½ of project. Those with dots on badges are “remote” members.

All teams/locations use centralized Equipment Store and Conference Call Center.

You are NOT competing against other teams.

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Time Tracker

Insert time clock here.

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Debriefing

As an entire group, we’ll prioritize which areas you assess and we discuss. Majority rules:• Goal Clarity = Item 1• Communication = Items 3, 5

• Decision-making = 2, 11, 12• Conflict mgmt = 4, 5,

• Environment = 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13

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Strategies for Goal/Task Clarity

A clear project scope that is devised by asking:– What does success look like?– What does failure look like?– How good, how fast, and at what cost?

A work plan broken down into phases, including:– The task, who’s doing it, and how much time (days/hours)

they have.– The cost of the project and the cost of each person’s time.

Weekly status conversations via teleconference.

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Strategies for Goal/Task Clarity

Use online collaboration/project management tools: (For us, it’s web tool, Project Basecamp):– Messaging on Project Basecamp, as needed, when

a threaded discussion would be helpful.– To Do lists, shared milestones and calendars for

deadlines.– Writeboards when we want to collaborate on figuring

out what the goal/task is. Use examples and comparisons:

– I want to look like/act like this…

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Communication Strategies

Blend IM, IM conferences, web conferences, email, phone, and F2F.– Create and use Code of Conduct for email communication

(really applies to all).– Default to F2F for kickoffs/start-ups.– Use IM as a “door-knocking” technique as well as for the

quick question.– Shift to phone if IM goes past 3 exchanges.– Use emoticons and status descriptors in IM to indicate

mood/disposition (replaces nonverbal cues in F2F).– Use descriptors in emails to indicate tone/mood, etc.

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Decision-Making Strategies

Clarify what the decision really is – and isn’t. Use teleconferencing as a cheap option to allow V2V

discussion. Provide good supporting documentation. Use electronic tools to gather input from all key players,

but be clear on how the input will be considered.– Use Writeboards/Messaging on Project Basecamp to

document input.– Create decision-making tools (decision grids, assessments,

etc.) that allow objective evaluation of the issue.

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Decision-Making Strategies

Verbally probe to compensate for not being able to see people’s body language. Explicitly ask for people’s attitudes, feelings.

Communicate status and/or final decision. Depending on decision, use F2F or conference call. Be open to answering questions and explaining factors that led to decision. Focus on the “buy-in factor.”

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Conflict Management Strategies

“Gut check” email. Test it for tone - if there’s any chance of misinterpretation, don’t send.

Deliberately insert into email what you automatically do in F2F conversations. Think ahead about how the recipient will react to an email or to “Track Changes,” or to any other type of electronic feedback.

Air the issues and make people own them. If they don’t get spoken, they won’t get resolved. – Distinguish between a team issue and an individual one.

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Conflict Management Strategies

Rely on F2F whenever possible to resolve conflict. If that isn’t possible, use the phone and pre-schedule talk (no surprises).– BAN email as a means of responding when tempers are stirred.

Encourage open dialogue. No news is NOT necessarily good news.

Identify and educate team on different personality-types within the team. In virtual environment, this is critical to know.– Have open dialogue on what works and doesn’t work for each style

related to virtual communication.

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Environment Strategies

Keep people in the loop and engaged in different ways:– Weekly staff calls.– Periodic F2F one-on-one’s via lunch or coffee.– IM emoticons, status messages, and photos. – Team-wide email messages that share good news…or even

bad news. – Posting best-practices on your Intranet or in a shared drive.– Virtual discussions of pop culture– American Idol or Fantasy

Congress, anyone???

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Environment Strategies

Consciously encourage relationship-building:– Promote periodic F2F get-togethers among individual team

members (lunches, coffee, etc.).– Challenge each other to make the effort!– Photos and visuals – either IM or email. – Partner people on non-production special projects.

Make formal team-building and shared learning a routine part of the environment. – Virtual shouldn’t mean never having F2F.– Lots of things qualify as team-building endeavors –

community service, continuing education, in-house learning sessions, or team-wide kick-offs.

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Environment Strategies

Reward people for their successes and cultivate an atmosphere that celebrates success: – Make a point of encouraging team members to share their

own successes with each other – even small ones.– Allow people charge over their own schedules via flex time.

Maximize the benefits of virtual. Focus on results – not the clock.

– Provide regular (but not routine) messages that motivate and celebrate individual and collective accomplishments.

– Pass around each other’s good ideas.

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Conclusion

Gaining skill and effectiveness in working as a virtual team takes effort, conscious awareness, and ongoing experience.

Technology can help…or hurt. Today’s mini-session hopefully created

awareness; next steps would be to diagnose and create strategy for building skill.

THANK YOU for having us.