Tag: Team

I recently worked with a virtual team that was developing and rolling out a new product across many European countries. One colleague in London refused point blank to cooperate with another colleague who was based in Amsterdam. When I asked why, I was told that my English colleague found his Dutch counterpart rude and offensive-even though they had never actually met or spoken. When I dug deeper, it became clear that the real issue was about culture and style: the Dutch team member, for time management reasons, only checked his e-mails once a day, used a far more direct form of speaking than his English counterpart, and wrote his e-mails all in capital letters. His English colleague felt he was being ignored and, when he did get a response, that his Dutch colleague was SHOUTING AT HIM!

This is typical of the problems that occur when a team is spread across time zones, national borders or cultural boundaries. A virtual team does not have the same advantage as a team whose members meet face-to-face on a regular basis-when all the team members are inside the “30-foot limit.” Unconsciously, people pick up innumerable subtle cues when operating face to face with colleagues. We acquire information about our colleagues, including what is acceptable behaviour and what is not through observation. Inside the30-foot limit, people find ways to work together without even being aware of it. When we have no face-to-face experience with our new team colleagues, our communication lacks a certain richness. And because we don’t consciously attend to these things when we’re in close propinquity, we don’t appreciate their importance. As a result, the importance of these activities is often overlooked when working with remote teams. To ensure success, the virtual team leader must avoid being seduced by the three myths of virtual teams and must proactively attend to providing the social richness that virtual communication lacks.

The Reality of Virtual Teams

What can you do? At the start of the project, bring team members together in a start-up session so that they can meet each other face to face and socialize. This meeting will establish relationships in a way that is only possible when people are in each other’s physical presence. Human beings can relate to, start to trust, and feel responsibility towards someone they have met in ways that aren’t possible with a stranger.

Use this meeting to involve the team in developing team processes. This includes mapping dependencies between members, articulating their expectations of each other, and explicitly discussing and agreeing on the protocols that will operate between team members. The process-setting portion of the meeting may be the “official” reason for holding this meeting. This involvement will also create commitment and buy-in among the team members for these processes. If the start-up meeting isn’t feasible because of cost or time constraints, you should ensure that any complex work that requires close collaboration is handled by team members working inside the 30-foot limit.

Another option is to have key team members visit their remote colleagues to establish relationships and agree how they will work together. If neither of these options is feasible, be sure that your timeline and budget allow for the additional problems, delays and rework likely to be caused by mistaken assumptions, misunderstandings and conflict. During the life of the project, make sure that all team members are kept up to date on its progress, both what is going well and what is still to be achieved. This helps both to reduce the “outpost syndrome” and to show team members where they fit into the big picture. Repeat and reinforce the agreements made during the initial face-to-face meeting.

The Three Myths of Virtual Teams

As a virtual team leader, you must reject these three myths:

Myth #1

“My virtual team will be successful because they all share a common goal.”

Clarity of purpose and a compelling vision of success is a prerequisite for all high-performing teams. However, outside the 30-foot limit, the shared context that vision provides gets lost or forgotten if it isn’t reinforced daily through words and actions. You must ensure that everyone is up to date with the team’s progress and that expectations and dependencies between team members are understood.

Myth #2

“My virtual team will be successful because I have the best people on it.”

Individuals who perform at a high level in a co-located team situation aren’t guaranteed to operate well in a virtual or remote team. Often, individuals who find themselves working alone stop feeling connected to the team-an emotional state known as the “outpost syndrome.”

Myth #3

“My virtual team will be successful if technology is in place to allow them to communicate.”

It is, of course, vital that appropriate technology be evaluated and deployed in a considered and planned manner (and subsequently monitored to ensure it delivers the expected results). But, with due respect to all currently available technology, technology cannot and does not replicate human communication: technology doesn’t provide the same richness as that of people working in close proximity. The successful virtual team leader recognizes this gap and takes action to bridge it by addressing the human factors that technology filters out. As a team leader, you must initiate action to support the transition to remote working as well as develop team processes and enable a feeling of connection to prevent the outpost syndrome.

Judi Williams is the owner of Great Beginnings Limited and an author and instructor with Learning Tree International. Great Beginnings offers tailor-made training solutions. They design and develop a wide variety of training and professional support material such as fully immersive classroom training, interactive e-learning tools, video-based training, downloadable products etc. Judi has authored a number of courses for Learning Tree International such as The Art of Coaching, Effective Time Management and Personal Skills for Professional Excellence.

People fall into the following three levels of teamwork:

Level 1: Individuals. Individual performers on solo projects.  Within a limited scope individuals can deliver exceptional results.

Level 2: Groups. A group includes the participants and a leader.  The team’s final product is a joint contribution and reflects the strength of the group as a whole.  Teams at this level take time and require a stable environment to build working relationships amongst the participants.

Level 3: A Collection of Individuals. This level of teamwork exemplifies the positive attributes of individuals and groups.  A Collection of Individuals is able to tackle the most ambitious and difficult projects.  Each member is a master craftsman.  At this level of teamwork the product reflects the strengths of individual participants and the group as a whole.  Level 3 teams typically do not require a stable environment and may, in fact, thrive under changing circumstances.

The business world demands that Collections of Individuals be formed on an ad hoc basis.  In many cases it is neither cost effective nor an efficient use of resources to commit a group of people to the same set of tasks for any length of time. While it may be unrealistic to expect a level of true mastery from everyone it should be the goal we all strive to achieve.

How would you measure your efforts to involve the entire workforce in resolving problems that inhibit productivity and their ability to succeed? Although there are exceptions to every rule, it is a relatively safe hypothesis that most people want some control over how they perform their jobs each day. A key factor in the success of teams assembled to analyze problems, define requirements and offer solutions is how management responds to those suggestions. If those suggestions are accepted and acted upon, this is often the catalyst for motivating the team to reach for, and achieve, higher levels of quality.

In my experience, teams that are most successful and have the longest life span are those with the fewest layers of “leaders.” Each leader added into the mix represents opportunity to compromise the effectiveness of communication within the organization. On high performing teams, leadership is a shared role. All members are developed to take a leadership role as required. This structure increases the feeling of responsibility for all members.

Reviving excitement in a team is a considerable challenge that can be accomplished if the team can be convinced their efforts are important and will be rewarded. The first step is to understand the causes of the team’s loss of focus. Successful teams often “cool-off” or lose interest more frequently than those who are struggling. The reason for the loss of focus is often boredom. Teams need a reason to remain excited and motivated. Each team is different and will be excited and motivated by different things. Your challenge is to understand what will excite your teams and motivate them to see the value and pay-off for the projects you’re advocating.

Many organizations complain about not having enough time to get their products out, and their inability to meet delivery schedules. In this case, the paramount question becomes: How can the performance of the teams be improved? First, it becomes critical to understand why there is a persistent problem in order to move forward with attempts to refocus the teams. Is the pressure to meet schedules due to insufficient staff to handle the work, a need for better processes, or people not adhering to the processes?

If the perception is that team meetings will only take away time required to complete the work, it is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to refocus the teams. This is a prime opportunity for management to evaluate the current situation, and solicit the help of the teams to reach viable solutions. If there are not enough people to complete the work, it is going to be difficult to address the problem through the efforts of the teams. However, if the problems can be addressed through process improvements, this is an excellent opportunity to return excitement and motivation to your teams by asking them to improve the processes. I have always found it necessary to know the members of a team as individuals in order to achieve optimum results. Coaching the managers closest to the teams to attempt to understand what motivates each person, and rewarding the person accordingly, will help keep the teams focused. It is also important to demonstrate that their outputs are important. This means that meetings must be treated as work. They must be scheduled the same as other tasks, with attendance manadatory.

Dr. W. Pearl Maxwell is a Principal Consultant at Advanced Management Services, Inc. (AMS), a full service management consultancy servicing an international client base. Since 1989, Pearl has developed a successful career as an organizational development practitioner, professional trainer and keynote speaker. Pearl has extensive experience working with process improvement and reengineering initiatives helping clients, such as SCC, Sprint, Rehab Care, Symphony Health Services, to create functional business models for enhanced organizational productivity.