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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Set your virtual team on a path to success In the global marketplace, people can work practically anywhere and anytime. Virtual teams cut across the boundaries of time, space, culture, and sometimes even organizations. Rising costs, global locations, and advances in technology are top reasons why virtual teams have increased by 800 percent over the past 5 years. Packed with solid advice, interviews and case studies from well-known companies who are already using virtual teams in their business model and their lessons learned, Virtual Teams For Dummies provides rock-solid guidance on the essentials for building, leading, and sustaining a highly productive virtual workforce. It helps executives understand key support strategies that lead virtual teams to success and provides practical information and tools to help leaders and their teams bridge the communication gaps created by geographical separation--and achieve peak performance. * Includes research findings based on a year-long study on the effectiveness of virtual teams * Mindset and skill shift for managers from old school traditional team management to virtual team management * Covers the communication and relationship strategies for virtual teams * Examines how the frequency of in-person meetings affects a remote team's success Written by an award-winning leadership expert, this book is your one-stop resource on creating and sustaining a successful virtual team.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018
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Virtual Teams For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Published simultaneously in Canada
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Virtual Teams For Dummies®
To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Virtual Teams For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1: Getting Started with Virtual Teams
Chapter 1: The Big Picture of Virtual Teams
Embracing the New Virtual Team Reality
Sorting Out Virtual Team Concepts
Understanding the Benefits and Challenges
Jumping into the Virtual Workforce
Assembling a Virtual Team
Managing a Virtual Team
Chapter 2: Envisioning Virtual Teams in Your Business
Contemplating Using Virtual Teams
Deciding Whether Virtual Teams Make Good Business Sense
Deciding on Your Plan
Setting Up Your Virtual Team for Success
Paying Attention to What You Need
Creating Connection and Community
Chapter 3: Preparing for Your Career as a Virtual Team Member
Deciding If Working Virtually Is Right for You
Proposing Virtual Work to Your Boss and Teammates
Determining Whether You Have a Workspace That Works
Creating Your Remote Worker Brand
Part 2: Building a Strong Virtual Team
Chapter 4: Planning Ahead for Your Team’s Success
Defining Your Team Purpose
Choosing a Team Framework
Establishing Team Goals: What Does Success Look Like?
Determining Team Member Roles
Chapter 5: Finding and Hiring the Right People
Attracting Your Virtual Team Talent
Hiring Based on Skill, Behavior, and Fit
Seeking Out the Right Qualities in Virtual Team Members
Holding the Candidate Interview
Checking Out the Past
Making an Offer
Chapter 6: Contracting with Contract Workers
Deciding Whether You Need a Contract
Choosing to Work with an IC: What You Need to Do
Requiring a Nondisclosure Agreement (NDA) or Not
Navigating the Legalities of Noncompete Agreements
Chapter 7: Structuring and Assembling Your Team
Organizing Your Team the Smart Way
Focusing on the Onboarding Process
Establishing Team Values As Your Bumper Rails
Identifying Team Traits That Build Cohesiveness
Part 3: Creating and Nurturing a Productive Team Culture
Chapter 8: Making Work Culture Considerations
Grasping Why Company Culture Is Key
Taking Note of Your Existing Organizational Culture
Deciding What You Want Your Culture to Be
Building and Maintaining the Culture You Want
Noting the Benefits and Challenges of a Cross-Cultural Team
Chapter 9: Managing Differences in Gender, Generation, and Culture
Managing Gender Differences
Connecting with the Generations on Your Team
Building Your Cultural Intelligence
Chapter 10: Transitioning from Old-School Manager to Virtual Team Leader
Recognizing Which Leadership Style Works Best
Playing in Your Sandbox
Recognizing Common Virtual Team Issues
Part 4: Getting Your Team Rolling
Chapter 11: Establishing Best Practices of Engagement
Addressing Personal Disengagement
Having a Meaningful Team Purpose
Using Clear Goals and Expectations to Build Engagement
Building Your Road Map Together with Team Agreements
Conducting Virtual Meetings That Have an Impact
Practicing Virtual Meeting Etiquette
Chapter 12: Building Trust and Rapport
Getting Started: What You Can Do to Build (or Repair) Trust
Leveraging Team Member Strengths
Making Respect a Nonnegotiable
Practicing Cultural Appreciation on Global Teams
Giving Team Members Face Time
Creating a Connection Culture That Transforms Trust
Chapter 13: Adopting Best Practices in Communication
Identifying Four Components to Transform Your Communications
Looking Closer at Text-Only Communication
Providing Consistent and Frequent Feedback
Establishing Best Practices with Communication Agreements
Utilizing the DISC Assessment Tool
Chapter 14: Measuring Virtual Team and Team Member Success
Tracking Virtual Team Success
Measuring Data That Matters
Recognizing the Engagement Levels of Your Team Members
Chapter 15: Training Your Virtual Team
Training during the First 90 Days
Keeping Your Team Members on Top of Their Game with Ongoing Training
Training Your Veteran Team Members
Chapter 16: Checking All Things Technology: What You Need to Know
Assessing the Right Fit for Your Team
Choosing Only the Essential Tools Your Team Needs
Training Team Members for Success
Chapter 17: Rolling with the Changes
Adjusting to Shifts in Team Membership
Building Relationships as a New Leader
Getting on Board with a New Team Goal
Grounding Your Team after a Reorganization
Part 5: Best Practices in Managing Your Virtual Team
Chapter 18: Leading by Example
Building a Connection Culture
Focusing On a Healthy Lifestyle
Discovering Your Legacy
Chapter 19: Understanding What Drives Motivation
Differentiating between Engaged and Passionate Team Members
Creating a Passionate Team
Using Positive Psychology to Create a Motivational Team Environment
Chapter 20: Managing Workflow and Execution
Starting Off on the Right Foot
Clarifying How Work Flows through the Team
Delegating Effectively to Your Virtual Team
Knowing How to Communicate Externally Regarding Team Progress
Part 6: The Part of Tens
Chapter 21: Ten Predictors of Virtual Team Success
Having the Right Technology
Hiring the Right Team Leader
Hiring the Right Team Members
Establishing Clear Team Vision and Values
Aligning Team Goals with Company Goals
Having a Solid Team Agreement in Place
Using a Communication Strategy
Agreeing on a Process for Team Workflow
Using an Onboarding Strategy for New Team Members
Actively Managing Executive Perceptions
Chapter 22: Ten Signs Your Organization Is Ready for Virtual Teams
Having Champions on the Executive Team
Having Empowered Leaders
Leveraging a Supportive Culture
Willing to Invest in Technology
Addressing Issues Early
Being Prepared for the Logistical Set Up
Keeping the Team Focused
Using an Onboarding Process
Training Virtual Team Leaders
Having a Clear Idea of Roles and Responsibilities
About the Author
Connect with Dummies
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Introduction
Remote work options are driving workplace transformation, and what’s known about the office, teamwork, and management will never be the same. In fact, over the next few years, some sources estimate that more than a billion people will work virtually.
New technologies are released everyday to keep people connected across cities, countries, and oceans. Collaborative software, videoconferencing, and online project management are designed to help remote teams of people work effectively together. But not just technology is fueling this trend — rising operational costs, growing commercial real estate expenses, and increasing globalization are other contributors, as well as the promise of higher productivity. Plus, as most hiring managers would probably tell you, the competition for finding and keeping skilled employees is fierce, so extending the geographic reach of your labor force is a huge benefit.
I wrote Virtual Teams For Dummies to help you discover everything you need to know about virtual teams and how to make them work. This book represents findings from my own research on virtual teams, my consulting work with virtual teams, and my experiences leading a virtual team for close to ten years. As a result, this book is chockfull with extensive tips, tools, frameworks, lessons learned, models, and checklists to help make your venture into the virtual team world successful.
Companies around the globe are launching headfirst into establishing virtual teams with barely a backward glance at the unique challenges for executives, leaders, and team members. Virtual Teams For Dummies provides you best practices, helps you overcome the unique challenges, and allows you to experience all the positive impacts that virtual teams have to offer.
About This Book
New books and information about working on and leading virtual teams are readily available, mostly because virtual teams are quickly becoming one of the most common ways people work together on short-term projects or as intact teams for national or global companies. What makes this book unique is that I look at the world of virtual teams from a holistic perspective; I walk you through the steps of considering virtual teams as a business strategy, understanding why they’re good for the planet and people, starting your career as a remote worker, making technology decisions that align with your team values, setting up and leading your global virtual team, and more.
This handy guide answers many questions and concerns that are unique to virtual teams such as:
How do you interview candidates properly when you aren’t face-to-face?
How do you instill a sense of team when working globally?
How do you build cross-cultural IQ and appreciation?
How do you ensure team members feel like part of the company and fit into the corporate culture?
How do you implement training across oceans, cultures, and languages?
How do you prepare managers to supervise and lead a team they’ve never met face-to-face?
How do you position yourself and your skills to get hired for a remote opportunity?
When reading this book, keep an open mind for the subtle, yet unique challenges that virtual teams create. Of course, some common practices build trust and cohesion on teams regardless if they work in the same office or on a virtual team, but some of those common practices need more focus, priority, and time when working virtually. A few of the top virtual team nuances that I cover in this book include:
Communication:
Although communication and engagement are common challenges for any team, differences in time zones and lack of face-to-face interactions contribute to the unique challenges of working virtually.
Face-to-face meetings:
Virtual teams who get together in person regularly are able to realize peak effectiveness. However, for teams who are unable to do so because of budgetary or geographic restrictions, technology offers strategies for bringing teams together face-to-face.
Accountability:
Creating accountability, even for a virtual team, is critical for team success. A variety of feedback tools can help team members with continuous feedback on responsiveness, communication, workload, participation level, and engagement.
Training on technology:
Virtual teams need extensive training on the tech tools that keep them connected. They need full mastery of the technology in order to realize the benefits of virtual team effectiveness and productivity.
Agreements:
Virtual teams that set standards for how they work together and have strong levels of trust are more likely to be effective.
Connection:
Establishing connection and building trust virtually takes a commitment of time and attention by the team leader and all team members.
Cultural IQ:
Virtual teams need expert guidance and training on an ongoing basis and
during every step of their development
from start-up to maturity in order to establish sensitivity and understanding around language and cultural differences.
Finally, throughout this book, I include interviews with companies and people who are doing remarkable work with virtual teams, so be sure to read the sidebar interviews for some juicy thought leadership.
Foolish Assumptions
I make some assumptions about you, the reader, and the help you’re looking for. I assumed that you are either:
An executive interested in discovering the pros and cons about virtual teams and making a decision about using them in your business.
A virtual team leader already in the role or moving toward managing a virtual team for the first time and looking for support and coaching on how to do it successfully.
A virtual team member or wannabe remote worker who:
Desperately wants to create a virtual work arrangement with your current employer, but you’re afraid it will never happen
Is searching for your next virtual gig and need tips for improving your online presence
Has specialized skills and is looking for work on a global project team
Is interested in how to bring ideas to your team to build more trust and cohesion
If you fit any of these descriptions, then the practical and applicable tips, tools, and resources in this book will be immediately helpful.
Icons Used in This Book
Like any For Dummies book, I place helpful icons that alert you to something you don’t want to miss. Here is what the icons mean:
These are best practices or steps that you want to consider using and implementing to have a successful virtual work experience.
This icon marks essential information that you don’t want to forget.
Be aware of and avoid these common pitfalls.
Where to Go from Here
If you’ve read a For Dummies book before, you know that it’s written in a modular format, which means that you can read any chapter that meets your need at the time and get valuable information that can help you, rather than reading the book cover to cover. If you’re unsure of where to start, I suggest you start reading from the beginning to discover all the aspects, benefits, and challenges of virtual teams regardless of your position, issue, or situation.
If you’re unsure, allow me to offer some suggestions. Depending on your interest in virtual teams, you may find that different chapters benefit you more than others. For example, if you’re considering virtual teams for your business or starting your career as a remote worker, then Part 1 on getting started is exactly what you need. If you’re launching your first virtual team, reading Part 2 on building a strong team is essential. Everything you need to know about building a strong team culture is in Part 3. If you’re interested in the best ideas for building engagement, trust, and collaboration on your virtual team, then Part 4 is the place to go. Don’t miss best practices for managing your virtual team in Part 5.
You don’t have to read every chapter in the book to get value. Rather, use the table of contents and index as your guides for where to go next. I hope that this book provides you with the tools and techniques you need to make virtual teams and virtual work an important part of your life and your company.
You can also check out the book’s Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com. Just search “virtual teams” for more information to help you in your future endeavors with virtual teams.
Part 1
Getting Started with Virtual Teams
IN THIS PART …
Explore the reasons for the phenomenal rise of virtual teams and remote work around the world.
Consider the pros and cons of using remote workers and virtual teams in your company.
Discover how to set up your virtual team business strategy and prepare your leaders and teams for this new way of work.
Get tips on how to dive into a career as a remote employee, including setting up your virtual office and building your personal brand.
Understand the big picture of what it takes to set up your virtual teams for success.
Chapter 1
The Big Picture of Virtual Teams
IN THIS CHAPTER
Acknowledging the rise of virtual teams
Defining virtual teams
Weighing the pros and cons of going virtual
Considering going virtual as a career move
Putting together a virtual team
Leading a virtual team
Companies around the world are currently experiencing one of the greatest shifts in how work gets done around the world. It impacts the way people connect, the way teams communicate, the way leaders build relationships, and the way organizations accomplish results. It can be a positive change for people, the planet, and company profits if approached mindfully and designed to embrace technology, prioritize communication and relationships, and support a strong appreciation of culture and diversity. This transformation is the rise of the virtual team.
In the global marketplace, people can work practically anywhere and anytime. Virtual teams cut across the boundaries of time, space, culture, and sometimes organizations. In fact, every single day more companies are relying on virtual teams to achieve significant business results. Rising costs, global locations, and advances in technology are top reasons why virtual teams have increased by 800 percent worldwide over the past five years alone. Some sources now estimate that more than a billion people will work virtually in the next few years. According to the World Economic Forum, virtual work is one of the biggest drivers of transformation in the workplace, and everyday new collaborative software, videoconferencing, and online project management software is being released for you and I to consume. Remarkably, the majority of virtual team leaders and team members have been given little to no preparation to work in this complex and diverse environment that creates a vast opportunity for supporting companies, leaders, and teams who are moving toward this diverse reality.
This chapter gives you a broad overview of virtual teams, including the variety of ways they are defined as well as emerging technology that is having an impact. I take a high-level look at the pros and cons of virtual teams and help you to think about whether or not working on a virtual team is a career option you want to consider. If you’re a company or leader preparing to lead a virtual team, this chapter can provide a head start into the virtual world.
Embracing the New Virtual Team Reality
All aboard! The proverbial virtual team train has left the station and there’s no going back. Many organizations are using virtual or dispersed teams to reduce costs, connect talent across geographical boundaries, manage global projects, and improve productivity and collaboration. Not to mention that going virtual is a huge boon for corporate sustainability efforts — reducing greenhouse gases, gasoline consumption, and pollution. Virtual work also means that people can work from anywhere, anytime, which can help unemployment rates among the disabled, military families, people with special needs, and people living in places where a once-booming industry has disappeared, such as coal mining, auto manufacturing, steel, textiles, and more.
The use of virtual teams is continuing to grow and companies around the world must recognize the unique challenges of virtual teams and invest in ongoing training and support to realize the benefits. If managed well, you can expect virtual teams to be highly engaged, accountable, successful at collaborative brainstorming, goal setting, problem solving, and planning. These sections explain the reasons for virtual team growth and the global impacts that they have on the workplace.
Why virtual teams are rapidly growing
What’s really happening that is causing virtual teams to quickly become such a natural part of the workplace today? The following looks at it from a couple different viewpoints:
Employer: Virtual workers will save your company a whole lot of money, on everything from reduced sick time and absenteeism due to weather to office maintenance expenses. Refer to Chapter 2 for more discussion on the wide array of savings.
Access to talent is another reason many employers are going the virtual route. When you need specialized knowledge or experience that you can’t find in your local talent pool, virtual work opportunities allow you to recruit anywhere in the world. Talk about competitive advantage!
Employee: Many employees have demands that require them to spend hours commuting to work. They end up missing their kids’ activities and don’t have time for self-care or work-life balance. As a result, they have high levels of stress, sickness, and burnout, which is why more than 85 percent of employees have reported they want to work remotely even if it’s part time. Virtual workers can get more done in less time because they can focus with limited interruptions during the workday. In return, they feel a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and happiness at the end each day. See Chapter 3 for more information on the benefits of working virtually.
Furthermore, recessions, layoffs, outsourcing, and downsizing prompt employees to hang out their shingle and start their own business to avoid bankruptcy and pay their bills. Many quickly find that they enjoy the benefits of being on their own — when they work, how they work, with whom they work, and what they work on. Many never go back to the traditional workplace; rather, they become teleworkers or flexible workers who can perform their jobs from anywhere in the world.
Technology:
Advances in technology and the ability to connect with people from around the world in an instant are important reasons why virtual work is thriving. Collaborative technology enables you to reach out and connect with your team in a variety of different ways, in any given moment, for any reason.
Chapter 16
discusses advances in technology and what technology you need on your team.
Globalization effect
Globalization enables companies to expand their operations internationally. Globalization benefits companies in a variety of ways. Globalization:
Expands their customer base around the world
Lengthens the popularity of a trend or product (what’s hot in the UK may already be an established product in Asia)
Spreads out economic risk
Helps companies to test and expand in new markets
Provides access to international talent
Makes distribution less expensive
Helps companies manage seasonal fluctuations
Today companies have personal and professional relationships that span the globe and are necessary for economic well-being and growth. In order to meet customer needs and demands and access specialized talent, products, and materials, building global teams that work together to accomplish results just makes smart business sense.
However, having team members located in different time zones using different languages and living in different cultures, creates unique challenges and opportunities. See Chapter 9 for more information.
Generational worker shift
The workforce is changing. Baby boomers are retiring in droves, and Generation X isn’t far behind. By 2025, Millennials who are comfortable working, communicating, socializing, and developing relationships with people located on the other side of the planet, will comprise 75 percent of the global workforce, and members of Generation Z are just beginning to start their careers. It’s important to understand that both Millennials and Gen Zers are used to collaborating, getting answers, and solving problems alone or in groups over the Internet. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise then that working in a remote and virtual environment is a no-brainer for these generations and will cause this trend to continue upward for years into the future. Check out Chapter 9 where I discuss in more detail how different generations feel about and work on virtual teams.
VIRTUAL TEAMS — AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
You may think that the concept of virtual teams is relatively new, but you’d only be partly right. Sure, technological advances, the Internet, and the global workforce created conditions for virtual teams to explode in recent years, but virtual teams have been around for centuries.
Think of it this way: Basically any team that worked together to accomplish anything from separate locations has operated virtually. From the complex multicultural expanse of the Roman Empire to the critical transportation of the Wells Fargo stagecoaches, teams have been geographically dispersed and highly effective for a long time.
Even the concept of working from home isn’t new. Farmers, bakers, seamstresses, shoemakers, potters, weavers, and blacksmiths have always worked from their homes. The Industrial Revolution pulled many workers out of their homes and into factories. In the early 20th century, widespread electricity and public transportation drove workers into offices equipped with telephones, telegraphs, and typewriters.
In the 1970s, the OPEC oil crisis and rising fuel costs led Jack Niles (sometimes called The Father of Teleworking) to look for ways to reduce the cost of commuting. He conducted the first formal tests of telecommuting and coined the term telecommuting in his book The Telecommunications-Transportation Tradeoff. Telecommuting grew rapidly from there. In the 1980s, J.C. Penney began hiring home-based call center agents. The Clean Air Act of 1990 led many large businesses to offer telecommuting, and the National Telecommuting Initiative was created in 1996 with the federal government confirming its support for telecommuting.
Throughout the 20th century, new technologies have fueled the rise in telework and virtual teams. It began with surging sales of PCs, followed by cellular phones, voice mail, and of course that whole Internet thing. All of these factors paved the way for the virtual workplace known today. By the early 21st century, people who worked at least one day at home per week increased by more than 4 million, and today nearly half of working Americans say they spend at least some time working remotely. All signs indicate virtual work will continue to grow.
Sorting Out Virtual Team Concepts
All this talk of virtual teams can be confusing, especially when people use different terms to describe virtual working arrangements. The following sections preview the different ways that virtual teams or remote work can be defined and provide some basic insight into each term:
Geographically dispersed team:
A virtual team employs people who are usually dispersed or distributed around a city, a country, or the world. These dispersed teams work together from different locations and then rely on technology to connect them. They’re also referred to as
dispersed teams
or
distributed teams.
Global versus local virtual team:
If you have a global virtual team, members are located in different countries and cities all over the world. If your virtual team is local, most likely your team is located in a similar area perhaps in the United States, or local to your own city such as Boulder, Colorado.
Telecommuting:
Some virtual team members acknowledge themselves as telecommuters or say that they telecommute for their job. This basically means they’re working from home or a location close to their home.
Telecommuting
defines a working arrangement in which the employee doesn’t work in the office 100 percent of the time. For example, he can work from a home office, co-working space, coffee shop, or library, and he commutes via technology.
Hoteling:
Another common remote work term that has been around for close to 20 years is
hoteling.
This describes the practice of providing as-needed, reservation-based office space that is unassigned rather than a permanent workspace. Companies that have outgrown their office space and don’t want to purchase or rent more property use hoteling as a way to make more efficient use of their office space and keep costs to a minimum. Hoteling is also a helpful remote working arrangement if you have employees who travel frequently and only need to come into the office occasionally.
Global outsourcing: If your team needs a quick turnaround by someone who is an expert in design, transcription, development, marketing, e-learning, websites, SEO, and other easily outsourced tasks, global outsourcing can be a great fit. This is yet another form of virtual work and companies like Upwork, Fiverr, and Freelancer continue to grow as popular options for teams that need to supplement skill sets quickly.
Global outsourcing isn’t just for quick turnaround jobs. Companies may outsource longer-term assignments to workers in other countries to assist on a particular project that requires skills, language proficiency, or education that may be too difficult or too expensive to find locally.
Flex jobs:
Many websites are dedicated to remote workers looking for a flexible type of job arrangement or a short-term, contract opportunity with a company. These remote workers may only want part-time work or work for a few months. They also may desire a flexible job arrangement where they’re telecommuting occasionally, on call certain days of the week, or working remotely 100 percent of the time.
Understanding the Benefits and Challenges
In 2016, I launched a research study to validate and test the theory that the pros of having a virtual team and business outweigh the cons. This study included input from close to 200 executives, virtual team leaders, and team members from a mix of industries in Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and small business. The study gathered insights about what makes a virtual team effective and challenges that virtual teams face. I highlight a few of the key findings here.
Noting virtual benefits
Based on my research, virtual team members, leaders, and executives all agree that a main benefit of virtual teams is to promote work-life balance as illustrated in Figure 1-1. Team members and team leaders also see virtual teams as a way to increase productivity, whereas executives view virtual teams as a cost-saving measure and a good way to get the right people to work together regardless of location.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 1-1: Greatest benefits of virtual teams.
Two-thirds of team leaders and half of all executives surveyed said that they estimate virtual teams are currently saving them costs equivalent to 16 to 25 percent of their revenue as Table 1-1 highlights. In a large company, that can equate to millions even billions of dollars in cost savings.
TABLE 1-1 Cost Savings as a Percentage of Revenue
Cost savings as a percentage of revenue
Team leader estimate of cost savings
Executive estimate of cost savings
0%
6%
7%
1-5%
17%
7%
6-15%
11%
27%
16-25%
67%
53%
26-50%
0%
4.3%
Refer to Chapter 2 for more discussion on the different pros to going the virtual-team route.
Considering virtual drawbacks
The trust factor is certainly a drawback for virtual team leaders. Blindly trusting virtual employee to do what they say they’ll do, in a timely fashion, with an attention to quality, all without being able to personally check in and watch over their work on a daily basis is difficult for some leaders.
My research uncovered other common challenges. These challenges differed if the team was newly formed versus an established virtual team as Figures 1-2 and 1-3 show. The greatest challenge for newly formed virtual teams was figuring out how to effectively use technology and defining how best to communicate. Virtual team leaders also indicated that they struggled with getting the resources they needed to support the team.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 1-2: Challenges for newly formed virtual teams.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
FIGURE 1-3: Challenges for established virtual teams.
After the virtual teams are established, keeping the team engaged and motivated is by far the greatest challenge, along with how to communicate effectively and unlock the team’s creativity.
You have to think about several others things when deciding to go virtual in your business, including cybersecurity issues, Internet accessibility, connectivity speeds, confidentiality, and more. Chapter 2 covers these cons in greater detail.
Jumping into the Virtual Workforce
If you’re considering virtual work or proposing a telecommuting arrangement to your manager, then take into account several important considerations. Many of these considerations require a shift in your mindset and habits, a focus on emotional and social intelligence, and strong communication skills. Be mindful about these areas if you truly want to have success as a virtual team member.
Working virtually has been an empowering life-changing experience for me. However, I wish someone would have shared some of the following advice about virtual work before I made this career leap so I could have been better prepared and set up for success.
Having the right environment
Ensuring you have the right work environment if you’re planning on working from home is extremely important to ponder. If your workspace isn’t set up for you to be successful, you’ll quickly become frustrated and potentially disconnected from your team. Chapter 3 discusses important questions to ask before making the jump to the virtual world.
Maintaining balance and focus
Working virtually takes a heavy dose of discipline and organization to balance work with the constant demands of life happening all around you when you’re working from home. If you struggle with self-discipline, working virtually may be an area of difficulty for you as a virtual worker, so make sure you set up clear guidelines and expectations for yourself ahead of time.
Even more important than considering how you’ll get work done and maintain balance is how well you’ll build relationships in a virtual environment. Think about the following sections.
Building community
When working virtually, be prepared to build a sense of community by connecting with your team members and your manager regularly both for work and to get to know each other personally. If working side-by-side with your coworkers in person is extremely fulfilling for you, then consider that working remotely 100 percent of the time may not be the best idea for you. You may want to consider a part-time telecommuting arrangement or perhaps a flex job where you work remotely a few days a week and a part-time job in an office a few days per week.
Connecting using collaborative technology
As a virtual team member, you generally lose face-to-face, in-person interaction, and I’ve found that people working remotely have different levels of comfort and acceptance using collaborative technology such as Skype or Zoom to personally connect. Many companies that I work with don’t require virtual teams to turn on video when communicating or having a meeting, which is a mistake. If you desire to work virtually, it’s up to you to build relationships and trust, which you rarely can achieve over the phone or via text. Turning on your camera so you can connect personally with your team members is an important part of building connection. Flip to Chapter 12 for more strategies and tips to connect.
Appreciating team culture
Your virtual team can include people from other towns in your city, your country, or the world. Maybe your team members don’t have English as their first language, or maybe their culture and way of life is completely foreign to you. Make sure you consider who is going to be on your team and ideally meet team members as part of the interviewing process. See Chapter 8 for more discussion about how you can build team culture for your virtual team.
Practicing emotional intelligence
Being a virtual team member requires a willingness to go the extra mile to develop strong team relationships by being emotional aware and tuned in to what is happening with other team members. The key to emotional intelligence is recognizing what you and other team members are feeling and then knowing what to do to manage those emotions or reactions. Doing so requires a level of attention, savviness, and vulnerability from you.
Virtual teamwork can be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling roles you’ll have in your career. You have to consider several nuances and changes to your own mindset and behaviors. Be sure to check out Chapter 3 where I help you prepare for your next career move as a virtual team member.
CREATING A BUSINESS MODEL WITH VIRTUAL TEAMS
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to create virtual teams that work for your business. Model companies who have paved the way and are having great success. Here are three companies that are experiencing success:
Trello is a free online software tool for managing projects and personal tasks in a flexible and highly visual way. It has a 50-50 operation with remote and on-site employees. Trello’s marketing department is 100 percent virtual, and employees credit the company’s success with running regular video meetings (three times a week) and encouraging heavy use of chat tools to mimic casual office chatter, especially on nonwork topics. Trello also uses a variety of collaboration tools to stay updated on projects, including (not surprisingly) Trello boards, but the company also uses Slack, Google Docs, Sunrise Calendar, and Appear.Zapier focuses on getting all your apps to work together, and it has a 100 percent distributed workforce with more than 100 employees working in more than 15 countries. The company believes in the fast, nimble power of small teams, which means less bureaucracy, less management, and more productivity. Zapier also believes in using a variety of tools to keep its small teams on task like Slack, Async, Trello, Github, and more.Intel Corporation, a multinational corporation and technology company best known for building microprocessors, is also a trendsetter in global collaboration systems. More than two-thirds of Intel’s teams have members working virtually. The company credits its success to two core functions: personal productivity (using IM or Google Docs to allow employees to connect quickly one-to-one with people all around the world) and team collaboration (collaborative environments in the virtual sphere to share ideas, provide updates, delegate tasks, and more, such as videoconferencing, collaboration platforms, data-sharing tools, and chatroom).Assembling a Virtual Team
When putting your virtual team together, be clear and thoughtful about what you need and whether the job tasks required fit well with doing virtual work. Some job roles across the globe are best suited for virtual work, such as sales, project management, marketing, customer service, developers, researchers, writers, accounting, copywriting, editors, book writing, graphic designers, virtual assistants, web designers, instructional designers, video editors, and e-learning specialists, to name a few. The key is to analyze what gaps you need to fill and ask yourself if someone working remotely can fill that gap.
Hiring remote employees who end up overlapping in terms of their job responsibilities and deliverables, especially when expectations, goals, and deliverables aren’t clear is easy. Be sure to assemble your team in a strategic, thoughtful way. You can do it through a simple gap analysis of assessing what you need, what you have, and what gaps exist. Frequently, you can fill the gap with your current team members with training or by encouraging your go-getters to master something new and then give them the time to do their own research or attend online classes.
To discover is if someone is going to succeed on your virtual team, bring him on for a team project or short-term assignment as a contractor. Have him work with your team for 30 to 60 days to test out if he’s a good fit culturally, if he’s self-directed and can manage his time and deadlines, and most importantly if he can demonstrate the right behaviors and maturity level to handle a virtual working environment. Chapter 2 gives you plenty of tips and information about everything you need to know about putting your virtual team together.
Managing a Virtual Team
Not all managers excel at leading a team they don’t see face-to-face every day; some people lead better in person. What you were able to do with your traditional team, you may find the need to do more of with your virtual team to build trust, open communication, and keep team members engaged in their work. Being successful as a virtual team leader requires tried-and-true best practices of building team trust and cohesiveness, being aware and emotionally intelligent, and focusing on creating clarity. Here are a few integral skills managers should practice to succeed in a virtual working arrangement:
Flexibility:
On virtual teams, work happens all times of the day and night. Accommodating team members who may be located around the country or the world requires a leader who is willing to be flexible to keep a pulse on what is happening with each team member. See
Chapter 10
for more discussion about the importance of being flexible.
Trust:
Micromanaging when leading a virtual team is a major frustration for team members and a complete waste of time for you, the team leader. If you’ve done a great job hiring the right person for the role, setting clear goals, expectations, and objectives, and have a consistent communication plan and schedules follow up, it’s time to let go.
Chapter 12
examines in greater depth how you build trust with your team.
Communication:
The idea that technology hinders communication is outdated. My research shows that teams consider leaders of virtual teams successful who communicate most effectively and most often and who use technology appropriately. However, remote workers actually need more communication, feedback, and guidance than on-site workers, so as a leader you need to step up your game in this area.
Chapter 13
discusses tips and strategies for communicating with your virtual team.
Technical savviness:
A major obstacle a virtual leader can make is to not utilize, support, and champion technology tools. Whether it’s for file sharing, videoconferencing, chatting, brainstorming, or managing projects, leaders must demonstrate proficiency using technology and encourage others to use it effectively on a regular basis.
Chapter 16
explains in plain English why technology is so important and what tools you need to consider.
TEN STATISTICS TO CONVINCE VIRTUAL TEAM NAYSAYERS
Several years ago, as part of my work with teams and leaders on communication, trust, and leadership, I began taking note that more and more of these team leaders and team members had never met face-to-face and relied solely on technology to stay connected.
The use of virtual teams, fueled by advances in technology and the promise of reduced operational costs, was growing at a rapid rate. Businesses were launching headfirst into establishing virtual teams, with barely a backward glance at the issues of the virtual environment.
The more I investigated, the clearer it became: Virtual teams will continue to grow, but organizations needed to recognize the unique challenges of virtual teams and invest in ongoing training and support in order to realize the benefits. No research addressed this issue, so I conducted my own.
Over six months in 2016, hundreds of participants completed an online survey about their experiences leading or participating on a virtual team. Participants included virtual team members, virtual team leaders, executives that support virtual teams, and people who would soon be on a virtual team. Survey participants represented various industries and sizes of organizations.
Despite the growing data-driven evidence of the benefits of virtual teams, some cynics are still out there. Here are a few key data points from my findings and other sources that can help any virtual team advocate seeking upper-level support:
Virtual teams have increased 800 percent over the last five years.Fifty percent of team members agree that productivity has increased being part of a virtual team.Virtual teams can save companies up to 25 percent of revenue.Teams with clear agreements are 18 times more likely to accomplish their goals.Teams with clear agreements are 28 times more likely to be highly productive.Teams with clear agreements are 39 times more likely to come up with innovative solutions.Newly formed virtual teams that communicate effectively were 55 times more likely to be responsive to customers.Newly formed virtual teams that communicate effectively were 12 times more likely to reach their goals.Teams that are effective at using collaborative technology are 98 times more likely to come up with innovative solutions.Teams that are effective at using collaborative technology are 74 times more likely to deliver on time and within budget.Chapter 2
Envisioning Virtual Teams in Your Business
IN THIS CHAPTER
Considering using virtual teams as a business strategy
Building the business case for virtual teams
Drawing up your game plan
Supporting your virtual team
Attending to infrastructure and logistics
Building community and culture
Hiring virtual team members is a great business strategy for an assortment of reasons, including major cost savings on overhead expenses, expanded access to global talent, and jobs that are more appropriately suited for virtual work. Imagine each of these scenarios:
Scenario 1:
You live in Leavenworth, Washington, a town with a population of about 2,000 people. You have a proven business model and enough funds to start your business with five employees. You need to hire an experienced developer, project manager, engineer, and marketer, and your local search has turned up nothing.
Scenario 2:
Your software company that has an office located in downtown Atlanta has experienced record growth this year. Real estate costs are at an all-time high and investing in another large office and all the maintenance that goes along with it will cut into your financial projections significantly. Sixty percent of your open requisitions for the next few years will most likely be for software engineers and programmers.
Relying on remote workers to grow your business is also wise for other reasons, such as improving retention, having a positive social impact, and getting work done in less time.
This chapter builds the business case for virtual teams and helps you mull over the benefits and risks if you’re contemplating this staffing strategy. You can put together a plan to start using remote workers and teams, perform a gap analysis to determine what roles you need to fill, and identify where you need to invest time and money to set up for success. This chapter helps you create a solid strategy for using virtual teams in your business whether you’re in change of company of ten or ten thousand.
Contemplating Using Virtual Teams
Having remote workers can be a positive business strategy for many companies. The key is making sure that your virtual teams are designed thoughtfully and with solid collaboration strategies in place. The difference between virtual team success and failure is ensuring that virtual teams must support your business strategy. This strategic alignment is essential. For example, if establishing virtual teams helps grow your business by enabling you to access global skills and knowledge you need or reduces your expenses by 25 to 30 percent or helps to attract and retain key talent, then all the remaining logistical and technical decisions can flow from there.
Virtual work isn’t appropriate for every role or project 100 percent of the time. Certainly some examples require people to be face-to-face with team members or customers some or even most of the time. Think police officer, firefighter, surgeon, veterinarian, physical therapist, hair stylist, maintenance worker, attorney, or a highly complex development project to name a few. Even though virtual collaboration can be effective for a majority of situations, the more complex and uncertain the job role or project, the more it may require face-to-face interactions. Refer to the nearby sidebar that explains why virtual teams may not be appropriate for some professions.
If your business is ripe for using virtual or remote teams and you’re ready to start, first focus your time and attention on creating crystal-clear goals and a strategy for accomplishing them. After they’re defined, you can begin to ask yourself several questions:
What skills are needed to accomplish our goals and how quickly do I want to achieve them?
What tasks are required to move from point A to point B?
Are there many complex decisions involved in order to complete the tasks?
Do these tasks need to be completed in a collaborative way with input from others consistently?
Does collaboration have to happen face-to-face? Why?
Considering these questions and other key factors is part of the mindful process that can set you and virtual your teams up for success. Be sure to embrace this business strategy with your eyes open and have a clear picture of the benefits, challenges, and risks so that you’re making educated, sound business decisions that support your success.
To help you begin to plan your strategy, the following sections examine key factors to consider if you’re going virtual and highlight common challenges and mistakes that virtual teams make.
AGILE MANIFESTO
A team of global leaders developed the Manifesto for Agile Software Development in 2001 and acknowledged that virtual work may not be the best business strategy 100 percent of the time. The leaders agreed on one key value: Individuals and interactions come first over processes and tools. People come first, always. And the good news: Technology has evolved and transformed the way people can now build relationships in a virtual environment.
In fact, many of these job examples where people expect face-to-face interaction as a customer, coworker, or community member, are progressing to include virtual options. Hospitals and health providers are offering “telehealth” and remote monitoring services where virtual nurses use phone apps to monitor and diagnose patients and can also call in prescriptions. Virtual pet visits using videoconferencing software, such as Skype, allow your vet to see your pet and provide care without you having to go to the hospital. Both of these examples are valuable, just-in-time options if you live in a remote area of the world or a mountain community where it can take several hours to reach a care facility. They can also save you valuable time from sitting in a waiting room when you already have a tightly scheduled day.
Thinking about these key factors
Perhaps you just have a particular area of your business where a virtual team makes sense, or perhaps you’re a startup and considering going 100 percent virtual. Regardless of your situation, I want to bring these five key consideration factors to your attention.
Find out if your in-office employees are ready to work virtually
Making the switch to a part-time or full-time virtual team after working in an office most of a career requires employees have a willingness to explore new opportunities and embrace change. Not all employees are change resilient and will do well in this scenario. Be that as it may, you can support your employees by laying out a clear transition plan that includes frequent and open communication, well-thought-out expectations and goals, recognition, and empathy for what will be lost, ongoing training and support, and a vision of success that is supported by leadership and team goals.
Get your leaders trained on managing in a virtual environment
Virtual team leaders make or break the success of your team. Their comfort level managing from a distance, building trust, holding people accountable, and establishing strong communication practices needs to be addressed. On a virtual team, the days of looking over someone’s shoulder or checking in at her cubicle to gauge progress are long gone. This relinquishment of control can impact how a manager believes she contributes value, so part of your transition plan needs to address these mindset shifts through coaching and training in order to help managers establish a new way of leading.
Make sure you invest in technology
An absolute must for a successful transition to virtual work is to perform a technical audit on the systems you currently use. Can they easily transition over to a virtual team environment? If not, be prepared to invest in new software, systems, and training and be willing to have patience for the ramp up time your team will need to feel confident using them. See Chapter 16 for more in-depth discussion about what essential tech tools you need.
Focus your time and attention on building a culture of engagement
How much are you willing to focus on building relationship, community, and culture? Virtual teams are separated by time and distance, so an environment that encourages engagement is essential to team success and productivity. You must be willing to create a culture of engagement, complete with regular communication, clear expectations, employee training and development, trust, appreciation, and collaboration.
From all of the research I’ve done or I’ve seen, if you aren’t willing to do the hard work that is required to make sure that your virtual team is connected, collaborative, and cohesive, then you’re basically setting it up for failure.
Analyze your contracts, insurance, and benefits
Make sure you consult with your lawyer on what contracts and insurance is necessary for remote workers and what reasonable accommodations you may need to make to assist people in setting up a safe and productive at-home working environment. Chapter 6 delves deeper into these issues.
Embracing the challenges: The five flaws of virtual teams
Before you jump feetfirst into the world of virtual teams, you want to be knowledgeable about the common challenges that virtual teams face that can potentially render them as failures. Most of the research available on virtual team obstacles cites similar challenges, which I have deemed the five flaws of virtual teams. These flaws generally represent a lack of focus, commitment, and leadership by the organization.
You can easily address them by using the how-to strategies in this book. Pay close attention to Chapter 4 where I cover how to define your team purpose and set team goals and Part 4, which is focused on how to build engagement, trust, strong communication practices, and more.
Flawed leadership
Leaders of virtual teams who lack clarity on goals, purpose, and priorities will end up managing teams that are off track, second-guessing simple decisions and working on the wrong things at the wrong time. Team members make their best guess at what needs to be done and can create duplicate work, rework, or waste time and resources on something unimportant.
Without an investment of time and focus appreciating the diversity of gender, race, culture, age, thought, and style of your team, cliques can occur, and you may find yourself dealing with isolationism and disrespectful behavior.
If the team leader isn’t a role model in establishing a strong relationship of trust and openness, team members may be afraid to speak up when they don’t know the answer or feel as if they’re drowning but are afraid to ask for a life vest. Team members also won’t trust each other, which can have a significant impact on feeding the additional flaws.
Flawed communication
Virtual teams who don’t begin with clear, consistent communication strategies that everyone agrees to are in for a world of trouble. These strategies can include the following:
