Ever managed a virtual team?
Considering doing so, but not sure what to do, and how effective that
team might be - and who should be in it? And what, exactly, is a
"virtual team"?
I have been managing and working with
virtual teams for the past 11 years. From an on-site project manager
role working with on-site/off-site resources, to now managing a team
in a mostly virtual context, this session addresses some of my
experiences - and lessons learned - working with Virtual teams.
The Virtual Team is a myth
First, let's dispell some myths. There
is no such thing as a "virtual team". All teams are real,
living organisms - but the methods of interaction within the team
cover a range of types - from "fully virtual" (no physical
face to face contact whatsoever) to "part-time virtual"
where people do meet and work together on a regular basis but are
periodically apart, continuing their working relationships remotely
using a variety of communication tools. And of course, you have the
"non-virtual" teams where people are always physically
together during the work day.
Like any other team, a "virtual
team" consists of real people, with all their quirks and
personalities - that you need to work with (and occasionally around)
to help maximize the performance of the team. If you forget to treat
them as people, that is where the trouble begins.
Virtual is in the Eye of the
Beholder
Everything is relative, according to
Einstein. He may have been talking relativity, but the principle
still applies - whether someone is working "virtually"
depends on where you - and they - are. You may be located in the main
office, managing a team of resources that are serving very real
customers in person, doing site visits or providing extended onsite
services. (They are certainly very "real" to the customer).
These team members are all working
together as a virtual services team - they may not be working on the
same client at the same time, but they are working together, and
reporting back to the same department hundreds or thousands of miles
away, using phone, email, videoconferencing, Skype, MSN, Webex, you
name it - all as part of their job. You may not see these people in
person very often at all - sometimes not even for years. They may not
see each other that often either - but they will engange and support
each other, be there to answer questions and provide suggestions for
the tough problems. This is an example of a "mostly virtual"
team functioning as a network.
You may be involved in a project where
there is a fully staffed on-site team, where 90% of the time everyone
is together in one place - but when they are not physically there,
they are still engaged, connected and providing value through a
variety of tools such as VPN - providing a comparable level of
service from their home or hotel as they did from their desk in the
project office. This is an example of a "part-time virtual"
team.
And sometimes, you will be working with
dynamically formed teams across multiple cities or countries, where
there may never be any direct physical interaction, but you still
need to get the job done. This, of course what most people think of
as a "virtual" team - all of the interactions are by
telephone or other electronic means. This is more of a "fully
virtual" team in our definition.
In your work you likely will, or
already are dealing with one or more of these virtual team types.
Virtual Teams are not a "New
Idea"
No, virtual teams are not a new
invention. They go back hundreds, even thousands of years. Any King
or Queen who dispatched armies or ships to explore or conquer put
their trust in the leaders and their crews/ranks who were heading out
- they were the "virtual extension" of the home team.
"But wait a minute", you say
- "that is completely different than virtual teams today".
Is it really? Well think about
it:
- Virtual team members rarely interact
physically with "headquarters"
- Messages are exchanged periodically
between the "in the field" team members, leaders and HQ
- You trust that those working in the
field are representing your interests and doing the best they can on
your behalf
- Those in the field are operating
independently, with initiative, and can solve problems on their own
(self-motivated)
- Distance is a factor (some degree of
physical separation, large or small)
So how is this really different from a
telecommuter, or on-site project manager or other team member, other
than the communication tools and time factors? (Envoy carriage or
carrier pidgeon vs email/phone, and days or months vs minutes)? Not
really so different, after all.
Familiarity breeds contempt? I don't
think so!
Whoever coined this phrase must have
been thinking about 19th century traditional management-employee
relationships, but this concept has no place in team development.
Teams gain strength when the people in the team get to know each
other - professionally in a work setting, and from a human
perspective as well - getting to know each other. A great team that
grows together cares together, shares together - and outpaces the
competition together. This also helps when someone is having a bad
day - familiarity promotes understanding and giving a little slack
now and then. But it is also a key factor in trust building. You only
can really trust who you know - so you had best get to know your
team.
If anything, lack of familiarity breeds
contempt and resentment in teams; it is a real show-stopper in the
functioning of the team. Anyone who has worked in a distributed
office model will have seen this - "we" and "them"
are the flag words. "Why do they do that? We never would do that
here..." and so on. Understanding each other, our perspectives
and where we are coming from (and why) can do nothing but strengthen
teams, especially virtual ones. So we need to build those bridges,
earn that trust, and get to know each other.
But how?
Face to Face - the ideal party
starter
There really is no ideal substitute for
a face to face interaction. You can survive for a long time (years
even) without being in the same room as the other person, and still
work together effectively. And there is no prescribed amount of face
time either - more is better, but some is better than none. You would
be surprised how even a 5 minute conversation will define your
relationship and your responses towards that person. Every time they
interact "virtually" with you - email/phone/videoconference
whatever, that initial personal interaction will come to mind and
temper your responses. All of the subconscious observations that
happen when face to face get stored away, and help to promote
long-term group bonding.
(This does bring to mind the importance
of first impressions, so smile, be nice and hope they don't remember
you as obnoxious or annoying).
Of course, we are social creatures, so
if and when there is an opportunity to catch up with the other team
members in person, take advantage of them - those few minutes (or
hours, or days) of conversation will help strengthen the bond even
further.
The same applies to the customer as it
does to your team - if you are able to attend the project kickoff in
person as the one and only site visit - make sure it happens. And if
you are the PM reading this - it is well worth the budget line item
expense to have the key people there from each team, at least - to
meet the rest of the project team and the customer at the outset.
Video vs Face to Face
There will be situations where some, or
even all of the team members will not be able to meet face to face at
some point in the project. It is not ideal, but all is not lost. A
number of video conferencing solutions exist, many of them free and
quite acceptable quality-wise as long as you have a decent Internet
connection. So if you can't be there in person - see and be seen. All
of the visual clues help in team bonding too.
Interestingly, some people are quite
uncomfortable or feel unnatural when faced with a camera; and for
some it may be a complete put-off. If this happens, don't sweat it -
turn off the camera and just have the phone call. The purpose of the
video was for more team engagement, but if it causes issues, use it
sparingly instead of forcing it on the team.
The Virtual Water Cooler
Many key decisions have taken place
around the water cooler, in a hallway, over coffee - anwhere but at
your desk. These impromptu meetings also help to strengthen the
relationships through social chatting as well. This dynamic still
applies in a virtual team - but obviously modified.
So what is the virtual equivalent of
the water cooler/coffee shop or hallway? Instant Messaging. MSN,
Sype, Yahoo!, Google, etc - all variations on the same theme, and you
can also get clients that bridge the gap between IM networks. Phone
calls are great of course too - but it seems easier to "chat"
somehow with IM - you can also be interacting with more than one team
member at a time if needed, where that would be rude on a phone call
to put someone "on hold". Brief delays in responses are
also more acceptable in IM - on the phone you feel the pressure to
respond right away, vs thinking about what you need to say.
For the past 10-11 years I have used
MSN as a business and social communication tool, because everyone
else on the team uses it, and new members are encouraged to use it as
well. I still use it on a daily basis - only as much as is needed,
but knowing people are available if you need help does reduce stress
when you are remote. Your colleagues (and expert help) are just a
click away.
However, social rules and norms do
apply here, rules that you will need to form in your own teams.
Simple things like not just chatting when you are bored, primarily
using it as a support and networking tool for work. And while you are
working on an issue together, of course it is OK to chat a bit while
you do.
Knowing your manager or a particular
expert is available if needed, but that you will only ping them when
you really need something helps too - they will be more likely to
respond positively if they are only interrupted when their help is
really needed. Because of course, we all have our own to-do lists we
are working through each day. Respecting each other's time, but
making yourselves available to each other helps to foster sharing and
strengthens the team.
Communication, Communication!
Out of sight really is out of mind.
Regular communications with your team members helps remind them they
are not out there "on their own" - there is a network of
people in the team working together. And unlike the old days where
messages took days, weeks or months to be delivered, today we have
near-instant access to each other.
I am not saying you should Spam each
other with a flurry of fluffy emails each day - but do stay in
contact by keeping people in the loop as needed. And if you are
thinking of someone you have not heard or received an email from in a
while, maybe reach out and check in on them. They might actually be
feeling lonely out there on the fringe.
Personally, I do not have daily
interactions with every one of my team members; it depends what is
going on that week, but I will have regular contact with each team
member at least once a week, and sometimes multiple times a day with
a team member if needed to support their specific tasks, or to make
decisions etc.
Are they ignoring me? Check your
outbox! The reason you may not have heard back from XYZ on the
questions you had on deliverable ABC may be because you forgot to
press SEND. Within your team if you develop a habit of positive
acknowledgement (i.e. Received, Thanks), this will help reduce things
falling through the cracks. If you have not received an
acknowledgement of your email within a day, perhaps you should
follow-up. Maybe they did not receive it. Maybe it got caught in
their Spam filter, or blocked due to attachments etc. So close the
loop on your communications by making sure the message was received.
When I send attachments to someone that
might get filtered out by their email server, I also send a short
email with no attachment asking them to confirm receipt of the other
email. Doing this, particularly when you know their email server has
a history of blocking emails with attachments, will help ensure the
message is delivered - and that you do not get behind on your
deliverables/tasks/etc.
This way, "we" also won't get
all twisted in a knot because "they" are ignoring us.
Communications involves sender and receiver - so make sure they
received it! And when you are all in the habit of positive
acknowledgement, things will work smoother with less frustration and
will result in less "them" and "us" talk - and
more "we" talk.
Note: You don't need to respond "OK"
to their "Thanks-received" message. Unless of course they
need to know that you received their acknowledgement (perhaps when
signing contracts or change orders). Otherwise it it just overkill.
Going Virtual
Ready to take the plunge and go
virtual? Perhaps reduce the corporate CO2 emissions by letting
everyone work from home a couple days a week? Great idea - just send
them home and tell them you will see them back in the office on
Thursday...?
But no, you need to actually do some
planning first, and probably some self-assessments. "Going
virtual" is not for everyone. Some people find it hard to work
on their own, and feel they need to be immersed in the office
environment in order to feel productive. This may be for a variety of
reasons - they may not feel motivated to do the work, there may be
too many distractions at home, they may miss the water cooler banter,
or they may just not be buying-in to the idea at all.
While many people can learn to work
effectively "virtually", there are some key things to
consider:
- Self-motivated people tend to adapt
easier
- You need "space" to work,
wherever that is, with a minimum of disruptions. (Not the corner of a
crowded dining room table with the kids runnning circles around you).
A separate room with a door is ideal. A locking door is even better.
- Define your work - setting specific
tasks and goals to achieve each day will help you focus.
- You do need breaks. But make the
breaks work with you - don't let distractions create the breaks for
you.
- Your work day may not be 9-5 any
more. Get used to doing effective, concentrated work in smaller
chunks and periodically larger chunks. You can get a lot done in as
little as 30 minutes, actually - when you focus.
- A satellite office may not seem "virtual" to those working in it, but they may be remote from everyone else. They might currently feel isolated and defensive - so make sure to reach out and include them, open those lines of communication.
My Virtual Leap
I used to be in the same time zone as
many of my clients, or at least within 2-3 hrs depending where they
were. Today, I work with customers and manage a team being quite
physically remote - not exactly as far from them as I could possibly
be, but far enough if you count living in "tomorrow" in the
South Pacific. Home is now New Zealand, and though I do travel a few
times a year, 90% of my year is spent "working virtually".
I end up with a very non-traditional
work week; my Monday is most client's Sunday, so it is generally very
quiet and a good catch-up day to prepare for the week, or have a
"date day" with my wife while the kids are at school and
there are no work time pressures. Depending on the time of year and
the client's timezone, I can end up with as little as 3 and up to 7
hours of work overlap for calls and meetings within their normal
business hours. The rest of the day is "getting it all done"
after the calls are finished.
Most weeks, it works pretty well.
However, there are some trade-offs; my Saturday is their Friday, so
there is less real overlap that day, especially with kids' sports on
the weekend.
And then there are times when the
morning/afternoon overlap is not adequate during crunch time, so
having a "more local" team member cover that time period
makes it all flow - and conversely, when the customer needs something
fixed for the next day - they can send the issue later in their day,
and the work will be done during my normal hours - usually getting it
done for them to use first thing in the morning their time (unless it
is a big deliverable).
And to extend that - last summer we had
one team member working while in India and another in Europe, so we
were able to hand off portions of some critical path work to follow
the sun during crunch times. During those months, "the sun never
set on the virtual team!"
Summary
You may already be working with Virtual
Teams, you just may not have realized it. Anyone who takes work home,
emails from the bus, airport or coffee shop is, to at least some
degree, participating as a Virtual Team Member while they are doing
so. The tools we have today, plus the prevalence of laptops, WiFi,
VoIP, smartphones, tablets etc all enable us to extend our reach, and
do more from almost anywhere. For some, the progression from
"part-time virtual" to "mostly virtual" or even
"fully virtual" may seem a natural course to pursue; for
others, just having the flexibility to be "sometimes virtual"
is enough.
Of course the other danger is that as
you are "connected" nearly everywhere you go, work follows
you there too - so it is even more important to strike a balance
between work, family and play. So when you are working with your
vitual team members, always be mindful of "when" they are
(if you know what timezone they are currently working in) - they may
be available after 6pm local but only in emergencies - or perhaps
they just left the laptop on - so don't be surprised if you don't get
a quick response sometimes. I have a timezone map plugin on my
calendar on the PC, so I know what time it is wherever they are.
For the past 11 years I have had mostly
positive experiences working with virtual teams - I do see many of
them face to face a few times a year, and I definitely look forward
to the social interaction when I do. And I very much enjoy training
customers in person, which happens a few times a year. So I cannot
quite say that I am "fully virtual" myself yet - perhaps
90% at most. I am not sure I would like to be "fully virtual"
as a solo act in one location for an indefinite period. But it is
good to know that my working relationship with the team and extended
team still flourishes no matter where I am, using the internet and
various communication tools. It helps that the extended team already
exists as a functioning virtual network - so the stretch of a few
more time zones and 7000 miles does not make that big a difference to
them.
Reading this, you may be "sometimes
virtual", "mostly virtual" or even "fully
virtual". But as long as you keep in mind that people are
people, and the Team itself is a very real thing, you can leverage
tools plus good common sense to effectively manage your team, no
matter the distance or time zones that separate you.
Originally posted on Gazza's
Corner by Gary Nelson, PMP Wed, 11 Apr
2012. Reposted with permission. All rights reserved. Click here
to see the original post.
Gary Nelson is the current Director of Communications for PMINZ, and is an independent IT consultant who has worked in the Telecom and Student Information System sectors since 1989, and has been working with virtual teams since 2001.
Gary Nelson is the current Director of Communications for PMINZ, and is an independent IT consultant who has worked in the Telecom and Student Information System sectors since 1989, and has been working with virtual teams since 2001.
