Building and Managing Effective Virtual Teams

In my MBA class tonight I plan to discuss virtual teams and how information and communication technologies enable organizations to create a virtual team of people who work together on a project without working at the same location. Through the use of web conferencing, instant messaging, collaborative office automation tools (ie. Google docs), and the emergence of so many other collaborative tools or collaborative features in our tools we are now able to work as effectively as if we were co-located. Members of our teams can work in any location across the world where an Internet connection is available. We can form collaborative teams and have these teams work effectively as if they were located in the same office space.

However, just because technology has provided us with tools it doesn't mean that we are now instantly granted the ability to effectively work as virtual teams. There are many challenges in correctly applying these tools, building the trust needed to work effectively, and providing leadership for these virtual teams. While these challenges exist in co-located teams, the solution to these challenges are different in the virtual team environment.

I came across two articles (here and here) providing some simple advice for developing and managing effective virtual teams. The main point is that building and managing virtual teams is different than managing traditional teams; especially if these team members originate from different cultures. One example is the formalization of roles and processes. In the virtual team environment, the roles of each team member must clearly defined as well as the processes the team will follow. This formalization is different than the more loosely defined rolls and ad-hoc processes we can use with the traditional team. The virtual team members are not able to intuitively grasp the shifting roles or processes as if they were interacting in-person.

Since the virtual team works with more limited communication among the team members it is important to establish norms for the mode of communication, the expectations for behavior in the communications (no background noise or interruptions, etc.), the frequency and timing of communication, and the ability to have one-on-one contact with team members. Establishing these norms early on the in the team formation allows the team members to know what to expect and to figure out how the team will work together. The ability to have one-on-one interactions and spontaneous interactions will help build trust and understanding among the team members.

The commonality between these two articles is the formalization needed to support virtual teams. We need to formalize the roles of the team members, formalize how decisions are made, and formalize how and when the team interacts with each other. This formalization helps to establish the guidelines for operating as a team. Co-located teams do not require such formalization but they are offered the luxury (or disadvantage; depending how you look at it) of having immediate and frequent interactions with each other.

So, if you plan work work as a virtual team or if you plan to lead a virtual team, be sure to first spend time formalizing the guidelines which the team will operate under. This formalization helps the team become more effective by allowing them to focus on the objectives rather than figuring out how to work together.