Hello, all.
This course in dispersed and virtural teams is off to a fine start. It seems that there is a great sense of enthusiasm, leadership, adaptability, creativity, and a fine sense of responsibility. These are all key to successful virtual team operations. Congrats!
For some the virtual workplace will be new, while others of you currently work in some form of virtual, or hybrid work environment. That will help the course run more smoothly. It is important for those of you experienced with virtual teams to share your insights with, as well as assist, those who do not have this background.
With this in mind, I want to share a few practical tips about working in a virtual team environment.
1. A critical skill is self-management. One has to take the responsibility, and be disciplined enough to set out to understand the primary task and deliverable, develop a project plan with its various activities and action steps, and manage one's own time. As delve into the text, you will see that this is a pivotal team member skill. It is a given.
2. In virtual environments there is a feeling of distance and isolation. It is difficult to "sense or feel" team mates. This is particularly difficult when the pressure is high, or a problem arises. Team members, as well as the project lead, need to know when to "inject high-touch" components or moments of high social capital--phone calls, video conferences, face-to-face meetings, etc. Project team leaders are always monitoring individuals and the team environment, assisting team members to have a clear group identity, feeling of belonging to a work community, and sense of contributing and feeling valued. The project manager also enables the team to chart and understand the progress it is making.
3. This characteristics is coupled with leadership. Everyone must feel a sense of accountability, and be willing to take various types of leadership roles as needed. One cannot wait for the project leader, or program manager to send directives, ask questions, provide resources, etc. If one needs something, has a question, discovers a way to solve a problem or do something better, or sees an issue that needs to be addressed, one must speak up and/or act. It is a united, creative, team effort.
4. Virtual environments by nature are characterized by ambiguity, uncertainty, and interpretation, as well as flexibility and spontaneity. There is an element of confusion at times. It is just a natural quality of working in a dynamic and complex global workplace.One, with the help of teammates, needs to discern the task and issues at hand, and proceed. One has to take ownership of the job, and risk interpreting what is being required, and what needs to be done. A quality, appropriate final product, or deliverable, is what is important. How you get there is often up to the team.
5. Experimentation and glitches are also aspects of the dispersed technological workplace. This means that one is often devising approaches, testing ideas, and problem-solving. Ideas and processes may or may not work. It is important to be welling to "risk trying something new and different," than sticking with the "tried and true" that does not fit the situation. Key leadership attributes is foster and reward experimenattion, and learn from failures.Team members need to be comfortable with the "technological or computer world view." One has to be willing to experiement with technology, figure out how it works by one's self, and discern how to effectively use it. Then, there is the "frailty" of the technology and the information and communication systems that are deployed to make dispersed teams possible. At times it is hard to decipher how to use it, or it "breaks down." Patience is needed to ward off the frustartion and anxiety that can easily emerge in the virtual environment.
Lastly, keep in mind the emerging concept of "mass collaboration." You are broken into teams, but its does not mean that you cannot aid each other to be successful. The ultimate course goal is that all learn. Different groups will develop different collaboration and communication techniques. When a group runs into a problem, it does not mean that you cannot ask other groups for insight in resolving it. Don't forget work colleagues, Internet resources, etc. Find the knowledge you need to complete the task in a high quality manner.
As Tapsoctt and Williams state in Wikinomics "Winning companies today have open and porous boundaries and compete by reaching outside their walls to harness external knowledge, resources and capabilities....[T]his adds up to a new kind of collaborative enterprise--an ecosystem of peers that is constantly shaping and reshaping clusters of knowledge and capability to compete on a gloabl basis" (p. 290).
OK, that is all for now.
Chuck Piazza
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6 comments:
I believe that most of working area has their own dispersed team to work with. To me working long distance is difficult as well as working with foreigners. Let me give you an example. As an international student, there were always times that I want to experss something but I didn't seem to be succeed because of the language barrier. Then the unfortunate leaded to another problem like the feeling of isolation. Because I was afraid to speak so I felt alone and unsure. From that point on I had no confidence and I was afraid to take any responsibilities of any tasks assigned to me. However, I found that the problems would be gone once I managed relationships with the team member before the project started. If everyone can except my weak point and I can be myself then I feel comfortable to work as a team. I'm willing to work my best for the team and be a part of the team as much as others do. Therefore, I believe that the very first step in dispersed team is getting to know each team member. This was they can accept each other and work with understanding of everyone's weaknesses.
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Managing relationships between team members can be difficult enough within a shared office space, but it's even more challenging when workers are all over the country - or the world. Team members may be in different time zones, speak different languages, and have different cultures. All starts from choosing your team members with right qualities for a task and situation. It’s always critical to choose team member who have self-managed and self-motivated and able to work independently. Also team members have to have strong communication skills and should be open and honest. Once you selected right people to work it’s less complicated to manage a team.
When working in a dispersed or virtual environment, I believe the agreed source of communication between the team member should always be open. For example, when working virtually, if the agreed source of communication is via email it is imperative that team members should check their emails on daily basis to keep each other posted on the progress or to help one another when any issues arise. Self management and being accountabile for your own action is very important. When working as team member, members are working together. There shouldn't be any sort of competition or unwillingness to help another member. On the contrary members of the team shouldn't rely on other team members for everything either. Working in teams involves a great deal of patience, understanding and discipline.
Natty- you are so correct when you mention managing relationships. Team members come from different experiences and the success of the virtual team deliverables is directly related to relationship management.
Zoloo- It is important to chose memember the bring quality to the team but at times one does not have the luxury of choice. When working virtually across continents and even across organizations the members are designated. We then must manage our relationships to yield succesful outcomes.
Sherell- I will simply quote you because "Working in teams involves a great deal of patience, understanding and discipline."
Elizabeth
Elizabeth
Natty -- I can understand your potential feeling of isolation with a dispersed team, and as a team member of yours this quarter I am happy to see that you take the initiative to establish rapport with team members prior to a project starting.
That being said, there are many other obstacles that can cause a perceived sense of isolation -- language barriers, a teammate having an overworked schedule, lack of interest in a project, etc. And with these difficulties that teammates can have towards a project, not all will take the initiative to overcome such barriers. I believe that it is also a team leader's duty to establish rapport with his/her own team members, and to proactively engage teammates into a project. As the team leader of my group, I have already experienced the necessity of establishing rapport with each of my team members, and to work towards establishing more of a cohesive group (as opposed to having a dispersed team that feels segmented and unengaged).
Relationship management is a key duty in a team leader's role, especially with regards to a dispersed team. It is ultimately the team leader's responsibility to make an effort towards having members feel comfortable & engaged in a given project.
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