Virtual Global Teams
From Dar
CoPs and teams
At first glance it might appear that Virtual Global Teams are almost the same thing as distributed Communities of Practice, but many would disagree pointing out that a CoP is not the same as team. Teams are usually put together in order to help accomplish a particular task, are not usually voluntary nor comprised purely of horizontal peers.
But a study of the experience of teams is likely to benefit CoPs facilitators to some extent, as long as the differences are kept in mind.
Mathew Moore began the following distilled tipsheet after wading through literature about VGTs, now further adapted by Arthur Shelley
Virtual Global Teams (VGT) – Checklist
Definitions
- Team = A group of people working together towards a common set of objectives
- Virtual = team members are not physically co-located and will rarely meet face-to-face.
- Global = team members come from and work in different cultures and time zones.
Direction and leadership (WHY does the team interact?)
- Any team requires a goal and a set of objectives - make sure each team member can clearly articulate and agree on these.
- Any team requires a leader. In a VGT, the leader will be unable to micromanage the day-to-day activities of team members. Instead, their role should be to enable/empower team members to meet the objectives they have been set.
- An understanding of what benefits will come from participation with this team. (could do with a verb in this one!)
People (interacting to build communication and trust)
- Mutual trust is a vital component of any team, but is especially so in virtual team.
- VGTs perform better if they have had a face-to-face meeting early on in their activities.
- VGT members should understand that others from different cultures may not share the same values. Members need to take time to understand each other to cope with the inevitable miscommunications that will arise.
- VGT members need to communicate with each other outside official team meetings.
- VGT members need to respond quickly and openly to each other’s requests for help.
- VGT members should focus on communicating their intent to each other.
- Activities need to scheduled with sensitivity to each team member’s geographic and time zone needs – share the pain.
Processes (How do we work together across geographic and time boundaries)
VGTs need to have clear and well-documented processes. Within these processes, responsibility for specific activities should be unambiguously assigned. Documentation is shared in a central repository with clear version control.
Tools (Supporting team interactions and making the processes easier)
All team members are aware of the technology options available and are proficient their use. The team should be able to use a mix of technologies (phone, email, instant messaging, portal, wiki, forums, profiles, blogs, shared bookmarks) and select the appropriate technology platform for each task.
VGT Health Check
- Each team member can say what the three key team objectives are and why these are benefits.
- We have regular interactive meetings where all members get the opportunity to speak at least once a month, scheduled at appropriate times.
- Each team member knows at least one thing about another team member beyond their role in this team.
- We have a set of well-documented processes for 80% of our activities.
- We have a central document repository.
- Every team member can say which communication technology they would use in a given situation and why.
If the answer is “no” to any of these 6 questions, you need to address this point for the team to work effectively.
Other Resources
Distrbuted Team Work - Chris Kimble
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~kimble/teaching/mis/Distributed_Team_Work.html
