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Conclusion: Six Lessons for Successful Virtual Teams

As you’ve gone through each chapter, we hope you’ve learned some tactics you can put into practice today and in the future. Now we’d like to ask you to step back and take a broader look at some ‘‘big picture’’ principles.

The survey results that inspired this book point to six general lessons for successful virtual teams. These broader themes relate (sometimes directly and other times indirectly) to the topics that we’ve covered. They are summarized below.

Lesson 1: Focus on People Issues

Essentially, successful teaming depends largely on the effective interaction of team members. And because an inherent lack of human contact comes with the territory with virtual teams, they must compensate by finding ways to support team spirit, trust, and productivity.

As we’ve observed in earlier chapters, approaches to virtual teamwork are different from those used for conventional teams, and such matters of communication and culture — the so-called ‘‘people issues’’ — take on a heightened relevance to the success of these teams.

What are the warning signs that your virtual team’s people issues need more attention? Do team members work indepen- dently and fail to collaborate or effectively interact with other members of the team? Or have you noticed that an ‘‘us versus them’’ mentality has developed between locations or subgroups?

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Conclusion: Six Lessons for Successful Virtual Teams

Lesson 1: Focus on People Issues

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148 VIRTUAL TEAM SUCCESS

What can you do to improve communication and relation- ships among team members? We suggest eight possible actions:

1. Develop a team web page where virtual team members can share information and get to know one another.

2. Create ways for team members to interact and communicate informally (virtual water cooler).

3. Build a collective ‘‘resource bank’’ to share experiences.

4. Find ways to ‘‘spotlight’’ team members.

5. Send newsletters or updates to the team.

6. Create ways to virtually celebrate successes as a team.

7. Partner team members at different locations and rotate these periodically.

8. Invite thought leaders or speakers to engage with the team, particularly on relevant topics or ideas.

Lesson 2: No Trust, No Team

Trust is the second of three factors that impact virtual team success. Task-based trust is one of the strongest determinants of high performance and one of the factors that differentiates top-performing teams.

As we’ve said, in virtual teams trust seems to develop more readily at the task level than at the interpersonal level. There are four warning signs that your team’s members are suffering from low levels of trust. They include:

1. Team members do not refer to themselves as ‘‘we.’’

2. Team members do not appear to know one another very well.

3. Team members are openly negative.

4. Team members do not regard the commitments of others as credible.

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CONCLUSION: SIX LESSONS FOR SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TEAMS 149

When faced with this situation, our research found that team members can build trust when:

• Teams meet face-to-face at least once early on in the team’s formation.

• Communication is truly open.

• Members feel empowered to make and act on decisions.

• Conflicts are managed and not avoided.

• The team leader models and reinforces these positive behaviors.

Lesson 3: “Soft” Skills Are Essential

The presence of ‘‘soft’’ skills makes a difference in virtual team performance. We found that virtual teams who have been through team building and interpersonal skill development perform bet- ter than those that have not. Therefore, soft skills do matter. Unfortunately, despite the strong link between training and vir- tual team performance, many organizations do not make this important investment.

Another all-too-common practice, selecting team members based solely on their technical skills, only increases the likelihood you will have to deal with this performance barrier. The obvious solution is to include a demonstrated competence in areas like conflict management and collaboration in the selection criteria.

The reality, of course, is that team leaders often don’t get to pick who will be on their teams. In some cases, team members do not have the necessary interpersonal skills to be successful. In these situations we recommend:

• Team-building sessions — Ideally conducted at an initial or subsequent face-to-face team meeting, the team-building session will help team members get to know each other better, strengthen working relationships, and create team momentum that can enhance team effectiveness.

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150 VIRTUAL TEAM SUCCESS

• Needs assessments and skill development — Assess development needs for team members and team leaders and work on building and strengthening skills focused on these areas. This can be done through training, on-the-job assignments, and other developmental activities.

• Repeat — Continuously reassess and monitor team interaction and team needs.

Lesson 4: Watch Out For Performance Peaks

Virtual teams that have been working together for more than three years tend to be more successful than teams working together for less time. However, be aware that in some virtual teams performance tends to peak after approximately one year and then declines. While high-performing virtual teams avoid this problem by implementing strategies to overcome this peak and subsequent decline, less-effective teams are not able to do so. Therefore it’s important to look out for warning signs that your virtual team may be approaching its performance peak.

When you see the warning signs of a post-peak performance decline — team members get along well but do not produce results, there is an apparent lack of clarity or direction, team members do not commit adequate time to the team — there are four actions you can take:

1. Clearly define team roles and accountabilities to minimize frustration and misunderstandings that can damage morale and derail productivity.

2. Review team processes regularly (collaboration, decision making, and problem solving).

3. Periodically examine the level of team performance. Collect feedback from various stakeholders to assess the team’s performance.

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CONCLUSION: SIX LESSONS FOR SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TEAMS 151

4. Based on the outcomes, identify barriers to high perfor- mance, as well as steps that can be taken to overcome these barriers. Ensure that team success factors are retained.

Lesson 5: Create a “High-Touch” Environment

Electronic technology has made virtual teaming possible, but it is not a perfect substitute for human interaction. One of the greatest performance barriers is the inability to replicate a ‘‘high-touch’’ environment in a virtual setting. While meeting face-to-face requires time and expense, virtual teams that invest in one or two such meetings per year perform better overall than those that do not.

Poor communication, a lack of engagement, and a lack of attention during virtual meetings are a few of the warning signs that a high-touch environment is not being achieved. There are, however, several things that can be done to reverse this situation:

• Leverage synchronous tools (such as instant messaging) to increase spontaneous communication.

• Use tools such as electronic bulletin boards to create a sense of shared space.

• Carefully choose communication technologies that are most appropriate to the specific task: ◦ Avoid using conference calls when information could be

distributed via email or intranet posting. ◦ Remember, email is good for simple information sharing,

while conference calls are better suited for interactive sharing of ideas or plans.

• Develop a communication strategy but re-examine these processes over time.

• Make wider use of videoconferencing. Our survey data suggests that teams that use video technology perform better in general than those that do not.

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152 VIRTUAL TEAM SUCCESS

When trying to achieve a high touch virtual environment, it is important to watch out for ‘‘technology overkill.’’ Teams that reported using a high number of communication methods tended to be among the low performers, as they were likely using too many technologies with minimal impact.

Lesson 6: Virtual Team Leadership Matters

Leadership is the most important factor for the success of virtual teams. Our study and other research shows that leadership does, in fact, have a statistically significant correlation with higher performance on virtual teams. To be effective, team leaders in a virtual environment must be especially sensitive to interpersonal communication and cultural factors to overcome the limitations of long-distance teaming.

The warning signs of an ineffective team leader include: (1) the team isn’t meeting its performance objectives and deliverables are delayed or of poor quality; (2) relationships between the team members and the leader are damaged; (3) the leader is not clear about the team’s direction or purpose; and (4) the team leader pays more attention to members who are at his or her location or with whom he or she has the best relationships.

Organizations can avoid this problem by selecting team lead- ers who not only have the necessary technical skills but who also have the soft skills required to effectively lead in a virtual environment. According to our research, the critical interper- sonal characteristics of an effective virtual team leader include communication and influencing skills, the ability to consistently motivate others, the ability to build relationships, and the ability to coach and develop others.

Another leadership quality — being committed to seeing out- comes through from start to finish — plays a prominent role in distinguishing high- from medium-performing teams.

If you’re a team leader, it’s not easy to learn that you may be the cause of your team’s poor performance. But should you find

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CONCLUSION: SIX LESSONS FOR SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TEAMS 153

yourself faced with this challenge, there are several things you can do to improve performance:

• Set clear goals and direction, and revisit these as priorities shift.

• Engage team members in development of strategies. • Provide time early on for team building and coordinate

periodic face-to-face meetings.

• Find ways to ensure that team members feel included.

• Provide timely feedback to team members. Be responsive and accessible.

• Emphasize common interests and values and reinforce cooperation and trust.

• Create a system to easily integrate new team members.

• Teach the importance of conflict resolution.

• Celebrate team achievements and successes.

• Focus on the four elements of successful teamwork (relationships, accountability, motivation, and purpose/process).

Closing Thoughts

Organizations that get it right know that virtual teams and co-located teams are as different as apples and oranges. But unfortunately, too many organizations have yet to catch on to this critical truth.

We’ve seen plenty of well-intentioned companies fail because they treat their virtual teams the same way they treat their co-located teams. And then there are the organizations that start virtual teams on a whim without the proper planning or follow-up — never a recipe for success.

Many companies think that if they have the right technology their virtual teams can’t possibly fail. As a result, they neglect other interpersonal and structural factors necessary for virtual teamwork.

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154 VIRTUAL TEAM SUCCESS

Technology is, of course, only a tool. While it’s important for virtual teams, our research shows that it’s a prerequisite rather than a differentiator. Technological advancements will certainly continue to impact how people collaborate and work together from a distance. As technologies that bridge distance and help compensate for the lack of face-to-face interaction continue to develop, virtual teamwork will become much easier and more efficient.

Organizations frequently set up virtual teams and task forces to address particular business needs. However, as mentioned before, they jump in without really understanding what they’re getting themselves into. By coupling better planning with the right mix of communication technologies, they could dramatically improve their chances for success.

It’s important that organizations ensure they have the proper structure and systems in place to support virtual teamwork. For example, in addition to the technology, leaders need to have the appropriate skills to lead from a distance. There also need to be recognition and reward systems in place to reinforce virtual collaboration. Even if virtual teams have all of the appropriate systems and structural issues taken care of, it’s imperative that they build trust and focus on the people issues that are fundamental to success.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Foresight 2020: Economic, Industry, and Corporate Trends report1 outlines five key trends for the future. Two of these trends, globalization and knowledge management, are particularly relevant to virtual teamwork. With the continued proliferation of global trends such as outsourcing, cross-organizational collaboration, and joint ventures, virtual collaboration is likely to increase exponentially in the future. And the shift from production to knowledge work will also impact how employees do their jobs.

While we may be a long way from creating organizations that are entirely virtual, the workplace of the future will likely look very different. As Townsend asserts,2 ‘‘This new workplace will be

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CONCLUSION: SIX LESSONS FOR SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TEAMS 155

unrestrained by geography, time, and organizational boundaries; it will be a virtual workplace where productivity, flexibility, and collaboration will reach unprecedented new levels.’’

As companies continue to expand their global reach, they will rely heavily on virtual teams to achieve business objectives. The good news is that these teams can be extremely successful. However, they must put forth the required investments of time and resources to ensure that they can perform to the best of their abilities. Based on our research and experiences working with virtual teams, organizations that take the necessary steps to successfully launch them and to ensure that there are processes in place to assess their performance experience much greater virtual team success over time.

The Bottom Line

While virtual teams should not be viewed as a panacea for organizations, when properly implemented and supported, they can be a competitive advantage.

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