Balancing Technology Management and Leadership Myth or Reality? Technology On Virtual Teams Is Most Important.
Welcome to Myths and Realities of Virtual Teams.
This week we explore Balancing Technology Management and Leadership in Virtual Teams Myth #3.
Myth #3: TECHNOLOGY ON VIRTUAL TEAMS IS MOST IMPORTANT.
Reality: Technology is the enabler, the tool, the means to an end when managing virtual project teams. More than any other factor, information technology has enabled the proliferation of virtual teams. With mobile devices, text messaging, e-learning modules, and cloud computing, virtual team members are able to interact and communicate in more accessible ways, anywhere, anytime. Thanks to high-speed networking technology and wireless connectivity, instantaneous communication across the world is possible, at low cost, at a touch of a button, screen, or keyboard. But technology by itself is not the most important factor when it comes to balancing technology management and leadership in virtual teams. The human element is an essential requirement as well. After all, work gets done through relationship and people. In fact, getting team members to collaborate across time zones, distance and space require a greater combination of the technological and human connection. This is what leadership in a virtual world is all about. As virtual team management expert Yael Zofi states, “When it comes to virtual teams, the human connection is the glue that gets virtual project work done in the new global business environment.” Technology plays a major role in how virtual teams operate, communicate and collaborate, but true success comes from relationship building, team development and the human connection.
Advice: While interviewing various managers for my latest book,A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams, one Virtual Manager at an Aircrafts Parts and Equipment Company provided an example of balancing technology management and leadership with the human connection in his teams. And he says:
“I was surprised at how long it took to get my virtual team to work. I needed to think about the interaction and team dynamics a lot more than the technology connections. Working virtually is not the same because there are no informal interactions (before, after the meeting, at the water cooler) and it takes more time to enable the people factor. Even though we had the best technology available, the team needed more touch. As a virtual manager, you need to build it (the human connection) and there is more effort and time required. It was cool when it worked.”
Stay tuned for Virtual Teams Myth #4 next week!
