Volume 12 • Issue 1
WELCOME to our e-Newsletter on managing virtual project teams!
It has been a busy year for the AIM team with many ongoing projects and tools around virtual teams and improving the virtual business office based on my latest book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams. We begin with several projects to revamp our virtual teams and cross cultural brands and update our websites. When we look forward we are are energized for great things to come.
Thank you for your continued support and for letting me do what I love – helping you foster growth and innovation through bridging the human connection in the virtual workplace!
Best wishes, and enjoy the ride…
Life presents many challenges in the world, with natural disasters, political upheavals and economic uncertainty filling the headlines over the years. However. as the saying goes, challenges go hand in hand with opportunities. We at AIM are grateful that we were able to help our core audience navigate the various aftershocks of shifting global markets and technological change that may strike. We have worked with the ever-expanding virtual community, helping organizations connect their people resources to meet these demands. Their support and interest keep us firmly on track.
Helping companies in managing virtual project teams has long been a passion of mine, and I am pleased that this year my business reached across many locales, time zones and continents. The Virtual Business Office continues to spread, and I can only anticipate further cross cultural communication.
Here are selected highlights and links from articles I’ve penned on managing virtual project teams, as well as presentations and webinars I conducted, which may be helpful as you navigate your own virtual challenges.
What it Takes to Run an Effective Meeting
• AMA webinar How to Effectively Lead Virtual Team Meetings
• Article from HR.com 10 Tips for Making Your Conference Calls More Productive
How to Create Communication Cues in the Virtual World
• HR.com Webcast Virtual Teams; Creating Context in a Virtual World
• HR.com Webcast 5 Secrets to Engaging “Lost Riders” on Your Virtual Teams
• Article in People & Strategy Importance of Cross-Cultural Communication & Overcoming Intercultural Disconnect in Your Virtual Team
Techniques and Best Practices for Managing Virtual Project Teams
• Video Interview WATCH-IT Managing Virtual Teams: Techniques and Best Practices
• Article in Technology & Society Getting Deliverables Out the Door with Your Virtual Team – Administering CPR
Characteristics of High Performing Virtual Teams
• HR/NY Presentation AIM for Excellence: 8 Characteristics of High Performing Virtual Teams
My book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams, continues to impact both managers and team members who look for ways to collaborate more productively, and I happily share lessons learned with various interviewers and bloggers Click here to download a free chapter!
What’s ahead? Any time is an opportunity to hit the restart button, offering the potential for progress, if only incremental, in meaningful ways. Our global neighborhood is continually shrinking, and the pace seems to accelerate every year. For professionals in the ‘people’ development side of business, and project managers who rely on virtual teams to get deliverables out the door, the potential for connecting people has never been greater than today.
… and that brings me to my predictions about what the future holds for virtual teams!
• CLOUD COMPUTING will continue to spread, with enterprise apps proliferating. Mobile apps will continue to evolve, and I expect that companies will tie multiple systems together to leverage data, making it easier and faster to transform data into useful information.
How does those managing virtual project teams? Sharing information and communicating across time and space will become more fluid – but the potential for cultural misunderstandings will increase. To guard against this, sharpen your cross cultural antennas, and make a special effort to regularly enable regular interactions across your virtual team.
• SOCIAL MEDIA will continue to be important outreach outlets, and no organization should ignore their potential. Enterprise-level Facebook and LinkedIn accounts will become as commonplace as corporate websites, with blog postings containing useful updates for a variety of stakeholders. Virtual team members who automatically visit their Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, among others, to keep current with colleagues can further use this phenomenon to regularly share information.
• VIRTUAL TRAINING takes a giant leap. Each year I deliver more programs via webinars and video conferences than the previous year – and not only do I post to my blog regularly, I post comments on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook weekly. The paradigm shift has shifted, thanks to increased availability, reduced business travel and greater audience participation in technology-enabled virtual training.
You and your virtual teammates can look forward to seamless sessions led by subject matter experts, delivered on demand. Colleagues can more easily share resources, solve problems and tackle complex issues.
What do all of my predictions have in common? If you work in a virtual business office take note – you’ll need to significantly hone your senses when not in the room. Do the following: (1) improve your ability to read cues when you can’t look a colleague in the eye; (2) keep in mind that some team members may need extra help understanding your language; (3) stay sensitive to those from different cultures since your own communications may be misinterpreted, and (4) build trust within the team so that teammates represent each other’s interests when they are not present.
One thing remains consistent – be it today, twenty years ago or twenty years from now: Teamwork is a joint effort. The stronger the human connections within your team, the better your chances of success at getting deliverables out the door.
Enjoy exploring the ever-evolving world of the virtual business office.
AIM Strategies® Applied Innovative Management® is a results-driven Human Capital Consulting firm specializing in the areas of: Global Leadership Development, Co-located and Virtual Team Facilitation, Cross Cultural Communications, and Change Integration Services. To request information about AIM’s experiential learning methods (5D’s™ Consulting/Proprietary Training Methodology and ACT™ Coaching Process), please email info@aim-strategies.com. In upcoming issues of this newsletter, we’ll update you on tips and techniques related to raising your innovative management IQ. We are confident that the solutions we develop fit your needs and culture. Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues and visit www.aim-strategies.com to learn more about how our services unlock the people potential of your organization!
