The Hindu Discusses Yael’s Book On Virtual Work Teams
My latest book on virtual work teams and the virtual business office was recently reviewed by Mr. Murali of The Hindu, the leading English language daily in India with circulation well over a million. Having written books, articles and short pieces before, it is always amazing to read how someone else interprets my views, understands underlying themes and appreciates key messages. Mr. Murali does a fantastic job of making the connection about the importance of the human connection in this brave new world. The underlying message of my book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams, is about the importance of human connection, collaboration and leadership. This review addresses virtual team leaders to create transparency, guide teams towards collaboration and create a sustainable connection among members.
Below is a short video of me presenting this material at NYU Poly:
The Hindu article picked up on several important elements, including my simple definition of virtual work teams and the practicality of the ‘fifty-foot rule’ – whereby after about fifty feet (or fifteen meters), it does not matter whether team members are on different floors of the same building or in different countries.
After reading my book, Mr. Murali chose to summarize “Team Code”, explaining that this important step clarifies the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors that guide team communications. In a few paragraphs, he describes “Email Etiquette” and also illustrates the challenges of dealing with “Lost Riders”. These are all concepts are near and dear to my heart. They guide your virtual team journey and help you notice situations that could lead to potential issues early in a new project during virtual team setup.
To top this off, the article closes with one of my top three key messages: virtual leaders are no longer ‘Agents of Change’ since that notion no longer works; global leaders are now ‘Agents of Connection’ ensuring that virtual work teams’ success is directly related to how well team members are connected with others and how willing they are to trust their own teams to solve problems. Mr. Murali so eloquently puts it in his last sentence as he writes, “The very nature of a dispersed team means that virtual leaders can no longer successfully manage through command-and-control techniques, the author instructs. The different kind of leadership – as the agent of connection – that she describes is about focusing on collaboration by encouraging people to rise above their differences and connect at the human level.”
Thank you for an enjoyable read. I am so glad that my book serves as a guide as it was intended.
Video Transcript:
Human beings at their core, just like the lady over here said before, it’s about relationships right? I need to create a relationship with somebody I don’t see and then they have different styles of personalities and so, human beings at our core still crave connection, the relationship, that’s how business still gets done, so how do you do it in the virtual world?
When should we use an email, when should we use a voice mail and sometimes when I actually work with a team with a virtual team to help them create the code, the team code. I work with them on “What if…” scenarios. What if you’re on vacation? What if you don’t respond to me?
And then he, still in my mind he said I’m not multitasking, I’m just rapidly refocusing. That’s a skill, right?
