Listen To Yael Zofi Discuss Leadership in A Virtual World
Tune in to BlogTalkRadio for a free podcast on leadership in a virtual world featuring Yael. The interview by Virtual Work Team LLC owner, Shilonda Downing, will focus on a popular topic these days, Managing Virtual Teams Successfully.
Yael will lend her 20+ years of consulting and behavioral science techniques experience to this lively discussion on transformational initiatives to enable stronger human connection and leadership in a virtual world. In addition, she will share tips she’s learned in the field coaching global managers and their teams on balancing technology management and leadership, as well as highlights from the interviews with 150 executives she conducted for her book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams.
During the podcast, listeners will have a chance to call in and speak with the host by dialing (714) 583-6872.
If you miss this podcast, the recording will be available via You Tube in the near future. Contact AIM Strategies at:mailings@aim-strategies.com for the latest information about this and other appearances.
Here is a one of Yael’s highlights from the interview:
Technology and globalization enabled Virtual Teams, because we have technology at our fingertips and it’s getting better, and globalization, we are a small world. One of the things that is a distinct difference in a Virtual Team is that, and in identifying what is a definition of a Virtual Team that I find interesting is that in my research no one had the same definition of what is a Virtual Team. There were so many different definitions in terms of network teams, or parallel teams or product teams, service team or offshore teams, but there is no consistent definition. So, I took a look at the definition. The core definition of any team is a common purpose. They have to get something done. Whether they are formed temporarily to get something done or they form through a network, a team of any kind is a bunch of resources, a bunch of talents coming together trying to get something done.
So, my definition which I simplified was that a Virtual Team, whether across the street or across the world, is a team whose members work simultaneously together on a common purpose while physically apart. Now the interesting thing is that across the street or across the world, because it does not matter, although people think a Virtual Team is somebody who is far away or overseas or in a different state, that’s not necessarily the case. It is the fifty feet rule or fifteen meter rule, because you can work as much with a team member who is virtual who is across the street or a different floor in the same building, or in a different part of the state and not see your teammate and that means that you’re working in a Virtual Team. So the challenges are a bit different for leadership in a virtual world and people are having a hard time with that, same with the work at home concept.
Traditional management and traditional managers who like to have more command control like to be able to observe, see or know that you’re seating at your desk doing your work. In leadership in a virtual world, you got to let go of that control and instead build the accountability and trust. So, building accountability into a virtual team is extremely important. So it’s more like manage by deliverables and manage by accountability rather than manage by watching people.
