A Look Into the Trends of Virtual Work Teams
Some of you know that I was invited to write a book on virtual work teams called A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams. To make this virtual work teams book practical, I spent the last ten months interviewing over 180 virtual project team managers and members, ranging from CEOs and other senior level executives to mid-level managers and individual contributors. Countries and cultures from five continents were represented – Asia, North America, South America, Africa and Europe. This virtual working group research is particularly interesting because it covers a diverse range of industries across our globe, from Health Care to Software, from Financial Services to Retail, from Manufacturing to Aviation.
As you can imagine, the experiences these individuals shared led to several interesting insights and conclusions. The AIM Team has summarized our findings in a short report that highlights the top five trends uncovered in these interviews and created a podcast link. Topics covered include: challenges and surprises faced while setting up virtual work teams; establishing trust and accountability; communicating context across cultures and time zones; delivering results; looking to the future of virtual teams and more.
Podcast Transcript:
Jenna: Hello and welcome to the virtual work teams podcast, My name is Jenna Thornton and today we will discuss the unique trends found in AIM’s field research program. As part of this program we interviewed 150 virtual work teams leaders, members, and global executives over a 10 month period. This research was conducted in preparation for Yael Zofi’s upcoming book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams, to be released in Winter of 2010. And – this podcast provides a sneak preview with key highlights around how virtual work teams communicate, build trust, confront conflict, and deliver results successfully. Our report, which is available on our website aim-strategies.com, provides greater detail about these trends and the future of virtual teams.
Jenna: I am here with Yael Zofi, Founder & CEO of AIM Strategies® and author of several books, including her latest book on Virtual Teams. Joining her are researchers Galit Ronen and Emily Linder.
So what is the future of virtual work teams? We will shortly find out the answer to this important question about the most popular team in the world: THE VIRTUAL TEAM!
Jenna: So welcome Yael, Emily, and Galit
Everyone: Hello Jenna
Jenna: Yael, I’ll start with you:
What made you decide to write the book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams?
Yael: For over 20 years I’ve dealt with a variety of teams in the public and private sector. I’ve been both an observer and a participant in the change from on-site, traditional teams to teams that work in separate locations anywhere in the world. I’m always curious about how human beings connect, how teams develop and what happens when different cultures come together. My passion is to investigate, design and innovate, and at my company, AIM Strategies® – Applied Innovative Management® – we always try to maintain that spirit.
This book actually developed in a roundabout way. In the late 1990’s I was working on a GlobaLeadership Model that looked at key elements of successful leadership in the 21st Century. I then accepted a multinational assignment that involved over 20K people where I was exposed to important trends, such as outsourcing/off shoring, the dot.com boom/bust, and the rise of BRIC countries– Brazil, Russia, India and China. By 2000 my ideas about what global leadership would mean were tested against these real world scenarios. I knew then that I had the core of something important. Global leadership in the new century would definitely be about connecting people in an increasingly virtual world.
Jenna: How does this tie in with what you call the ‘Agent of Connection’?
Yael: At that time I spoke at several conferences and wrote articles about the concept of moving from ‘Agent of Change’ to ‘Agent of Connection’ – and how the role of the leader is to be the people connector. I even published a book called ‘Communicating Through a Global Lens’. But that wasn’t enough. I wanted to write another book about and it became clear that ‘virtual work teams ‘was a better topic. The publisher liked my idea around human connection in virtual teams. So everything came full circle. My work in the past focused on helping teams become more effective, and now I focus on enabling that human connection – – even when team members are not in the same room.
Jenna: That is quite interesting. So what is your message – the message you hope to convey to your readers?
Yael: Today, even though we are connected in so many ways, people still feel disconnected. Technology surrounds us 24/7. But what about the human element? Connecting people with people across time zones, cultures, languages. Bridging that gap. The key message I want to convey is how to bridge the human connection in a virtual world, especially if you are a virtual work teams manager.
Jenna: In preparation for this book I understand that you interviewed 150 virtual work teams managers and members to get additional insights. Galit – since you helped to lead this research, tell me what process you followed.
Galit: We conducted interviews to expand our knowledge of virtual work teams and their challenges. We wanted to make this book practical and we wanted to provide real stories and experiences from the field. Our data analysis approach included several elements:
1. First, we used qualitative data because it provides rich information.
2. Second, interviews were conducted virtually – with a few exceptions.
3. Third, we asked open-ended questions that allowed for a natural flow of conversation.
4. Forth, our questions focused on key factors that make virtual teams successful. Clients shared their personal experiences, highlighting specific challenges.
5. And finally, we developed our own software to analyze the data.
And, of course, these interviews were confidential – so no names were mentioned in the report or the book
Jenna: so let’s move to Emily – So, what was the most interesting trend that you found?
Emily: The trend that surprised us the most is that you don’t need to engage in face-to-face communication to build trust in a virtual work teams.
Jenna: Why was this a surprise?
Emily: Well, when we started the research we thought that building trust would be the biggest challenge because when you can’t see your coworkers or you don’t share a physical space with them, that’s a real barrier. Some teammates never met each other and would say things like ‘I don’t know who this person really is, what they look like, what they are like, I never met them’. We found that face-to-face communication was actually not always required for building trust in virtual relationships. Although 65% of respondents said that they prefer a form of face-to-face interaction, for 63%, trust was built through constant virtual communication. Team members need to know that you are accessible and that you will not disappear for long periods of time. This also builds accountability. Demonstrating honesty was highlighted by 28% of interviewees as a prerequisite for trust.
Jenna: That is interesting. Did you find that MOST virtual work teams never met at all?
Emily: Many virtual work teams we interviewed met at least twice a year or even once a quarter. They found that the cost of travel more than makes up for the cost of lost time due to miscommunication, conflicts and inefficiencies. We found that meeting in person – even one time – can drastically improve other aspects of the virtual relationship. While it’s nice to have face-to-face interaction, when that’s not possible virtual teams still can accomplish great things.
Jenna: That is surprising, and you started to touch on communication; how is communication different on a virtual team?
Galit: Well, we found that in addition to being accessible and reliable, communicating your context is essential – and what we mean by that is giving extra information to explain where you are and what you are doing. On site teams don’t have to provide these additional cues because people can see that you are in your office, at a meeting, busy with paperwork, etc. In the virtual environment however, teammates do not know when you are traveling, working, or even out to lunch, etc.
Emily: Yes, and when you can’t see your teammates you depend on them to proactively tell you when they will not be available, even when the unexpected occurs. If you don’t communicate the context, people might wonder where you are. With the speed of technology today, people expect a quick response. Through our research we heard stories of teammates questioning “where is this person – -is s/he even working?” Virtual members often go through hundreds of email a day, that we call information overload. What’s needed is for teams to come up with common procedures around response times, and the book will include several examples of such techniques.
Galit: Essentially, we learned that you have to hyper communicate the context of your environment and have team norms around communication – it’s not always an intuitive and obvious need.
Jenna: It is different when you can’t see your teammates coming in and out of their office. Is it also hard to communicate with individuals from different countries? Tell me, what suggestions / techniques did you find?
Yael: The cross cultural elements are a whole other layer. It is such an important topic that I also wrote a booklet called Communicating Through a Global Lens that serves as a guide for business customs in different countries across the world.
Culture is not an issue only for virtual work teams. It can also be a concern for teams dispersed in different regions or for people from different cultures who work in the same location. 45% of our respondents felt that conflict was caused by a lack of cultural understanding. Even when the same language is spoken, interpretations can vary wildly. For example, ‘done’ or ‘yes’, can mean different things in different countries. 47% of the participants had some difficulty interpreting the same language. In the book I call this ‘lost in translation’.
Jenna: Isn’t it also hard for teammates to get to know each other on a personal level? What is your perspective about that?
Yael: Some teams found great ways of connecting with each other virtually using technology. We have many stories, but one that comes to mind is about a team that celebrated birthdays together via video conferencing. Everyone got a small gift in the mail, and the birthday person got a big gift. They opened the gifts together during the video conference. It was 8am for some people and 8pm for others, yet they were celebrating as a team.
Galit: Although that team found great ways to use technology, we were surprised that few virtual work teams utilized video conferencing as an alternative. Even though video conferencing, virtual worlds and other tools are available, the vast majority still relied on email and phone. When asked about future trends, 47% of respondents said that technological advances will help improve virtual team interaction.
Jenna: Galit and Emily, I understand that as you worked on this report virtually. How was that experience?
Emily: Yes, we finished gathering data for the report, and we continued to collaborate online. I began to identify with working around the clock because I had a different schedule from my teammates. I often worked late at night and sometimes had to wait until the end of the next business day to see what changes occurred – it was like being in a different time zone.
Besides working 24/7, I also realized how much you need to over-communicate information. We opened a shared document to work on the planning aspects, but it never occurred to me that I had to send emails to let team members know that it was time to check it. Things need to be spelled out more clearly on virtual teams. Many things are not always obvious and you can’t leave anything open to interpretation.
Galit: That’s right, I noticed and was surprised when I got emails at 2am (in the morning) and I wondered if I needed to respond right away. I happened to be awake at that time, but I wasn’t sure how clearly I could write a response at that hour. I’ve also worked on virtual work teams where I dealt with clients that I never met. I think you can get to know team members pretty well even if you don’t meet them. You can pick up a lot of cues from their voice on the phone and get to know their personality and work style.
Jenna: According to your data, what is the biggest challenge that virtual work teams faces today and in the future?
Galit: Their biggest challenge is working around the clock in many time zones, which 52% reported as a problem. The big issue is around coordinating teams that ‘follow the sun’ and work 24/7. Even our own research team had these issues and we were in the same time zone!
Emily: Yes, the biggest issue surrounding working around the clock, as we touched on, is that many virtual teams are now global and work across all time zones. Also, 31% of our participants indicated that they are in constant meetings throughout the day. So it’s not only about getting the work done; it’s also about being able to speak with each other on the phone. So different time zones are definitely a challenge.
Jenna: So what is the future of virtual teams? Where are we heading? And why is this information relevant to those who don’t currently work on a virtual team?
Yael: What we heard from the people we interviewed and the trends we saw is that virtual teams are becoming more prevalent as businesses enter new global markets, try to diversify their teams with new talent and cut costs – both by hiring elsewhere and eliminating real estate costs. So even if you do not work virtually right now, you probably know someone who does, and soon you may find yourself working virtually.
Jenna: Well, this has been very enlightening. Thank you Yael, Emily, and Galit for sharing your research. You mentioned interesting trends and there are so many more to discuss but our time is limited. So for our listeners, you can discover more in our report entitled AIM On Virtual Teams Field Research Report on our website at www.aim-strategies.com Also later this year, you can check out our new book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams. If you were intrigued by the cross cultural communication topic, you can learn more in our booklet, Communicating Through a Global Lens. As always we love to hear from you, our listeners, clients, and supporters, so feel free to contact us if you have any questions or comments. Thank you for listening.
