Kyra Cavanaugh – Life Meets Work, Inc
One of the services Kyra Cavanaugh provides through her business Life Meets Work is helping companies move employees from traditional into virtual work situations. Two major challenges are communication and building cohesion among group members.
FORMING WORK RELATIONS WHEN YOU CAN’T PHYSICALLY SEE YOUR TEAM MATES
In the physical work environment, we spend a lot of time understanding and interpreting the social environment and norms of the people around us. In a virtual environment “you need to put all of this on paper.” Kyra recommends virtual team members sign off on “rules of engagement,” which are rules of the road formalizing how the team communicates. For example, the team might follow a rule where after 2 e-mails on a particular subject, the parties need to pick up the phone. Another rule might be that the e-mail subject line has a set format: “Review: proposal xyz.” These little things go a long way towards facilitating clear communication.
INDISPENSIBLE TECHNOLOGIES FOR VIRTUAL TEAMS
Virtual teams need Internet-based project tracking technologies such as “to do” lists, a team calendar, contacts, milestones, and customer notes. You should be able to log into this system at any given time and see what others are working on, the progress they are making, what they are talking about, and how you can help. Online project tracking systems also cut down on e-mail. Even though people seem to love or hate it, IM should be one of the team’s communication channels. With IM you can also tell whether a person is at their desk in case you need to call them.
THE RIGHT WAY TO MANAGE VIRTUAL TEAMS
Some managers have a difficult time transitioning to a virtual workplace. “Most of us grew up learning how to manage performance based on watching employees work,” Kyra said. “How do we coordinate getting work done when we are not there?” When going to a virtual environment, managers need to figure out where they fall on the control vs. trust continuum. She advises types that need more control to implement processes and technologies that allow them to keep close tabs on employees.
How do you create a sense of cohesion with a virtual team? One way is to set clear expectations and metrics that determine success. “Everyone should feel like they are contributing to something bigger than themselves”. Isolation can be a big problem, especially for people who live alone. It should be OK to ask for help, and people need to be publicly acknowledged for their contribution. “It’s always a good thing for people to meet each other. We still value getting out of our space… you will never replace physical interaction because virtual teams are not the be-all and end-all.”
VIRTUAL CONFLICT – DETECT EARLY AND RESOLVE
Pay close attention to changes in writing tone, communication patterns, and other non-verbal behavior to detect conflict and emotion. You know there is likely trouble when exclamation points disappear, they stop responding to IMs, they show up late for meetings, and their lively 3-page status update becomes a flat one-page report.
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[...] to Kay Corry Aubrey for including us in her Virtual Teams Success blog–a resource for small businesses operating with virtual [...]