Liz Van Patten, Van Patten Research
To Liz Van Patten choosing business partners is a lot like picking your friends. “It’s like gold when you find someone you work well with, everything flows so smoothly.” She relies on word of mouth and her network to find the right people for her market research consulting firm Van Patten Research. “I like to get to know the person on a trial basis, shoulder-to-shoulder, to gain some history and see if we understand each other’s personal style. I need to know if I can work with them.” Liz has come across many great people by volunteering on QRCA projects.”
FIRST DETERMINE WHAT YOU WANT IN A BUSINESS PARTNER
In some ways finding the right business partner is like a research project. “Moderators are in a good position to do this. Write down the things you are concerned about, what matters to you, and use these questions to guide your initial conversation.”
While she does most of the actual research work herself, she frequently relies on virtual partners for field coordination, analysis, and reporting. It took time to find the right people for these roles, and she found them through word of mouth. Liz also calls upon trusted colleagues from her network when she needs moderators to help her with an overflow of work or larger projects.
VIRTUAL MENTORING BUILDS STRONG RELATIONSHIPS
Van Patten Research’s work has shifted to mostly online. In many projects, Liz works virtually with large companies on longitudinal online qualitative projects. “It is important to form alliances with one or two client contacts who trust you and whom you can trust, and who are committed to making sure the project succeeds.” Another way to build good will is to serve as a mentor to clients who are new to research: “You back me up and I will share with you what you need to know about research.”
When dealing with an ongoing project online researchers need to find ways of staying visible and connected with their client. Meeting regularly helps. “During an active project we meet at least once a week to brainstorm, introduce new topics, and debrief on new insights from the online forum.” Video conferences work well because people are more engaged and present than they are on a conference call. “See what your team is open to.” She also gives people on the team assignments, such as summarizing one theme, as a way to keep them involved. All of these efforts have worked well for Liz – her business is flourishing.
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.
Maria , Vice President of Engineering – Memento Inc
Maria is responsible for technology development at Memento Inc, a software company that produces technology used by banks and financial institutions to catch fraud among employees and outside criminals. While most of her team is based in Massachusetts, Maria oversees the work of about a dozen software development and quality assurance engineers who live in India.
MARIA MANAGES ENGINEERING TEAMS BASED IN MASSACHUSETTS AND INDIA
Memento develops their products incrementally, using a quick iterative approach, which is why clear communication between the engineers in Massachusetts and India is crucial. The quality assurance engineers are easiest to manage because the work they do tends to be more prescribed, measurable, and repetitive. On the other hand, the software engineers must often interpret specifications and intuitively know the right thing to do. Maria’s firm puts a great deal of time and effort bringing their offshore people up to speed so they have a deep understanding of the company, its technology, and customers. Newly hired offshore employees come to the Massachusetts office for a 3-4 month orientation to immerse themselves in the company and the details of the product’s architecture and user base. In this way they are able to return to India having formed solid relationships with their American counterparts and with a full understanding of Memento and its products.
OFFSHORE TEAM LEAD MUST BE A GREAT PROJECT MANAGER
“With offshore teams, there is no substitute for a high quality project leader”. Maria has found the offshore manager’s technical knowledge, confidence, and ability to communicate weigh most heavy in the success of an offshore teaming effort. The offshore manager must be fully synchronized with their US counterparts yet function autonomously as a supervisor and in hiring. In addition to technical skills, this person must have initiative and the right kind of personality to make things work.
Outside of weather issues and occasional power outages the working relationship is transparent. Subtle cultural differences such as Indian team’s tendency to be polite and reluctant to raise objections are dealt with by directly asking for feedback.
MEMENTO USES EXISTING TECHNOLOGY TO KEEP TEAMS IN SYNC
Memento has not had to build specialized systems to enable communication with the virtual team. Everyone uses the same technology to coordinate and communicate: e-mail, phone, IM, an Intranet, a source code repository and a bug tracking system are their major tools. The time difference can be a major inconvenience – the Massachusetts engineers schedule early morning meetings to catch the Indian engineers by the late evening.
Overall though, Maria’s firm has had very good luck with their virtual offshore team.