Leading and Developing a Virtual Team

 
Cross-Functional Teams > Best Practices

In the best practices section you will find the best forum discussions within this knowledge area.


Leading and Developing a Virtual Team
Dalahn Colley , Entrepreneur, United States, Member
A virtual team - also known as a Geographically Dispersed Team (GDT) - is a group of individuals that work across time, space and organizational boudaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology (source: Word IQ, 2010)".
There are many advantages to creating a virtual team by bringing together contributors through the use of company intranet, groupware applications, email, teleconferencing, phones, computers and other technologies.
On the other hand, the absence of face to face interaction may contribute to misunderstandings and conflict.
The challenge for the management of a virtual team is to create a cohesiveness usually reserved for successful collocated teams. The manager must create a tier of collaboration, productivity and communication that spans cultures, time and distance...
Success can be achieved when the virtual team leader addresses these questions:
- What is my role as a virtual team leader?
- How can...Sign up 		 

 
GDT Geodispersed Teams Perform Poor
Fernando de Diego, Project Manager, Spain, Member
Managing that kind of teams is still an issue. New videoconferencing technologies help a lot as do new messaging applications, etc.
But when a te...Sign up
 

 
Virtual / Distributed Teams
P.E. Pernet, Consultant, France, Member
I would suggest you attend this free online seminar Sign up
 

 
Tip for Geographically Dispersed Teams: Have a Meeting each Day
Lito Fadera, Management Consultant, Philippines, Member
@Fernando de Diego: I have been a member of a project management team that spans three countries for more than five ...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Teams need Cultural Intelligence
Purathatil Krishnan, Manager, United States, Member
Virtual teams often involve diversity in ethnicity, culture and - most importantly - thinking. With adequate curiosity and open minds, increasing Sign up
 

 
Cross Cultural Teams - Trust is a Fundamental Issue
John Minett, Director, United States, Member
These comments have been very useful. Placemaker associates is a start-up company that focuses on public involvement in planning. We use Skype as our ...Sign up
 

 
Geographically Dispersed Teams - Email is not communication
Peter Durrant, Director, Australia, Member
Hi Dalahn – I am working from home in Perth and interact with Adelaide and Sydney. Over 10 years two different companies and now contracting my servic...Sign up
 

 
Communicating with a Virtual / Geographically Dispersed Team
David Whitfield, Professor, United States, Member
To communicate with a virtual team:
- Expectations of all the team and all team members must be clear;
- Rationale for expectations must be ...Sign up
 

 
More Information on Virtual Teams?
Joachim Armbruster, Coach, Germany, Member
The 5 questions asked by Kerber and Buono are good, the answers would be even more interesting. Any ideas about that? Any books, lectures or research ...Sign up
 

 
Opportunity to Learn from a Variety of Experiences and Backgrounds
Bill Boynton, Teacher, United States, Member
A "virtual" team is still a team of people that needs to be addressing the same objectives of team performance. Everyone needs to understand the "visi...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Team Concept still in its Infancy although Fast Spreading
DR.VIVEK DIWADKAR., Business Consultant, India, Member
The virtual team-culture value-connect cauldron is a tricky business which deserves a very deep psychological study. The concept is still in its infan...Sign up
 

 
Managing Virtual Teams
Srikumar Varma, India, Member
Video conferencing and teleconferencing is all right if the people are more or less of the same origin although settled in different countries. If on ...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Teams - Geographically Dispersed Team : Create a Shared Dream
Miguel Sacramento, Business Consultant, Brazil, Member
It doesn't matter where people are working if they are sincerely sharing a common vision. That is what leadership is all about: making a shared dream ...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Teams - Tomorrow's Challenge
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
We are sitting atop a universal collaborative commerce community and global corporate dialogue culture. Virtual teams are dealing with complex -- and ...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Teams Have to Encompass Many Elements
KATHRYN STEINER, MBA, Entrepreneur, United States, Member
Virtual global cross functional teams are something I'm also familiar with from my online MBA. They present many challenges as the discussion partici...Sign up
 

 
Summary Tips for Managing Virtual Teams
Emad Adeeb Eskander, Manager, Member
Here's a summary of tips for managing virtual or geographically dispersed teams that have been mentioned so far:
1. Create and communicate a shar...Sign up
 

 
Multi-cultural Aspects and Control
Nguyen Tri Hue, Project Manager, France, Member
As a team leader, you need to understand the multi-culture paradigm of your team.
Trust and control are important topics. Regular conference call...Sign up
 

 
Do Tuckman's Norming Stage First
P.E. Pernet, Consultant, France, Member
@Nguyen Tri Hue: I think the specificity of virtual teams is that 'Norming' should not be the 3rd, but the 1st phase...Sign up
 

 
The Six C’s of Global Collaboration
D. Kerns, Student (Other), United States, Member
Greetings all, the financial services organization that I work in is a (global) virtual organization. When I work in the office, there is a small chan...Sign up
 

 
Web 2.0 and Virtual Teams
Cintia Rodriguez
I agree that leadership is a key to success. Nowadays Web 2.0 offers a variety of tools to help team leaders success in this task. I have personally h...Sign up
 

 
Is a Virtual Team Really a Team? If not Can it Be Made So?
Peter Bond, Management Consultant, United Kingdom, Member
Dalahn, (nice name). Virtual 'teams' are all the rage aren't they? Unfortunately, practice has got somewhat ahead of the theorising (or modelling) of ...Sign up
 

 
My Experiences in a Geographically Dispersed Team
Samuell Yew, Project Manager, Malaysia, Member
Kudos to all contributors to highlight the correct pros and cons and the challenges faced. As a participant in a GDT project, I have come to experienc...Sign up
 

 
Google Plus, the Use of Hangouts and Team-working Online
Cintia Rodriguez
@Peter Bond: I recommend, from personal experience, the use of Google Hangouts. For me, it is even better than Skype...Sign up
 

 
Success Case of Virtual Team in South Africa
F. Krynauw, Project Manager, South Africa, Member
I have just completed a manual of 6 volumes and 1500 pages on operational procedures in SA Post Office in a record time of less than a year on a virtu...Sign up
 

 
Managing a Global GDT: The Need for Efficient and Effective Communication
Jack Van Den Heerik, Project Manager, Belgium, Member
I certainly agree with most of you and would like to stress that the key element of success in managing a global GDT is efficient and effective commun...Sign up
 

 
Geographically Dispersed Teams Don't Necessarily Underperform Normal Teams
hamidullah, Lecturer, Afghanistan, Member
@Fernando de Diego I think in due time many people will attend in this kind of teams like also on 12manage. It is a ...Sign up
 

 
Multi-cultural Aspects & Control
Nguyen Tri Hue, Project Manager, France, Member
@P. E. Pernet : thank you for the clarification of the norming phase. From my understanding Tuckman's model details ...Sign up
 

 
Simple Approach from Canada (besides Incorporating Those Above)
Kathy Zandbergen, Director, Canada, Member
I work in an international company but I'm lucky in that most of my team is national. So I only deal with 3 timezones. A couple of simple things we fo...Sign up
 

 
Dispersed Teams a New Approach
Francesco Cuoco, CEO, Italy, Member
Management of such a team is the challenge today: we need to overcome all the communication issues and allow the team to have contextual discussions. ...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Team is Indeed a Boon!
VENKATESWARAN, Teacher, India, Member
It is indeed a wonderful idea and with the hi-tech tools available now, if it is properly understood and implemented in good spirits, it would yield a...Sign up
 

 
Visual Contact and Trust
KATHRYN STEINER, MBA, Entrepreneur, United States, Member
When working together remotely it would be good to be able to see the people who one is communicating with, preferably meeting at some point before th...Sign up
 

 
Critical Concerns to Virtual Team Functioning
Dali Horeshka, Business Consultant, Albania, Member
Based on my experience there are three critical critical concerns to allow a virtual team to function properly:
- Creating the same terminology o...Sign up
 

 
Remote Teams Can Become Hub Teams
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
@Kathryn Pawley Steiner: Geographical disparity does create cross cultural and relational problems, per se, where it...Sign up
 

 
It's All About the Goal
Kurt Ludikovsky, Consultant, Austria, Member
I can second all what has been said here, and still don't see a solution.
I have run a virtual team with 23 country organisation across Europe an...Sign up
 

 
Things to Consider in Managing a Virtual Team
Felix ahonzo, Manager, Ghana, Member
In my view, these are the main things to consider in managing a virtual team
1. Allocation of tasks and time line
2. Coordination of tasksSign up
 

 
GDT and Virtual Team Dynamics, Glass Half Full
dawson, Student (University), New Zealand, Member
Much good and diverse opinions on this topic here!
There's Too much room for cultural faux pas in large virtual teams. Multicultural interpretati...Sign up
 

 
Building Relationships and Establishing Trust in Virtual Teams
KATHRYN STEINER, MBA, Entrepreneur, United States, Member
@Arif Ur Rehman: I have become accustomed to communicating remotely. For almost 2 years I communicated remotely as a...Sign up
 

 
The Virtual Trust in Virtual Teams
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
@Kathryn Pawley Steiner: Contrasted to your ‘low financial risk environment’ mine is riddled with corruption. Yet pr...Sign up
 

 
We are discussing Virtual Teams in a Virtual Team!
Sim Poay See, Material Analysis, Malaysia, Member
This is a great topic and I feel that we are having a virtual team right now to discuss the same topic about "virtual team". We are sharing our experi...Sign up
 

 
Evolving a Practical Model for GDT's
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
@Sim Poay See: Over the coming weeks, while scanning the rudimentary literature (from my perspective) that I may pos...Sign up
 

 
Exchanging Views on GDT and Virtual Teams Sans Personal Faiths
VENKATESWARAN, Teacher, India, Member
I really appreciate the contribution of Mr. Arif Ur Rehman in these columns and submit that as professionals in the field of management, we should des...Sign up
 

 
Standards for Global Cross Functional Teams Established by Organization
KATHRYN STEINER, MBA, Entrepreneur, United States, Member
@Arif Ur Rehman: Arif, this discussion with all participants contributions and perspectives is interesting. I've bee...Sign up
 

 
Virtual Teams are the Way of the Future
John limpus, Australia, Member
The reality is that virtual teams are the way of the future. It is not always possible or feasable to get people together to work on a project, partic...Sign up
 

 
Tools for Dispersed Virtual Teams
Francesco Cuoco, CEO, Italy, Member
Surely virtual teams are the feature. The question is what to do to improve them and again I think communication is the answer.
We need to have t...Sign up
 

 
GDT as a Social Group and Network for Effective and Efficient Services Marketing
Venkatesh, Teacher, India, Member
GDT is a good and effective concept of getting connected with people across the globe and another way of social networking to share common interests a...Sign up
 

 
Geographically Dispersed Teams and Global Marketing Efforts - Finding the Key
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
@Venkatesh: GDT and global marketing win if efforts are directed in an open, free, ethical and, more importantly, un...Sign up
 

 
Well-forged Objectives and Plan Make Geographically Dispersed Teams Functional
Dali Horeshka, Business Consultant, Albania, Member
I just discussed with one of my colleagues engaged in the management of local capacity building team within Albania. The most critical issues have bee...Sign up
 

 
Geographically Dispersed Teams Must Involve Relationship Building
KATHRYN STEINER, MBA, Entrepreneur, United States, Member
This discussion certainly is interesting, with sevarl underlying complexities that can be simplified once relationships and trust are established...Sign up
 

 
12manage as a Global Platform for Debates
Arif ur Rehman, Professor, Pakistan, Member
Dear All: the on-going debates, dialogues and discussions on 12manage are fundamental to understanding relations and preferences – in short appreciati...Sign up
 

 
Requirements for Virtual Teams / Geographical Dispersed Teams
abraham garshong
@Emad Adeeb Eskander: excellent summary! In my view a critical point for virtual teams to be successful is having oc...Sign up
 

 
GDT and Views Thereon
VENKATESWARAN, Teacher, India, Member
@Kurt Ludikovsky : your points are highly relevant in present day. But the team selection for any project of long te...Sign up
 

 
Leading Dispersed Teams
Irene Brunner Jucker, Management Consultant, Switzerland, Member
In my experience, coaching competencies (in the sense of listening carefully and asking the right questions) are key to leading a remote team successf...Sign up
 

 
Best Practices in Managing Overseas Teams
Connie Liu, Project Manager, China, Member
There are many areas that both sides need to consider:
- Communicate effectively and timely – to which leave is effectively; how soon is deemed a...Sign up
 

 
The Importance of Small Talk in Virtual Teams
Taylor, Consultant, United Kingdom, Member
Small talk is often a missing ingredient in virtual teams. In teams where all of the members share a common office space, a lot of sharing and relatio...Sign up
 

 
Best Practices to Managing and Developing Effective Virtual Teams
Anneke Zwart, Student (University), Netherlands, Moderator
Ferrazzi just published an interesting article on this subject in the Harvard Business Review. He writes that in a world in which globalization is inc...Sign up
 

   

   
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