Working in teams that are dispersed around the world is common practice in international development - more so now that IFAD is becoming more decentralised. When team members have little or no opportunities to meet face-to-face, it is important to think differently about how to lead and interact in virtual spaces, so as to build and maintain trust, rapport, good communication and, ultimately, productivity, In some cases, such as during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, there is no alternative but to work in virtual teams.
According to research by The Innovation Network (KIN) at Warwick Business School (UK), some of the main obstacles that confront virtual teams include:
According to research by The Innovation Network (KIN) at Warwick Business School (UK), some of the main obstacles that confront virtual teams include:
- language and cultural differences
- fear of technology
- costs of technology
- people don't like working online
- lack of technical knowledge on using collaborative tools
- manager's fear of losing control
- invisible leadership
- resistance to change
- unclear roles
- time zone issues
- out of sight, out of mind mentality
TIPS FOR LEADING VIRTUAL TEAMS
According to the KIN research and other sources, some elements of a management style most likely to foster trust and lead to successful virtual team-work include:
- Set clear goals and provide continuous feedback with individuals and the team
- Clarify tasks and processes. Simplify the work to the greatest extent possible, and assign tasks to smaller groups of 2 or 3 members - making sure that it is clear who does what.
- Manage tasks transparently, for example by using tools like Trello – https://trello.com
- Allow for flexibility and empathy towards virtual team members
- Ensure effective communication
- Exhibit cultural awareness
- Create common understandings about the fundamental values, methodology and techniques to be used and keep it up-to-date for all team members.
- Provide guidelines for team interaction and agree on the ways for working together. Agree on times and deadlines, and outline the steps to take if someone is slow to act.
- Make it clear that multi-tasking is not okay during meetings. Virtual collaboration requires that everyone is mentally present and engaged.
- Be supportive of the team members.
- Allow room for informal conversations to build relationships.
- Track and measure outputs rather than process. One possibility is to have a "deliverables dashboard" that is visible to all members.
- Conduct regular participatory evaluations (for example After Action Reviews)
- Be frank with all members, but especially provide positive feedback.
- Consider that the most effective virtual teams are small, preferably with no more than 10 people.
- Consider the importance of IT security: hackers, loss of data, etc.
- Pay special attention to new members, carefully introducing them, describing the steps already taken, the results seen, and everybody else's expectations.
- Pay attention to special milestones (such as the achievement of short-term goals), acknowledging those who contributed most to them.
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
It is more challenging to build rapport among team members in a virtual setting because there are fewer or no opportunities for face-to-face interaction. Knowing how to communicate effectively takes on even greater importance. Here are a few tips:
- Predictability and quality count: lack of regular contact can cause trust and common understanding to erode
- Communicate often but keep it short through frequent interaction (e.g. instant messaging, simple email exchanges with alerts, news or use of virtual spaces). Have regular, short meetings - ideally the same day and time each weeks, and share the agenda in advance.
MORE INFORMATION / SOURCES
- The Innovation Network https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/wbs/research/kin/
- Ferrazi, K., 2014. Getting virtual teams right. Harvard Business Review, December 2014.
- Watkins, M. 2013. Making virtual team work: Ten basic principles. Harvard Business Review, June 2013.