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Well, as the business world has gone global. Now, you are just as likely to be working on a project with the man sitting in the next cubicle case as you are with a woman sitting in an office in China.
You are the boss and has just been assigned control this huge project that will increase your visibility within the organization and put you in line for the experience that you know you deserve. The only problem is that you have to manage a virtual team of highly skilled staff that are scattered all over the world! What should you do? It’s hard enough to manage a team of people who are physically in the same place that you see everyday, how on earth are you supposed to control people in different time zones?
Do not panic, follow these simple steps and you should be well on your way to becoming a globalized, the real leader!
1. Pick Virtual Dream Team: Put a little time with each team member to meet with them individually. Introduce yourself, give them a brief overview of the project and explain why they have been selected. Try to do this inaugural meeting face to face. If travel budget does not allow for this, set up a video conference. This is a nice time to give people a pat on the back for past performance. For example you might say “Femi, you have been chosen to be part of this team due expertise in Data Mining and excellent work that you did on data warehouse project. This project saved the company $ 5 million over 2 years, and I’m glad to have you on my team. ”
2. Set up the initial team meeting: Schedule a meeting to introduce members to each other, set expectations and to give everyone the opportunity to start getting comfortable with the program and each other.
3. Create Virtual Vision: One of the most critical things to do when managing virtual team is to ensure that everyone is working towards a common goal and understand what the team is trying to achieve. To do this, you need to create a vision / mission with the team. When the project is completed, all the print it out and hang it in a prominent place.
4. A Team criteria: Each team should go through an exercise to create a team norms. Norms, rules and standards team survives. From how team members interact with each other in how work gets done should be addressed in the criteria. Rules will be followed better if the team members help create them and agree to abide by them. A good discussion to come up during this process is how conflicts and disputes will be resolved and resolved.
5. Get Communication right: If communication is important to the teams, it is the lifeline of a virtual team. Means of communication and etiquette must be in the first days to create a new team. Questions should be raised and discussed:
• should / will use any means of communication? For instance, all team members have instant messaging?
• What will be the main mode of communication?
• What hours do teammates are completely be free of another?
• How will Team members contact one another in an emergency?
• How will the team communicate important information and what is important information?
• What decisions can individuals do?
• What decisions need the input side and what decisions need to team leader input?
A complementary exercise to perform along with communication discussion personality test, such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI can be used to accelerate the introductory level and facilitate a deeper understanding of each teammate’s communication and work styles. Time should also be instrumental in understanding various cultures members.
Create a SharePoint site for a team where all project documents will be housed. Hide format (with pictures) of all teammates. Customize the page, information about members, such as knowledge, interests, family photos, etc.
Now that you have taken the necessary measures to control the trust, high-performing virtual teams, go out and conquer the world. Good luck!
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Source by Busola Olatilu