Team-Building Strategies
2
Katzenbach and Smith (1993) define a team as a small number of people with complementary skills committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach, for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. Parker (1994) writes that a team is a group of people with a high degree of interdependence geared toward the achievement of a goal or the completion of a task. Stuckenbruck and Marshall (1985) define an effective project team as one in which the team members are interdependent, have a reason to work together, are committed to working together, are accountable as a functioning unit, and have a moderate level of competition and conflict.
Mayer (1998) defines a virtual team as one composed of people who are distributed across buildings, states, and countries. Delisle, Thomas, Jugdev, and Buckle (2001) write that a virtual team is a collection of task-driven members separated by geographic or temporal space.
Virtual teams are common in today‧s workforce, especially as more and more organizations move to a management-by-projects approach. They are also common in programs in which the program manager may be managing component projects located in other areas and in which team members on one project may support another project located in a different area. In portfolio management, the members of the portfolio review board also often work virtually. Virtual teams are no longer considered unique but instead are viewed as a routine way of working. Many virtual teams will never meet face to face on a project or program, or if they do have the luxury of a face-to-face meeting, typically it is held at the beginning of the project or program, and these meetings are not regular occurrences.
In a co-located setting, in which team meetings are the norm, it is easy to use each of these meetings as an opportunity for team building. Often, a special meeting is held just to focus on team building and the challenging people aspects of the program or project. Virtual teams do not provide these opportunities, so they must take different approaches to team building. This chapter presents strategies for effective team building.
What Is Team Building?
The Project Management Institute discusses eight key interpersonal skills for project managers, one of which is team building (PMI 2008a). It defines team building as “the process of helping a group of individuals, bound by a common sense of purpose, to work interdependently with each other, the leader, external stakeholders, and the organization” (p. 410). This is a far broader definition than PMI offered in the glossary of terms in the 1987 PMBOK(r) Guide, which defines team building as “the process of influencing a group of diverse individuals, each with their own goals, needs, and perspectives to work together effectively for the good of the project such that their team will accomplish more than the sum of their individual efforts could otherwise achieve.”
Team-building activities involve establishing goals, defining and negotiating roles and procedures, and establishing processes, including an emphasis on communication, managing conflicts, motivating team members, and leadership (PMI 2008a). Team building is not a one-time exercise but is a continual process throughout the project life cycle.
Stuckenbruck and Marshall (1985) write that team building “can well be the most important aspect of the project manager‧s job” (p. 50). They say that the major focus of team building is “identifying and obtaining consensus on the project‧s goals and objectives” (p. 5). Many of the approaches Stuckenbruck and Marshall discuss, while designed for the co-located team, apply to any team (see Table 2-1).
The Growth of Virtual Teams
While program and project work has been done virtually for years, the teams themselves were rarely considered virtual in a literal sense. Instead, a lead organization performed and coordinated the work, using regional offices or other business units for support and integration activities. Beginning in the 1990s, the use of the term virtual teams became commonplace. It will only be used more in the future.
Table 2-1 Team-Building Approaches
Many people believe that virtual teams are contributing to the growth of management-by-projects and the consideration of programs and projects as strategic assets to an organization. Having a continuous stream of projects has emerged as the method to ensure the growth and survival of the organization. By using virtual teams that are planned and supported appropriately, programs and projects can be delivered in a more effective and efficient manner.
Benefits of Virtual Teams
The increasing globalization and complexity of work makes the use of virtual teams a necessity for many organizations. Through the use of communications and information technology, greater collaboration among people working in a virtual environment now is possible; organizations are not limited to working with people located in a single time zone, and people can work together without needing day-to-day interaction or socialization, and with fewer constraints on time and infrastructure.
While the effective use of resources is often the motivation for forming a virtual team, another key factor is a lower total cost for the program‧s or project‧s deliverable. If more than one country is a potential provider for the same resource, a resource in a country with a favorable exchange rate may be much less expensive. By building a virtual team, the program or project manager can select the most skilled resources, possibly at a lower cost, because the resource pool is much larger. Juhre (2001) notes that when skilled technical resources are in demand, global staffing becomes a critical success factor for enterprise projects.
Global virtual teams also may allow for around-the-clock work, even if the team has only one shift in operation at any given location. An effective configuration management system and attention to documentation management among all team members allow documents to be easily passed from one location to another. The receiving team can review and enhance what the previous team has done, then pass it on to the team in the next geographic area. Software, systems engineering, and information technology programs or projects especially benefit from this approach.
Challenges Associated with Virtual Teams
It is necessary, though, to recognize that virtual teams present challenges that are not present in traditional co-located teams. These include, but are not limited to, working with people in different time zones, the locations of the key stakeholders, the need to effectively use web-based technologies for collaboration and communication, the requirement for rigorous documentation control, contingencies for volatility in the exchange rate, regional and political risks, and possible differences in terminology even when using the same language.
There are challenges that particularly affect team building and communication:
Often, there is increased pressure on a virtual team to develop into a cohesive group in less than optimal time.
As noted by Mehrabian (1968), the rarity of verbal communication and the inability to observe team members’ nonverbal cues present additional barriers. Body language may indicate nonverbally whether one feels positively or negatively about the project.
Virtual team members rarely have opportunities to talk casually with each other, so they often are unaware of the work performed by others.
It is easy for team members to be silent in a virtual environment, and this silence might be interpreted as their agreeing with program or project decisions when in fact they might be totally unaware of the decisions. Assumptions about agreement may result in groupthink.
Managing Virtual Teams
While clear communications are important on any team, they take on even greater importance on virtual teams. On a virtual team, many challenges may be avoided if everyone agrees to establish and follow clear communication channels. For example, a workable communications plan is critical if the team is located in different time zones throughout the globe. It is important to ensure that one individual on the team is not always inconvenienced when conference calls and team meetings are held.
Some ways to manage a virtual team include:
The distributed approach
The “pure” approach
The joint-venture approach.
The Distributed Approach
Teams can follow a work breakdown structure and combine it with a resource breakdown structure (Rad and Levin, 2003). Each work package could be assigned to a separate team, which will design, plan, and implement the work and complete the deliverable. There is a separate project manager, or team lead, for each work package, who reports to the overall project manager. Following such an approach, the team responsible for a particular work package has no need to communicate with other members of the team. This approach has been used in the construction field for years and in other fields in which a corporate office or government agency might ask a business unit or regional office to handle certain program or work packages.
The “Pure” Approach
If the project is planned and implemented by a single team, a separate project manager for each work package is not required (Rad and Levin, 2003). Tasks are assigned to individual team members, as are resource allocations and schedule adjustments. The team works directly for one project manager, and team members must actively communicate and collaborate with others on the team because everyone is working as a cohesive unit.
The Joint-Venture Approach
As outsourcing and offshoring have become more common, so have joint ventures, even among companies that often are competitors. Drouin, Bourgault, and Sauders (2009) note that such joint ventures and alliances have become ways to enter markets that in the past a single company may not have pursued on its own. They found in their research that some of these joint ventures are more successful than others; often success is due to the implementation of effective human resource management processes. However, attention to human resource management occurs after the joint venture is established, rather than in the planning stage. Drouin, Bourgault, and Sauders’ research includes work done by Frayne and Geringer, who estimated that only four percent of the entire time devoted for forming the joint venture was devoted to human resource management. This statistic is not given to imply that joint ventures will not be successful; rather, it shows that human resource management is often overlooked when joint ventures are established and planned.
Characteristics of the Virtual Environment
Though the approaches Stuckenbruck and Marshall (1985) discuss are applicable to any team, they must be handled differently in a virtual team than on a co-located team to ensure their effectiveness. Key characteristics of the virtual environment that differ from most co-located environments include:
Personal flexibility
More interactive communications, rather than ones that are “pushed” or “pulled”
Greater use of collaborative tools and techniques
A high-trust culture with defined team values
Greater adaptability
Dynamic team membership
Less time for team members to learn to work together effectively
Multicultural teams
Less visibility in the organization
Required knowledge, skills, and competencies
Unknown conflict.
Personal Flexibility
Some people want to be on a virtual team because they think of such teams as a way they can actively contribute to a project with minimal administrative structure and bureaucracy. Once virtual team members commit to the project through a charter and understand their own roles and responsibilities, they can execute them according to the project‧s schedule and their own schedules. With fewer administrative processes and procedures to follow, virtual team members can instead focus on innovation and creativity in their work. They can be more task-oriented because they are not encumbered by frequent in-person interruptions. Communications with fellow team members are planned rather than impromptu, enabling more focused concentration on work. When team meetings are held, they tend to be more productive because they follow a set agenda.
Interactive Communications
On a virtual team, team members may receive extensive “pushed” communications such as letters, memos, or status reports, but ideally, virtual (and co-located) teams strive to engage in interactive communications, which PMI promotes as more efficient (2008a). Teams should have a communications plan specifying how and when communications will take place and should define methods for communication in the virtual team charter. The plan and the charter may specify, for example, how often team members should check their email and how quickly they must respond, when teleconferences will be held, and how portals, discussion forums, and blogs are to be used. The virtual team can collectively determine how to reduce “pushed” communications that may be interesting but not necessary and establish processes for accessing significant amounts of information from knowledge repositories or intranet sites at their convenience.
Greater Use of Collaborative Tools and Techniques
One reason that management by projects has become more prevalent globally is that today‧s advanced communications technologies facilitate virtual teamwork. It is no longer necessary for everyone to be co-located, nor is it necessary for program or project managers to practice “management by walking around.” Instead, it is necessary for the program or project manager to ensure the same collaborative tools are available to all team members regardless of their location. Everyone must be able to access a portal, if one is to be used, use the same email system, have access to the same project management tools and techniques, and have the equipment to conduct video and audio teleconferences.
A High-Trust Culture with Defined Team Values
It is easy on a virtual team for members to have out-of-sight relationships and common for them to feel as if they are not really part of the team. It also is common for team members and the program or project manager not to trust someone who is new to the team. However, because the virtual environment allows teams to obtain the services and skills of subject matter experts, regardless of their location, teams frequently have to work with people they do not know. Teams must learn to practice swift trust, which Meyerson, Weick, and Kramer define as trust that is “conferred presumptively or ex ante” (1996, p. 177). (For a fuller discussion of swift trust, refer to Chapter 3.) Mishra (1996) explains that swift trust is necessary for work in temporary teams, particularly when there is pressure to achieve the goals of the project.
Trust facilitates collaborative and cooperative behavior. Virtual teams should assume everyone trusts one another until proven otherwise and should build a climate of trustworthiness from the start of the program or project until its closure by establishing and communicating defined values for the team.
Collaborative Leadership
Collaboration—the merging of diverse points of view to resolve conflicts—has long been recognized as a preferred problem-solving approach. It is an attempt to completely satisfy the needs of parties that have dissimilar goals (Mishra 1996).
Collaboration combines assertiveness and cooperativeness. It demands that team members consider the merits of each other‧s positions, and it emphasizes learning from others by testing one‧s own assumptions. Team members who demonstrate a willingness to work with others and to understand other perspectives will gain greater trust and support, which in turn will improve future communications within the team. Parker (1994) adds that team members who exercise collaboration are goal-oriented individuals who encourage the team to fulfill its mission by trying new ideas and enhanced processes.
On a virtual team, because people are in different locations, a collaborative leadership approach is a necessity; the program or project manager cannot be in each location to meet with each stakeholder. Each team member, therefore, assumes a leadership role whenever required, making sure he or she communicates with the program or project manager and other members of the team as needed. In this way, the team members share power while building greater trust and rapport.
The virtual team is the ideal mechanism for collaboration because people are usually viewed in terms of what they have to contribute instead of their position or stature in the organization‧s hierarchy. People are more likely to be considered equals than in a co-located setting, where everyone‧s status, age, and experience are apparent or already known.
Greater Adaptability
When working on programs and projects, the goal is to keep changes to a minimum to help avoid scope creep, ensure delivery dates are met, and ensure budgets are not exceeded. But continual changes in technology and the possibility of downsizing, mergers, and acquisitions mean that teams must embrace change as necessary to ensure that programs and projects continue to support the organization‧s goals and objectives.
It is incumbent on all virtual team members to keep others on the team informed about any internal or external changes that may affect the program or project so that each team member can readjust and reprioritize tasks to be performed as required.
Dynamic Team Membership
Virtual teams are made up of people with specific expertise who may join and leave the program and project at various times, which makes team building an even greater challenge. When new members join a team, they must be immediately informed about the team‧s operating protocols and commit to working on the program or project. Ideally, each time a team member joins the program or project, he or she should review and sign the team‧s charter, making suggestions for improvement as appropriate.
When a team member leaves the program or project, the manager should conduct a debriefing session to promote knowledge management and the transfer of knowledge assets. Typically, such sessions focus on technical aspects of the program or project, but it is equally important for the departing team member, manager, and remaining team members to take the opportunity to suggest changes in the team‧s operating procedures and ideas for improving team building.
Less Time to Learn to Work Together Effectively
Because people join virtual teams at the time their skills and expertise are required, there is less time to learn how to work with the other members of the team. Immediately, the purpose and vision of the program and project must be explained, and the team member must quickly make a commitment. Role and responsibility charts should be prepared and continually updated. New team members should be introduced to the team through conference calls, emails, and postings on discussion forums. Teams can thus create a spirit of cooperation from the beginning.
Multicultural Teams
On virtual projects, especially those that span the globe, it is likely that people will work with others from different cultures. It is necessary for team members to make a real effort to understand the nuances of the different cultures that are represented and to respect fellow team members’ cultural differences. This means, for example, that teams should recognize different holidays team members observe; strive to understand team members’ different styles of working and responding to communications, comments, and conflicts; and use a common team language, such as the 4,000-word standard English vocabulary suggested by Kolby (2000), which eliminates slang and other terms unfamiliar to nonnative English speakers.
Less Visibility in the Organization
Virtual team members may believe that there is a lack of recognition for superior work on virtual teams. When assigned to work on a virtual team, some people express concern that their individual contributions may not be recognized to the extent that they would be if they were on a co-located team. While every team should have a team-based reward and recognition system, individual contributions also must be recognized. A virtual team member‧s work should be included in his or her performance plan, with objectives and goals set to assess his or her work on the team.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies
Although virtual team members are selected because they have the desired knowledge, skills, and competencies to fill a particular position, all programs and projects are unique and may not really be a good fit for a given individual, even if he or she initially seems qualified. (This also applies to those working on co-located teams.) Team members, when they join a program or project, need information about its vision, mission, deliverables, and benefits to decide whether they can make a positive contribution. If a team member believes he or she cannot contribute effectively to the technical aspects of the program or project, he or she should discuss this concern with the program or project manager without fear of reprisal.
Unknown Conflict
Conflict may exist between virtual team members that are not apparent to others on the team. Another team member who is aware of the conflict should talk with the team members involved and escalate them to the program or project manager if a resolution cannot be reached in a timely manner. While conflicts can be positive—for example, they can foster creativity—the negative aspects of conflict, such as a decrease in morale or infighting between team members, must be minimized. Each team member may occasionally need to be a facilitator by helping other team members resolve negative conflicts and promoting the positive aspects of conflict.
Team-Building Approaches
In both virtual and co-located teams, there is a focus on team effectiveness, and there are many similarities in how both kinds of teams are managed. The following team-building techniques can be effective for all teams:
Clarifying roles and responsibilities
Understanding priorities and establishing the vision
Setting the stage for success
Implementing collaborative leadership
Using a team-based reward and recognition system
Involving the team in decision-making
Using stress-management techniques
Conducting a “people issues” audit.
Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities
PMI defines a role as “the portion of a project for which a person is accountable” and a responsibility as “the work that a project team member is expected to perform to complete the project‧s activities” (2008a, pp. 222–223). For any program or project, clarity in roles and responsibilities is necessary, though it is especially important for a virtual project. Each team member must understand his or her program or project duties so that the required work gets done in a timely manner and people do not do each other‧s work.
The team may work together to develop a resource assignment matrix (RAM), which should link to the work packages documented in the work breakdown structure (WBS) so that each team member can see how his or her deliverables support the entire project. A similar approach is suggested when preparing a program WBS. A team charter can clarify the operating procedures or ground rules by which the team will operate.
Understanding Priorities and Establishing the Vision
Organizations’ priorities are continually changing as challenges affect their strategic goals, objectives, and plans. Ideally, everyone working on a program or project should know what its priority is in the organization‧s portfolio, what it contributes to overall corporate strategy, and what value it adds to the organization. Team members may devote more effort to their other work than to the new program or project if they do not know how important it is.
Either during the kickoff meeting or by email, the program or project manager should ask each team member about his or her vision of the program or project. The email approach will likely elicit more original responses; team members are less likely to be influenced by what others have said. The manager can share anonymous emailed responses at the meeting, and the team can discuss the various views of the vision and collectively determine the desired end state. This mutually agreed-upon vision then becomes the commitment statement for the program or project, as documented in the team charter. Through the WBS and RAM, each individual can see how his or her contributions support the overall vision for the program or project.
Setting the Stage for Success
Feelings of frustration, apprehension, or even lack of confidence are common when one is assigned to a new program or project, especially a virtual one. While to some people such an assignment represents an exciting challenge, to others the program or project may seem like a hindrance and a drain on motivation, especially if it is not a high-priority program or project. Further, team members, especially on a virtual team, may not feel any connection to their new teammates; they do not yet know if they have any common interests other than the program or project. The manager should strive to identify people who obviously do not want to be on the program or project early so their negative attitudes do not affect other team members. If the manager believes someone obviously does not want to be on the team, he or she should consult with the human resources department to see if another person with similar skills and competencies is available to work on the team. If no one else is available, the manager should meet with the dissatisfied team member and explain how vital his or her skills are to the team and then continue to emphasize this person‧s contributions as often as possible to enhance interest in being part of the team.
The program or project manager can set the stage for success by emphasizing the importance of reaching team agreement if at all possible on all major issues, promoting open communication (and confrontation when necessary), ensuring people have the tools and techniques they need to do their work effectively and efficiently, and fostering both team and individual career development. It is important to recognize, however, that the program or project manager can create an environment for success only by developing and executing a team-building plan; he or she on his or her own cannot complete the tasks or activities.
The following are other ways the manager and team can nurture success:
The team can get off to a positive start by establishing and meeting a major milestone early in the project. Early successes, which are publicized throughout the organization, lead to later successes, and team members’ motivation to be part of the team grows.
Periodically throughout the program or project, the manager should assess the team‧s performance to help diagnose strengths and weaknesses in team effectiveness.
To gather ideas from team members to further team development and commitment, the manager can hold brainstorming sessions with the team, schedule one-on-one interviews, or distribute surveys. The manager should express appreciation of innovative and creative ideas team members propose.
Implementing Collaborative Leadership
It is easy to say that a team will follow a collaborative leadership approach, but this is difficult to implement, especially in organizations that are set up as silos where people communicate vertically up the chain of command or if the program or project manager is motivated primarily by power. On a virtual team, however, collaborative leadership is a must, especially if a team member, not the manager, is in the same geographic area as the customer or a major stakeholder and will be the customer or stakeholder‧s principal point of contact. It is also essential on complex, technical programs and projects because a subject matter expert on the team may have to be the person who communicates directly with a comparable person on the customer‧s team. For the collaborative approach to work, team members must respect each other and realize that each person has been assigned to the team based on his or her knowledge, skills, and competencies.
Even with collaborative leadership and an empowered team, the manager must still be accessible to team members. He or she expedites communications and continually works to build unity among team members. The manager must also encourage open and honest discussion and work to integrate the efforts of all of the team members into a common solution. Team members must be able to trust the manager to keep his or her promises and to effectively work to obtain necessary additional resources if possible. If these resources cannot be acquired, the manager must explain the situation to the team so there is a common understanding.
Using a Team-Based Reward and Recognition System
PMI recommends rewarding “desirable behavior” with a team-based reward and recognition system (2008a, p. 234). It also notes the importance of considering cultural differences when rewards are given and stresses the need for public recognition of outstanding performance as a way to increase motivation on any team, virtual or co-located.
A team-based system is difficult to implement because performance plans usually assess individual performance, goals, and objectives, and often these objectives are set by functional managers and do not include work on a program or project team. Moving to a team reward and recognition system (while keeping individual performance plans) is a culture change for many organizations.
To establish this system, the best approach is for the program or project manager to collaborate with the team and the human resources department to set performance expectations. The system should take into account the expectations laid out in the charter and the deliverables to be prepared, and it should emphasize customer and stakeholder satisfaction. All team members should suggest ideas for the system.
Initially, the system may include rewards such as public recognition for teamwork, small monetary rewards, or gifts such as plaques noting accomplishments. Over time, the manager may be able to offer other rewards, especially during programs and projects of a longer duration.
Ideally, each team member should participate in the reward and recognition system by conducting a 360-degree evaluation of the performance of the other team members and his or her own performance. The team should collectively determine the elements to be evaluated during the kickoff meeting or at a separate team meeting. On a mature team, this evaluation can be done openly; on a new team, an anonymous approach may be more appropriate. The program or project manager reviews the results, then discusses them privately with each team member and summarizes them for the entire team. The purpose is to reward outstanding accomplishments, not to point out the shortcomings of a single individual.
Both the team reward and recognition system and individual performance plans are tied to the organization‧s strategic objectives, and the data that are collected to evaluate performance used to determine how performance contributes to benefits. Outstanding individual performance also must be recognized, but PMI (2008a) says that this must be done in a manner that does not affect team cohesiveness. The best practice to follow is to tie the individual performance plans to the team performance plan to create a team culture that is focused on success from the beginning.
Another best practice is to hold a meeting with the entire team to review its performance, discuss objectives, and decide collectively whether any changes to the reward system are possible and warranted. Alternatively, a member of the enterprise program management office (EPMO) could perform the review. This review should reveal whether changes to the reward system are needed or if the team could benefit from training or mentoring. The EPMO could also offer recommendations as to how to improve overall team competencies.
Involving the Team in Decision-Making
It is common for a team member who is located in the same geographic area as a stakeholder or customer to decide to resolve issues or problems affecting the stakeholder or customer on his or her own, but the best practice to follow is to engage the entire team, when needed, or key experts, regardless of their location, before a decision is made. The program or project manager may ask that he or she be involved in decisions or consulted before any decisions are made.
The team should follow the communications plan to make sure everyone on the team is aware of the problem and the decision. A RAM and regular, open communication will assist in this effort.
Using Stress-Management Techniques
Everyone experiences stress. It can be positive or negative, and different people on a team will react to stress in different ways, as discussed in Chapter 7. If someone on the team is experiencing an extremely high level of negative stress, the program or project manager might try to find a replacement with similar skills and competencies, enabling the other team member to return to a functional organization or to a less stressful project. This not only relieves the affected team member but also prevents his or her stress from hindering the productivity or morale of the entire team. Locating a new team member may be easier in a virtual environment because the pool of candidates is larger, and new people are regularly added throughout the life cycle when their expertise is required. Virtual teams are basically agile teams.
Many people, though, find virtual work more stressful than work on a co-located team, especially if they are affiliation motivated and enjoy day-today contact with others. They may feel isolated. Leaders and members of any type of team must be alert to situations that can be sources of stress and work together to see what can be done to help make the working conditions less stressful and more productive. One approach is to communicate more frequently with members of the virtual team, so they feel connected and that their work is significant to the organization.(Chapter 7 discusses additional stress-management techniques at length.)
Conducting a “People Issues” Audit
Program and project managers and team members often think of audits as assessments conducted for compliance purposes. The typical audits focus on the triple constraints and customer satisfaction, especially if metrics suggest that the program or project may be in trouble. While these audits certainly are needed and should be scheduled regularly to improve overall performance, teams should consider undergoing a people issues audit, too. After all, programs and projects are performed by people.
For a people issues audit to be effective, the team needs to support it and be willing to work to improve overall team effectiveness in ways the audit suggests. Typically, a people issues audit is conducted by someone outside the team, often a member of the EPMO or in program management by the governance board.
The auditors should review the team charter and any other guidelines or procedures in place. They also need access to the knowledge repository and the team‧s exit interviews with staff members who have left the program or project after their work has been completed. The auditors will interview team members, focusing on the interpersonal aspects of their work and trying to gain insight into the effectiveness of the existing team-building activities and how they might be improved.
Once the auditors complete their work, their report should include specific findings based on facts rather than on hearsay or their own opinions, along with recommendations. These findings and recommendations then should be shared with the team, and the team will determine whether the auditors’ recommendations can help improve overall team working conditions and performance.
Summary
Emphasize the importance of the program or project vision. The vision of a program or project is its desired end state (PMI 2008c). It reflects the program or project‧s goals and objectives, linking them to the overall organizational goals and objectives. Each team member‧s interpretation of the program or project‧s vision should support the team‧s collective vision. After it is discussed at the kickoff meeting, the vision should be reviewed frequently: during other meetings, when changes are made that affect the overall strategy of the performing organization or that of the project‧s customer, and when new members join the team.
Recognize individual differences, including personal styles and communication styles. Each individual communicates differently. On a virtual team, these differences are less obvious because communication is primarily verbal (Mehrabian 1968) and the typical cues of body language are not apparent. Communication will be more open if the team‧s manager and team members are aware of each team member‧s preferred style of communication.
Tailor motivation strategies. Understanding team members’ preferred motivational styles can help the project manager assign roles and responsibilities and inspire them to greater achievement. Chapter 3 discusses motivational sources and styles in depth.
Use effective interpersonal communication skills. The importance of effective communications on a program or project team cannot be underestimated. Research has shown that project managers spend approximately 90 percent of their time communicating (Stuckenbruck and Marshall 1985). On a virtual team, good communication is even more essential; team members are dispersed, so communication must be more intentional. Also, team members located in the same geographic area as customers and stakeholders may be charged with communicating with them. See Chapter 4 for more information.
Determine communications requirements. To avoid miscommunications that might create hard feelings, set communications ground rules. These might include establishing English as the common language for the project or guidelines for how quickly team members should respond to emails or postings in discussion forums, how to offer suggestions and provide feedback, when conference calls are required, when team meetings are to be held, and how to respond to any action items discussed in these meetings.
Other communication tips:
Team members should help determine the situations in which each communication method—email, phone calls, meetings—will be used.
Open communication should be the norm so that everyone feels comfortable contributing to discussions and debates.
Faster and more frequent communication may be needed on virtual teams to connect people in separate locations.
If a team member does not have time to provide an immediate response to an email, voice mail, or memo, he or she should acknowledge receiving it and tell the sender when he or she will respond.
Private conversations should remain private unless they are relevant to the team.
Fulfill planned commitments. The success of the team will depend on the effective execution of all program and project management processes. All team members should work to high standards. This means they must organize and manage time well to complete assigned tasks and help others finish their assigned work as needed. Teams should document work in action-item logs and problems in issue logs, and prepare and analyze regular status reports.
Establish a team-based recognition and reward system. The primary purpose of a recognition and reward system is to improve the program or project team‧s work performance. The evaluations on which rewards are based will also alert the manager to performance issues or problems or the need for new tools and techniques to support performance.
Apply different conflict resolution techniques at different stages in the program or project life cycle. Conflicts happen on all projects, and different types of conflicts occur at different stages in the project‧s life cycle (Thamhain and Wilemon 1975). Conflict is sometimes positive; different points of view can be merged for more effective solutions. Chapter 8 details several conflict resolution methods; teams should know when to employ each one.
Establish mutual accountability. A desire for success is central to the culture of any team. In a collaborative culture, helping others succeed is as important as one‧s own victories. Team members should look for opportunities to celebrate individual and overall team successes (Skulmoski and Levin 2001). Team members should listen to and understand others’ points of view, treating them as equal partners in the quest for program or project success. If personal problems arise, refocus on the process and context that caused the problem rather than on the personal conflict promotes productivity and trust among team members.
Regularly review work to keep performance at optimal levels. Continual reviews of program and project effectiveness can reveal how to sustain optimal performance or whether sub-optimal performance still exists. Regardless, these reviews should be frequent enough to keep pace with changing conditions that affect the program or project and necessitate the revision of processes and procedures.
Promote continuous improvement. Ensure team members, whether co-located or virtual, establish professional development goals. Ideally, each team member should have a personal learning agenda. Team members should be given opportunities to develop new skills and competencies and to take an active role in the program or project to develop further the skills they need for advancement.
Each team member should also make a commitment to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the team‧s processes and procedures for completing the deliverables. A formal continuous improvement program can encourage individuals and teams as a whole to propose improvements in processes and procedures as part of the organization‧s commitment to knowledge management for future program and project work.
Discussion Questions
Assume you are managing a virtual team for the first time in your career. Your project is the fifth highest priority in the organization‧s portfolio management system, which has 55 different programs and projects, so it is receiving extensive attention from management. The project is launched to develop and deliver a new product within two years, and the schedule is urgent because management wants to ensure that the product makes it into the marketplace before the company‧s competitors release a similar product of their own.
To help ensure your project‧s success, management has appointed a senior-level governance board to oversee its progress. This board meets with you monthly, and you are expected to consult with its members between meetings if any significant issues or risks arise. Unfortunately, economic conditions prevent you from having direct interaction with your project team, which is made up of 25 members located on three different continents. Your company does not have a video conferencing system, and most communications will be asynchronous except for occasional conference calls held at pre-arranged times.
You want to ensure that your project is a success and that your team members are pleased and motivated by their work on the project. Therefore, you meet with your governance board to ask if you can implement a team-based reward and recognition system for the project. The board members agree that although other programs and projects in the organization do not have similar systems in place, implementing a reward and recognition system might be a good idea. If the system is ultimately deemed beneficial, it could then be applied to other programs and projects in the organization as well.
You are pleased the governance board is supportive of your idea, and you decide to conduct a teleconference with your team to explain the concept to them. During the teleconference, you use a nominal group technique by giving each team member an opportunity to respond with ideas about the reward and recognition system. You then ask your team to formulate a draft plan for the system. One team member volunteers to lead this effort.
Questions:
What criteria should be used to determine team effectiveness?
How should this team-based reward and recognition system be structured?
Who should determine how to administer the system—e.g., the team itself, the project manager, the project sponsor, the governance board? What are the advantages and disadvantages of involving each of groups listed?
If a team member disagrees with the approach, can he or she opt out of the system without fear of reprisal, or does everyone need to participate for the system to be effective?
How often would a review of the system be conducted to ensure it‧s effective? Who would conduct this review, and how would the review be done?
How would a subject matter expert who is part of the project for only two or three months be compensated by the reward and recognition system?
What other problems could influence the development and implementation of this system?