Leading Teams203
Managing virtual teams
Just as cross-cultural teams have become increasingly common, virtual
teams have become almost ubiquitous. You’re leading a virtual team if your
people don’t consistently share a location. Maybe some members of your
team are permanently anchored in Singapore, while others are in Seattle,
CASE STUDY
Manager in the middle
When a major international software developer needed to produce a new
product quickly, the project manager assembled a team of employees
from India and the United States. From the start, the team members could
not agree on a delivery date for the product. The Americans thought the
work could be done in two to three weeks; the Indians predicted it would
take two to three months. As time went on, the Indian team members
proved reluctant to report setbacks in the production process, which the
American team members would fi nd out about only when work was due
to be passed to them.
Such confl icts, of course, may aff ect any team, but in this situation,
they arose from cultural diff erences. As tensions mounted, confl ict over
delivery dates and feedback became personal, disrupting team mem-
bers’ communication about even mundane issues. The project manager
decided he had to intervene, with the result that both the American and
the Indian team members came to rely on him for direction regarding min-
ute operational details that the team members should have been able to
handle themselves. The manager became so bogged down by quotidian
issues that the project careened hopelessly off even the most pessimistic
schedule, and the team never learned to work together eff ectively.
Source: Jeanne Brett, Kristin Behfar, and Mary C. Kern, “Managing Multicultural Teams,” Har-
vard Business Review, November 2006.
204Managing Teams
or maybe frequent travel means that someone is always calling in from the
road. Perhaps some individuals work from home a few times a month or
are scattered across so many different fl oors that even though you all work
in the same building, you’re more likely to meet over Skype than in a con-
ference room.
While leading any team involves a mix of managing people and pro-
cesses, virtual leaders must perform these functions without face-to-face
accountability. Although you may have more technological options to keep
connected than ever before, these tools don’t always empower strong vir-
tual connections. Here’s how to stay on top of the work, even when you
can’t see the people doing it:
Pick the right tools.
The technologies you use will have a tremendous impact on your team’s
ability to function in a virtual environment. First, fi gure out what your
team needs, what resources are presently available to you, and the security
policies and restrictions of your company. Evaluating existing resources
involves looking at what your team members have in place on their end,
but also at the tools your organization brings to the table. Run through the
list in the box “Checklist for technology setup” to fi nd the issues that will be
most relevant to your needs.
Checklist for technology setup
CHOOSING HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE
• What quality of internet access do team members need and are
their current setups suffi cient? Ask them to perform an internet
speed test.
• What will be your primary means of team communication—email,
phone, IM? How will you conduct meetings—phone, video?
Leading Teams205
• What hardware and software will team members need to com-
municate, create, and share content? What compatibilities will you
require?
• What capacities do team members need to have on their phones?
Do team members need to be on the same mobile operating sys-
tem (Android versus iOS)?
• Will you need project management or issue tracking software
(such as Asana, Smartsheet, SharePoint, JIRA, Microsoft Project,
or Basecamp)?
STORING AND SYNCHRONIZING TEAM MATERIALS
• How much storage capacity will you need? Should it be scalable?
• Will you store content on hard drives, company servers, or in the
Cloud (such as Dropbox or Google Drive)? What are security con-
cerns, risks, and rules?
• Will you synchronize content, updating fi les automatically across
the whole team? Will you need versioned documents or an ability
to track who made changes?
• Will you need to share or synchronize calendars?
BUDGET AND SECURITY
• What is your budget for all technology—purchase, installation,
storage, and maintenance? What capital expenses do you have to
plan for, versus operational expenses?
• What costs will the organization bear, and what will individual
team members pay for?
• What security requirements or protocols does your company have
for transmitting and storing sensitive data?
206Managing Teams
Clarify expectations for engagement.
Everyone who’s worked with virtual collaborators has experienced “ghost-
ing” in some form, when a colleague just stops answering emails and phone
calls. Remote work can lend plausible deniability to wrongdoing with this
sort of behavior: “I just didn’t see your email!” Remove that veil by setting
clear expectations for what an engaged team member looks like. Ban mul-
titasking on calls, and make a point of calling on people who aren’t contrib-
uting. Set an email policy, stipulating how quickly people should answer
emails and return calls. When team members travel, encourage them to set
aside extra time after their trip to catch up on missed connections. Then
enforce these rules with low-touch, regular check-ins over text or IM: “I
haven’t heard much from you this week. Where are you on X project? Do
you need anything from me to keep things moving?”
Technology crisis card
Ask all team members to keep this basic information on hand (on their
desktop, in their purse) for when things go wrong.
• Name of your internet service provider and a helpline phone
number
• Name of the account holder and your account number
• Account information for your most important tools (the email ad-
dress or name it’s registered under, password hints, security ques-
tions, purchase information)
• Name and version of your computer’s current operating system
• Name and phone number of an in-home IT service
Leading Teams207
Have a backup plan.
At some point, your teleconference app will crash. The colleague who’s sup-
posed to give a presentation will lose their internet access ten minutes into
your meeting. Help your people take these obstacles in stride by asking
them to make a “technology crisis card” ahead of time, so they can quickly
sort out problems as they arise (see the box). Encourage them to use the
buddy system, too, so that when something goes wrong, they can turn to a
designated colleague for help or an update.
Foster social bonds.
Remote work can be very isolating. Without regular face time, team mem-
bers may struggle to build trusting relationships and may wonder if anyone
really sees—and appreciates—their work. To keep motivation high, make
low-stakes social time a priority in your team’s routines. Friday afternoon
check-ins over video chat, regular “offi ce hours” on IM, even an ice-breaker
routine at the beginning of each meeting can make all the difference. Don’t
always worry about keeping things focused on work during these mini-
interactions. Your team members need to learn to relate to each other at
the personal level, too.
It’s equally important for you as a manager to engage effectively with all
employees, especially if some are co-located with you and others are vir-
tual. Make a special point to connect with virtual team members person-
ally to build and maintain strong relationships over time. Use Skype or
other video tools as often as possible to connect personally and hold your-
self accountable for engaging virtual employees fully in team discussions.
Virtual teams require a lot of organization up front, especially from
you. But once you’ve covered these basics, your people will be working as
effectively apart as they ever could together.
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