One of the key challenges in managing virtual teams is celebrating on the occasions when we can get together.
Celebration is an important virtual team process. It allows us to feel good about achievements, to mark milestones and gather energy for the next phase of our work. It provides an opportunity for recognition and ‘feel good factors after all of the effort of working together – and getting together.
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The problem in virtual teams is that all of these things are easier when we are face-to-face. Without the human interaction, and the energy it creates, celebration can often be difficult to achieve.
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The first thing we’ve learned in working with virtual teams for over 16 years is that anything is better than nothing. Even a congratulatory e-mail is better than not marking the end of something. However, there are more creative things we can do to create a sense of celebration in our virtual team.
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Here are two examples from our work:
A marketing team based in three locations has most of its members in Paris with colleagues in Brussels and New York. There was a tendency for the smaller number of individuals in Brussels and New York to feel excluded when the larger group, in Paris, had meetings which they joined by audio conference. The team leader organized a virtual team celebration, where the group in Paris was given cakes. At the same time he had arranged for cakes to be delivered to the Brussels and New York locations so that everybody felt they were part of the same experience.
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It may seem like a small thing, but the remote members of the virtual team really appreciated it.
I was reflecting on the video in a previous blog, Learning from Students : Universities are full of “inclusion mechanisms” to make new students welcome. There are a range of societies, clubs and events (particularly during the infamous Freshers Week) designed to encourage mixing and help people to get to know each other. These mechanisms really work: we form some of our closest friendships during our university years.
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The subject of community building often arises during our training and consultancy work on virtual and global teams. Community used to come as a free byproduct of proximity. The fact that we were in the same place made it easy to build relationships and trust. In today’s distributed teams and organizations it is often expensive to meet face-to-face, and the costs of building community become much more explicit.
Adapted transcript of video for people reading using RSS or unable to view video:
This video focusses on one of the key tools we use in Global Integration’s ‘Tools for cross-cultural success’ training program. (The three key tools are The Onion, The Culture Abacus and The Five Choices Tool. This video focuses on the third tool, The Five Choices.)
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The first two videos looked at how we use the onion and abacus tools to train participants in how to understand and diagnose cultural differences, and showed how to create a gap analysis showing where the significant differences are between one culture and another.
In selecting people for global leadership positions one of the big questions is: what are we looking for, “fit” or “flexibility”?
If we are looking for “fit” for a particular location or role then we might be looking for a global leader to fit a particular cultural profile or who can work comfortably in that style. This may lead us to recruit someone well suited for that role, but is that really global leadership?
If we select someone on the basis of fit, we might find that a global leader that works in one location will be a disaster in another. The skills that make an effective leader in California might be very different from the skills that make a leader effective in China.
It’s also difficult to predict how well an individual will fit into a role or culture unless they have done it already. We all know of strong, almost stereotypical characters, who have been successful against the odds in very challenging cultures.
However when we have a vacancy and an urgent need to get someone capable into the role it can be easy to fall into the trap of looking for fit to a particular assignment, rather than flexibility to develop true global leadership capabilities.
This video was made by students at Exeter University discussing the issues faced by international students. Cross cultural issues are, of course, a theme close to our hearts at Global Integration. Many of the lessons the video shares, and the thoughtfulness that lies behind it, are lessons that could equally apply to welcoming people from other places and cultures into their workplace teams.
An Interview with Caroline Blair Behind the scenes at Global Integration is Caroline, who’s a keen horsewoman when not at work. In working hours, however, she‘s the linchpin that holds the back office together, sorting everything from invoicing to resolving last minute hitches before courses happen. Whilst some may know her name, for the most part she does such a great job that clients don’t know she’s there.
What does your week look like?
I keep up to date the invoicing, supplier payments and credit control for our Europe and US operations and update our monthly forecasts, provide management accounts and financial tracking reports.
I also ensure materials arrive on time at client locations to support our courses, which can be anything from working in virtual teams to training senior managers the soft skills required to lead matrix companies – and ensuring that the Speed Lead books [by Kevan Hall, Global Integration’s CEO] are kept stocked and shipped out as required.
(For anyone reading this post on RSS, or unable to play the video above, the following is an adapted transcript.)
The Global Integration Tools for cross-cultural success training program often includes three key tools are the onion, the culture abacus and the five choices tool. This video focuses on the second tool, the culture abacus.
The abacus tool shows five major areas in which cultural differences have an impact on work behaviours. (Participants use the cultural abacus to diagnose where their own culture is relative to others.)
How we organise time. In some cultures time is more linear, more strict, more structured. In others it is more flexible. (I am from the UK and in my culture time is pretty linear, punctuality and deadlines are important.)
Rules. Some cultures prefer to get things done through rules, processes and systems, whilst others would prefer to do exactly the same thing through their relationships and networks. (My culture is fairly rule oriented.)
Status. Where does status come from and how do we exercise it? (In my culture status is a blend of what you do and who you are – achievement is important in modern organizations but background, education and connections can also have a big influence in some sectors.)
Individual v. group. We need to understand what is the relative importance of the individual in the group. (The UK is very individualistic in the way we work and make decisions.)
Communication. For example, how direct or indirect is our communication style? (In this area, the UK is usually indirect: we like to go ‘around the houses’ a bit before we get to the point.)
Rod Farnan, Consultant Trainer, Global Integration, argues that the duty of companies is to equip people to deal with the new state of affairs and face up to the challenges ahead.
We live in an age where we need to equip people for tomorrow’s corporate life, not just to do the tasks they were brought in to complete.
One of the biggest challenges currently facing companies is coping with the recovery and the organizational changes that flow from this. We are entering a huge period of change – what we’ve experienced so far is beginning to escalate. And it’s not just economic change.
People – customers, suppliers, colleagues – find information from a huge number of sources now. Where once they would seek advice either from professionals such as lawyers or doctors, or acknowledged local corporate sources, people now turn quickly to the Internet, where they can access information – not all of it accurate – for free. This presents a challenge to corporates: their customers/environments/markets are all changing.
Many have downsized during the recession and/or are working across national structures to avoid duplicating expertise and costs, and share resources. A more hostile operating environment and organisational changes often leave people needing to know how to make their new corporate environment work and as a result, are often left in a less structured and ambiguous situation.
All training, learning and development demands trust: without a degree of openness and honesty, it’s hard to get to the root of, and therefore resolve, problems. My perfect customer is one who trusts me to work with them to get the best result for them: training works best when we learn about, and understand, each other.
There is a balance though: I trust the companies I work with to provide me with a decent location to train in and to get their people there, to pay for my time and skills, and meet my travel costs. In exchange it’s important that they trust me with the right information to deliver appropriate and effective training.
I have worked with my longest starting client for ten and a half years, and the ‘value-add’ is constantly changing. Initially we had the ‘wow!’ factor – big institutional changes from a standard course, tailored but not deviating much from material that’s really well understood within Global Integration. This included matrix working, virtual teams, cross cultural training – the things we’re great at, and well known for. For the first five years, this was really rewarding, and we witnessed changed internal behaviour.
Since then, our relationship has moved on, and whilst I still tailor the more basic courses for this customer, the team now calls me to say ‘we have a problem, how can you help?’
Training Journal (a UK based magazine) put out a ‘vox pop’ video this week asking what HR professionals thought would be the biggest issues in learning and development over the coming year:
We asked some of the Global Integration consultants the same question:
