83% now work in virtual or cross-functional teams

New research published by Ashridge Business School in their Ashridge Management Index (2010) shows 83% of respondents are managing or working in cross-functional and virtual teams.

This way of working is now commonplace – it is the new ‘normal’ way of working.

However, less than half felt their organization provides sufficient support for virtual working (only 33% in public sector).

We have been running virtual teams training for 16 years now after pioneering virtual teams training, yet we still see many organizations who do not reflect this reality in their team training, or have programs that are basic teamwork skills unchanged since the 70’s with a couple of slides added on working through technology.

Virtual teams are more than this, and demand different tools and mindsets. Surely it’s about time our skills caught up with the reality of this ‘normal’ way of working?

Not addressing these skills could lead to high levels of frustration, staff attrition and inefficiency. So why is training to cope with this new way of working given such low priority by so many?

(Global Integration even has the tools to benchmark your team’s performance. Call us to find out more.)

Updated January 2013 (links and punctuation  updated)