Managing Virtual Project Teams

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Managing Distributed (Virtual)Project Teams
Shawn Grubb (PMP)
September 2009
Project Management Symposium
PMSU

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Objective
Map stages of team development & Trust
How to develop trust in VT during stages
Share a few stories I picked up
My Ask: help develop a skill…

Values: Character – Integrity & Courage, Family & Faith
Passions: Learning – Leading – Coaching – Solving – Strategizing
Strengths Finder: Strategic – Futuristic – Command – Competition – Self-Assurance
Shawn Grubb
1995
1990
Born!
Raised!
Graduate: SAP
University Alliance
Operations Mgmt.
Mgmt Info Systems.
ERP Systems Mgmt.
Career #1: Radio Music & Media
Youngest of 4:
-F: Mechanic
-M: Homemaker
KALF
KARZ
K9FM
KLRS
SOLD!
Founder & Owner: Top Notch Entertainment ( 6 employees, $100M NOS)
KPPL
2000
2001
2004
Married
Hasnaa!
Career #2: SAP IT
GBS CLFS – Move to OH
Career #3: Pharma Product Supply
Manage a Global Team of 12 SAP BEs
Morocco SAP Implementation
Core Logistics
Italy Plants & DCs
Core Logistics SAP:
Dreieich Germany
Band II
Core Logistics
SAP: Blois FR
PM: Patheon CM
Longjumeau France
Core Financials SAP:
NA Accounts Payable
Project Manager
Italy Platform II
Core Logistics SAP:
Bournemouth UK
Move to France
2005
2007
2009
Band III
SERPAT Company Benchmark!
Manati Puerto Rico 9.3 of 10
Recognition
Shares!
Recognition
Shares!
PM: Vita L&A
Barcelona ES
Guest Speaker:
“Managing a G-BPX team”
Career #4:
Move to GBS BPM
IT Portfolio Manager
Flowed to Longjumeau FR to help decommission the site
Expanded team of 12 to include Pharma & Personal Healthcare Portfolio, PMO and SERPAT COE.

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Agenda
Who am I and why should you listen
Planning the Perfect Virtual Project
The Tuckman Model of development
Forming – Storming – Norming - Performing
Characteristics of the stage
What leaders should do in the stage
What's trust got to do with it
Practical steps to build trust in that stage
Q&A

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Stolen!

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Planning
Walk before you run
Experience working on a virtual team?
Select the Project Manager
Be on a successful virtual project team
Lead a successful project at home
A poor PM in a Physical environment is going to be worse in a Virtual one

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Planning
Select the right members – The team
Go deeper than the role and function
Have they worked on a virtual project?
“how can she possibly know what we do here?”
Interpersonal skills
Ambiguity and stress
Arrange for needed Training:
Sharepoint, IM, Livemeeting, Outlook scheduling
English for Native English speakers

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Stages of team: Tuckman Model
Bruce Tuckman, Psychologist
Naval Medical Research Institute

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Stages: Forming

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Stages: Forming(pretending to get along with others)
Characteristics:
Most uncertain and ambiguous time
The forming of the team takes place
Independent - motivated - uninformed
Usually on their best behavior
Seek to understand the work

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What to do:
Need to be directive during this phase
Set some ground rules early
Rules lead to reduction in uncertainty
increase trust (there is something tangible)
Actions:
Be explicit about your thoughts
Start meetings on time
Observe deadlines
Lay out your expectations
RM: how to work with me .doc

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Tangent: Trust
Trust: Factor for overcoming barriers
Necessary for
Effective communication
Obtaining Goals
Developing higher performing team
Quickly resolving issues
Need for trust in Global teams are magnified
It’s easy to blame someone you may never see
Mis-understandings are too common
Communication has to be more deliberate

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Tangent: Trust
How does trust fit into the virtual team?
Normally trust is high to start
Hard to maintain in the virtual world
Hard for people to “see” themselves as a team
PM sitting in CA, but leading ES project
Interactions often are purely business
After call banter, hallway talk,
Lack of rich communication:
Verbal vs. verbal + physical communication
Tone, volume pitch and rhythm?
Lots of room for noise
Lack of understanding = trust?

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How trust fits in: Swift Trust
Two sources of trust
Personal endorsements
Someone I trust tells me I should trust you
Something I heard about you tells me I should trust you
Role based information
I understand your position, I can make assumptions
I understand your role, I think I know what you will do

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How to build Swift trust
Personal endorsements
Meet each member in advance – take notes
Follow each introduction with an endorsement
what have they done that was significant?
Where have they worked, how long in the role, level of expertise
In the absence of personal endorsements:
Standard P&G intro: Name, location, function,

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Trust based on role based assumptions
What are they here to do?
What level are they, function?
Stereotypes: country, voice, role in meeting
Bonus: Virtual Teambuilding exercise
At the second meeting, have each person introduce another person
Builds trust, encourages connections, and starts to “gel” the team

VT: Predictability
Add text here
VT: Sense of Order & Dependability
Why: Virtual teams need structure regularity
How: team meetings
Establish team meetings & keep them!
Never cancel a standing meetings
Rotating meeting owners avoid OOO
Why not: You will be bombarded with “are we having a meeting on today?” messages

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Stages: Storming

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Stages: Storming (Real u+ down to business + tempers)
Characteristics
Competition of ideas
What is the work, what are the issues
How do we work: tools, meetings, processes
Open up & confront ideas and perspectives.
Quick storm:
strong expertise, tolerance for ambiguity, objectives
Long Storm:
Too many experts / opinions, no clear “A”, concensus
Empirical research:
more expertise / longer stage

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Watch out: Maturity needed here
People uncomfortable with Ambiguity
Tend to focus on minutiae to evade real issues
How will xxx work!
Easily divert discussions & challenge patience
TvN:
Details not all worked out; get ideas and push on
Courage; take some personal risks “I will own”

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What leaders should do
Contentious, unpleasant and painful
Cultural conflicts, misinterpretations, damage
Recognize how people respond to conflict
Strong opinions, disengage, only one solution
Tolerance of ideas and opinions is required
Create a safe environment;
Encourage exchange of ideas
Reward new and different ideas
Encourage all participants
Reward & Encourage inter-team feedback

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Watch outs:
Tolerance & patience or else
Destructive, de-motivating, damaging
PM needs to have an open door policy
Recognize the need for a decision
Bring to a close with concrete decisions
Agree not to revisit decisions
Use the issues list:
Lower priority items still needs to be agreed
What needs worked out

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How trust fits in: Cognitive assessments
Competency; ability to deliver the project
how do the members participate in the debates
Do they bring new ideas / fresh perspectives
Are they subject matter experts?
Integrity:
Do they work beyond their own view?
Do they encourage others to give their view
Are they transparent / cogent?
Do they work to move forward?

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How to build trust
Give opportunities to showcase strengths
Encourage each other to recognize each other’s ideas
Pull in the sideliner; doing that encourages everyone
Watch for positive and negative communication patterns & provide feedback

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Storming is necessary but dangerous
If done well:
Team will therefore resolve their differences
Be able to work with each other comfortably
Will not feel they are being judged
Will be comfortable sharing opinions and views

VT: Phone Conferences
Add text here
VT: effective use of phone conference
Expect multi-taskers
Don’t surprise people
Wallace what do you think of that?
Signal a need for people to listen back in
“Javier, what do you think about blah blahblah”
Sam and Soufiane, you need to hear this one
Mui, this one might touch you

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Stages: Norming

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Stages: Norming (comfortable + trust + productivity)
Characteristics:
Team adjust behavior to each other
Know each other better, views change
Work habits seem more natural / fluid.
Utilize rules, values, methods, tools, taboos
Motivation increases
Team gets more acquainted with the project

VT: English for English Speakers
Add text here
VT: English for English speakers
Slang, sports, television,music
Broken phone
J.B. Document

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Be the leader, but take a careful step back
Watch outs:
Threatened by responsibility, revert to storming
Norming becomes too strong:
Lose their creativity
stifle healthy dissent
exhibit groupthink

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How trust fits in: Cognitive assessments
Competency; ability to deliver the project
Perspective of competence and reliability
Expertise is accepted, Trust in decisions made
Trust in the process, people start using the tools
Integrity:
Trust to “do the right thing” becomes stronger
May not agree on the how, but the what is clear

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How to build trust
Model trust in peoples integrity
I trust you will make the best decision
Stefano, I am going to leave this one to you to work out
Kim, you made a good decision, thanks
Once decisions are made, TRUST THEM
(you type “A” people you… )

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How to build trust
Continue to encourage social relationships
Model: get to know people (according to culture)
Think of your current core teams
Do they have kids? How many do they have?
People get to know one another personally
Regional or national events (news clipper for country)
I saw there was a big storm in your area, was it bad?
Watch outs:
Sensitive to political / religious situations
Family situations “can I ask about….”
Admit, you are learning…
Emotional bonds start to build

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Global Godfathers

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Benevolence (affective trust)
Personal experiences vs. cognitive trust.
Confidence in a partner based on:
Feelings generated by the level of care
Amount of concern the partner demonstrates
Reliance on a partner based on emotions
It is characterized by:
feelings of security
perceived strength of the relationship.
Venture beyond available knowledge?

VT: Extreme FB
Add text here
VT: Seek Extreme Feedback
Need the pulse of the virtual team
Leadership trust by Extreme Feedback
“Leadership opinions are often very strong – If the own opinion or pov is incongruent it is hard / impossible to convince the leader”

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Stages: Performing (team + goal + efficient + cooperative)

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Characteristics: High performing teams
Team
Function as a seamless unit: smooth & effective
No inappropriate conflict, little supervision
Team members have become interdependent.
Members:
Motivated, knowledgeable, & able to decide
Competent, autonomous, and confident
Dissent: expected, allowed, and channeled
Not all teams reach this stage

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Celebrate success
Virtually this is done via power of you awards
Awards page complete with photos and awards
Hand written letters delivered by post-mail
Make progress transparent
Publish the GANTT chart
Publicly congratulate milestones
Encourage others to congratulate (reward)
Release members from local tasks

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How trust fits in
Integrity gives way to benevolence:
Relationships are built, a sense of care develops
We have a relationship, you will help me
Go on holiday, I will finish for you over the weekend
What if you don’t have benevolence?
Transactional Relationships (that’s not my job)
Examine your relationships with your team
Provide a foundation for understanding

VT: Why do they do what they do?
Add text here
VT: Understand why they do that?
Mediterranean example live with SAP
Don’t follow job aids, always late
S. Plate: why do they do what they do?
No process or the process does not work.
French example in Longjumeau
Taking forever to get to resolution
Descartes – the process, not the resolution

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Summary: Trust on Virtual Teams
Forming
Swift Trust: Introduce people, virtual intro exercise
Storming
Ability: Showcase talent, encourage peer feedback,
Norming
Integrity: “I trust you”, model personal connections
Performing
Is “Benevolence” in your culture?

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Objective
Map stages of team development & Trust
How to develop trust in VT during stages
Share a few stories I picked up
My Ask: help develop a skill…

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Questions?

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The End!

Sources:
“Creating & sustaining trust in Virtual teams” Penelope Sue Greenberg, Ralph H. Greenberg, Yvonne LedererAntonucci. Kelly School of Business 2007
“Communicating in Virtual Project Teams” Harvard Management Communication Letter, 2000
“The Art of Managing Virtual Teams: Eight Lessons” Charles Wardell, Harvard Management Update, 1998
“How will you make your team a team?” Paul Michelman, Harvard Business School Publishing 2004
“Trust Makes A Team Go ‘Round” Judith A Ross, Business School Publishing, 2006
“Long-Distance Relationship Troubles” Michael O’Brien, HRExecutive.com, 2009
“Frontline Leadership” Lt. Colonel Diane Ryan, Harvard Business Review Voices, 2009
“How the Right Measures Help Teams Excel” Christopher Meyer, Harvard Business Review, 1994
“Managing Multicultural Teams” Jeanne Brett, Kristen Behfar, & Mary C. Kern, Harvard Business Review, 2006
“Why Some Teams Succeed (and So Many Don’t)” Harvard Management Update, 2008
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Managing Virtual Project Teams

by Shawn Grubb

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