Wolverine Senior Learning and Development Manager Toni Freeland and OnPoint Consulting Managing Partner Darleen DeRosa share some of the company’s secrets for virtual team success.

1. A Global Company’s Secrets
to Virtual Team Success

2. Darleen DeRosa,
Managing Partner,
OnPoint Consulting
dderosa@OnPointConsultingLLC.com
Featuring:
Toni Freeland, Director,
Learning and Development,
Wolverine Worldwide
toni.freeland@wwwinc.com

3. About OnPoint Consulting
● Author of Virtual Team Success: A
Practical Guide to Working and Leading
From a Distance
● Works with global brands, including
Wolverine Worldwide, Merck and
Autodesk
Top organizational and leadership development firm

4. About Wolverine Worldwide
● Founded in 1883, headquartered in Michigan
● In more than 200 countries and territories
● 12 global brands, including Sperry, Saucony, Merrell,
Hush Puppies and CAT Footwear
Our mission: To empower, engage and inspire our
customers—every step of the way.

5. Agenda
● The challenges of working in a virtual team
● How to budget for, select and implement training
● How to measure the success of training
● Best practices for training virtual leaders

6. Why It Matters
In OnPoint’s Virtual Team Study, 49% of
stakeholders reported their virtual team leaders were
not performing at a high level.
Virtual team failures lead to inefficiencies, reduced
customer satisfaction and ultimately, decreased
profits.

7. The Wolverine Challenge
Numerous acquisitions and continued global
expansion led to decentralization and
challenges communicating and collaborating
within virtual teams.
Virtual leaders had difficulty motivating teams
and holding them accountable for results.

8. The Goals
1. Raise awareness that managing a virtual team is
different from managing face-to-face
2. Equip virtual leaders with the skills and tools they
need to be more effective

9. Selecting the Right Training
● Research-based
● Cost-effective
● Practical, actionable
● Scalable
● Customized to our needs
● Easy for busy leaders to adopt

10. Obstacles to Overcome
● Awareness among leaders that virtual leadership
requires different skills than traditional leadership
● Getting global participation vs. U.S. only
● Setting a budget
● Getting leaders to commit (and actually attend)

11. Getting Buy-In
● Tie training to strategy or a corporate value
● Share research, best practices
● Share virtual leadership mishaps/consequences
● Suggest a pilot program to evaluate value
● Conduct a needs analysis with virtual leaders to
understand their challenges

12. Setting a Budget
● Start small: Focus on one cohort first
● Benchmark spending against industry peers
● Use annual turnover statistics and performance
evaluation data among virtual leaders to show
what is at stake if you do nothing

13. Getting Leaders to Commit
● Ask them what they want to learn
● Use self-assessments and 360 feedback from
peers, supervisors and direct reports to identify
most pressing needs
● Involve their manager to gain buy-in and support

14. Getting Leaders to Commit
● Offer incentives (certification, social media badge,
free lunch on training days)
● Require registration and have consequences for
not attending (such as charging their department)

15. The Curriculum
● No Trust, No Team: Building Trust Virtually
● Conducting Effective V-Meetings
● Influencing Remotely
● Managing Conflict From a Distance
● Managing Accountability and Coaching in a
Virtual Environment
● How Great Leaders Inspire Action and
Motivate Others From a Distance

16. The Participants
● 45 global participants over two cohorts
● Diverse backgrounds and geography
● Each leader committed to at least 4 of 5 modules
● Attendance was mandatory; departments would
be charged for those who did not attend

17. The Format
● 90-minute webinars; each included pre-work and
post-session action planning
● Bi-weekly sessions to space out learning
● Convenient time zone for global participation

18. “Shows how we can be more
effective accomplishing the
team goals as a leader.”
“I am getting to know my team
on a personal level and I have
more of a connection to them.”

19. “I’ve learned how to connect
and align with each other to
achieve a common goal.”
“Better communication, lots of
dialogue, working verbally
more now than through email.”

20. Practical Application
● More effective meetings with time spent building
relationships
● Proactive planning for virtual meetings (utilizing
virtual meeting platforms)

21. Practical Application
● Stronger interpersonal relationships and more
effective working relationships
● More constructive performance reviews
● Ability to address conflict more effectively and
tools for how to address it

22. What’s Next for Wolverine
● Planning an additional cohort in 2016 and two
cohorts in 2017
● Laid the foundation for new global, online
leadership development curriculum
● Launching global team performance survey to
assess health of face-to-face and virtual teams.

23. Close the Distance Gap:
Best Practices

24. Make Time For Relationships
● Meet in person at least once in first 3-6 months
● Set aside time at every meeting for small talk
● Use informal forms of communication, such as
Google Chat

25. Set Expectations
● Ensure teams and leaders have a shared,
clearly defined purpose
● Make clear what is expected in terms of
frequency and methods of communication
● Outline standard processes in shared
documents

26. Equip Leaders With Training
Key skills virtual leaders must master:
● Building trust
● Conducting effective meetings
● High-impact communication skills
● Influencing
● Managing accountability
● Motivating others

27. How Are Your Leaders Doing?
Put them to the test with our Leading From a
Distance Assessment! Contact us for a consultation.

28. Questions & Discussion

29. THANK YOU!
If you’d like to learn more about our
assessment and training tools for virtual
leaders, feel free to contact us.
www.OnPointConsultingLLC.com | 203.533.5128