Wi SHRM Managing Virtual Teams Handouts

Managing Virtual Teams
Wisconsin SHRM Conference
October 16, 2009

Goals for this workshop
Our goal is to provide practical advice that empowers you
to implement or optimize your virtual team starting
tomorrow.

What is your goal for today?

©Life Meets Work, 2009

Common concerns
How can I manage what I can’t see?
Won’t they run errands/do laundry when they should work?
What if some employees don’t want to work from home?
What if I need someone and they’re not available?
How do I schedule a meeting if we live all over the world?
How do I train virtual workers?
Will productivity decrease?
What if everyone wants to do this and no one’s in the office?
Will this work for hourly as well as managerial? Vice versa?
How do I ensure that work will get done on time?
Are virtual workers as committed as onsite ones?
Won’t customer service levels decrease?


The value of virtual teams
Increased productivity
Increased customer satisfaction/retention and service levels
Increased employee retention/engagement
Reduced absenteeism rates
Reduced real estate costs, overhead
“Employer of Choice” recruitment and retention strategy
Employees closer to customer locations
Coordination with virtual offices
Supports green/CSR initiatives
Offsets commuting costs in time and money
Disability accommodation
Supports work/life and flexible workplace initiatives
Business continuity/disaster planning


Need more?
60% of teleworkers are less likely to look for another
job. --2008 Clean Air Campaign study

87% of employees and managers agreed
telecommuters’ productivity improved or stayed the
same. --2008 Study by National Science Foundation

Teleworkers were more engaged and had more
favorable opinions of senior management.
--2008 study of 10,000 workers by Kenexa Research Institute


Case in Point: Sun Microsystems
Open Work: a network of people, places and technologies started in
1995
56% of their employees work remotely at least 2 days/week
$387 million saved over six yrs in real estate and utility costs
60% of the time employees used to spend commuting, they now spend
working
85% of employees say they’d recommend Sun as an employer
$1700 in fuel costs is saved annually by the average employee
telecommuting 2.5 days per week
Telecommuters score higher on performance ratings than their on-site
counterparts
Lower turnover, higher employee satisfaction ratings


What is a virtual team?
Arrangements vary:
Emergency (snow storm, sick child at home)
Occasional (1-2 days per week)
Consistent (at least 3 days)
Ongoing (no on-site office)
Locations vary:
Home office
Co-working site
Coffee shop, library, etc.


What’s the secret to managing virtual
teams?
The skills you need to manage a virtual team are the same ones you need
to successfully manage an on-site team.

It calls you to leadership, goal-setting, performance management and
communication. It requires you to spend time deliberately managing your
team.

In the end, both offsite and onsite team members benefit.


Create a high performing team
What does that look like?
Collaboration
Productive meetings
Communication/Info-sharing
Individual accountability
Trust/respect for one another
Recognition/Celebration
Opportunities for learning
Transparency
Great people
No silos
Shared goals


Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do
and let them surprise you with their results.
George S. Patton


Setting up a virtual team
Approach A:
Create a proposal and offer telecommuting/flexible work options to
eligible team members.
Offer a pilot program for 3 to 6 months with an evaluation, and option
for ongoing arrangement.

Approach B:
Allow entire organization, department, team to work flexibly.

Then:
Establish and agree on rules of engagement.
Have everyone sign a Virtual Work Agreement and review/revise every
six months.


Virtual Teams Agreement
Should include:
How quickly team members are expected to reply to voice mails/emails
The agreement is reciprocal-”we flex you, you flex us back”
How often team members should report their activities, progress toward
goals
How often team members should input information into project tracking
systems, customer updates, shared calendars, etc.
Core hours
Days/times everyone should be in the office
Frequency of regularly scheduled team meetings, 1:1 meetings, etc.
Whether new employees have to work in the office for 3 mos/6 mos. first
Attendance at retreats
How decisions will be made and documented
Conflict-resolution procedures


Your management style matters

Trust vs. Control

?
?

Where do you fit?


Technology for virtual teams
Enables communication, team-building and performance tracking:
IM (MSN, AOL,YAHOO)
Group Chat/IM (Campfire)
Email
WIKI’s (clearwiki.com)
Project Tracking System (Basecamp, WorkZone, FogBugz)
File Sharing (Google docs, Google calendar, Filesanywhere)
Twitter
Teleconferencing (VOIP to save $)
Virtual meeting software (gotomeeting)
Virtual whiteboard (Scriblink)


Managing a virtual team
Key Components:
Create a new sense of place
Communicate deliberately
Set goals and track performance
Choose the right people
Global teams have extra needs


If I can’t see you, how do I know you’re working?
The average office worker wastes 1.7 hours/day surfing the internet,
socializing with co-workers, tending to personal business, and running
errands.
Why?
Not enough work: 17.7%
Hours too long: 13.9%
Underpaid: 11.8%
Lack of challenging work: 11.1%

2007 Wasting Time Survey, Salary.com


Meet every morning on Campfire (group IM chat) to say good morning,
socialize and talk about any pressing issues for the day.
Conduct virtual coffees/happy hours/birthday parties where no work
discussion is allowed.
Encourage team members to post their photo, photo of their home office,
pets, and info about their likes/dislikes/hobbies/etc.
Plan quarterly retreats devoted to team-building and getting to know each
other.
Welcome new members in group conference calls.
Assign an onsite “buddy” to each virtual team member to keep them up on
the latest gossip, happenings, etc.
Celebrate successes, recognize great work, communicate with all team
members electronically so remote workers aren’t left out of the loop.
Take 15 minute water cooler breaks during the day.



“Don’t spend more than 30 seconds being angry without
telling someone.”

James Tyree, Chairman & CEO, Mesirow Financial


Set guidelines for how and when to communicate.
Be open and honest.
Greet every team member every day via IM, email, or phone.
Schedule a regular 1:1 meeting and stick to it. Don’t reschedule.
Cultivate diversity of opinion.
Record meetings for team members who miss.
Publish all team members’ contact info in an easily retrievable place.
Consider personality profiles and preferred communication styles of each team
member. Customize your communication style to fit each employee.
Pay close attention to written communication. Look for emoticons, changes in
tone or length of communication.
Ask about how team members are feeling. You don’t have the benefit of non-
verbal cues, so you have to ask.
Ask more questions of virtual team members to be sure you know where they
stand.

Set goals and track performance
Managing virtual teams means letting go of face time and shifting
your orientation from “how” work gets done to “what” work gets
done.

It’s about performance and results, so everyone must be clear about goals
and expectations.
Both manager and team member share the responsibility for
communicating the status of projects.
Team members hold themselves and each other accountable.
This creates transparency. Productivity increases because there’s nowhere
to hide. The virtual worker either meets the deadline and produces quality
work or doesn’t. As a manager, you’ll know either way.
Performance problems rise to the surface and are dealt with.


Performance tracking technology
Technology assists this transparency.
From one dashboard, you can see each team members’ projects, tasks,
contacts, to-do lists.
Late items are flagged, contingencies are visible and at any moment you can
view whether a project or deliverable is in jeopardy.
You assign tasks, leave messages, share documents.
You document conversations, save contact and client information.
You track multiple projects, run reports by team member, by project, by
late tasks, etc.


Choose the right people
Some people are cut out for virtual teams, others are not.
Consider a candidate’s interests, personality, motivation to learn and
improve, track record of working independently.
Get to know them: blogs they follow, leaders in the industry they look up
to, books they enjoy.
They must demonstrate that they can work well by themselves and enjoy
it.
Key traits: Self-sufficient, self-motivated, self-disciplined, strong work ethic
Traits to avoid: Needs direction, wants peer approval, likes structure, looks
to work for social life


Tips for global teams
In addition to the general advice for managing virtual teams:
Enable team members from other countries to communicate during
meetings.
For team members who are less confident with their English, invite them to
submit their comments via email at the end of the meeting.
Rotate meeting times, so everyone takes turns being up in middle of the
night.
Create deadline days for when work is due. The “end of the week” means
something different to other cultures and in other time zones.
Pick a time zone that is the standard for meeting times, deadlines, etc. to
avoid confusion.
File sharing and project management software is critical for tracking
customer notes, daily projects, and creates a seamless transition from one
“shift” to the next.


Additional Resources
Co-working sites:
See list at blog.coworking.info
Regus-individual and corporate subscriptions
For more information about virtual teams:
lifemeetswork.com
telework.gov
teleworkexchange.com
Resources from Sun Microsystems
www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/openwork/managing_virtual_world.pdf


Thank you!
If you have questions or need additional information,
please contact me:

Kyra Cavanaugh
President
Life Meets Work
kcavanaugh@lifemeetswork.com
888-462-5691

Wi SHRM Managing Virtual Teams Handouts

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