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Is anyone out there? A Guide to Virtual Team Working and Leadership

Part 4: Rules of engagement for successful virtual team working

In order for the team to work effectively they must trust and believe in one another and the project. Since this trust cannot come from knowledge it is vital that the leader invest time at the outset of the project putting into place ‘rules of engagement' for the team members that will prevent problems from arising unnecessarily. Once trust between the team members gets damaged it can be an uphill task to retrieve it, so a little time invested at this stage will go along way.

1. Justify the involvement of each individual

Trust usually comes through getting to know someone and their ability to do their work and assist you in doing yours. In the case of virtual team working however, although the leader might know exactly what everyone in the team has to offer, the other team members usually have no prior experience of working with one another and often lack a proper understanding of each other's areas of expertise. No wonder then that they can easily become suspicious of one another. Take time to explain from the outset why each person has been brought into the team, what their particular expertise is and what relevant experience they have to offer the rest of the team. In this way you can reassure everyone and establish a new form of trust based on skill.

2. Establish clear rules of communication

When pulling people together from different locations or organisations, it's important to bear in mind that they may be used to very different channels of communication. If one team member used to interacting with colleagues in his own organisation over email doesn't get a response from a virtual team colleague, it's all too easy for him to make assumptions about this unresponsiveness - 'they don't care about this project or the pressures I'm under' - when it may just be the case that their colleague doesn't have access to email for days at a time.

Political use of copying and blind copying over email can also go a long way towards damaging trust between team members and give rise to a blame culture. Important communications can be easily lost or overlooked, if not clearly marked as being relevant to the project, when sent by people outside the immediate team.

To avoid frustrations and delays, get all team members to share information about their access to and preferred use of various communication tools with one another. Produce a document summarising:

• Contact details for all team members
• Who has access to what communication tools and for how often
• Preferred means of contact for each person for the group as a whole
• Rules for copying others into mails
• Email subject headings and postal project titles to ensure team communications don't get lost
• Any issues that will make it difficult for any individual to adopt new communication methods - such as lack of access to email or different time zones
• Establish clear reporting channels and set conference calls and monthly meeting times in advance so that all team members are aware of their commitments and kept informed of the team's progress
• Put in place processes for encouraging the team to share information with one another so that work carried out on one part of the project is known about and able to be reused by other team members wherever possible

3. Establish common team values, standards and behaviours

It's important that the team forms its own work ethic and agrees upon common values so that they can continue to trust one another throughout the project. Unlike working next to someone in a shared physical location, team members will not have an understanding of each others' working environments or other day-to-day pressures so risk judging others by their own standards.

Work out in advance:

• How team members will acknowledge communications sent by one another
• Agreed timelines for responding to requests from other team members
• The format of documents to be shared across different departments or organisations, to ensure that material produced by one team member can be easily re-used by another and encourage collaborative working
• The levels of localisation needed by each team member so that standards do not become over prescriptive or limiting

4. Create a team culture

Even if the team can't physically meet outside of the office after work, it's important that they still undergo some level of personal bonding. Take time before starting the formalities of meetings to encourage people to chat on a personal level and share information about their day-to-day lives with one another. Reward the team for hitting targets to foster a sense of pride and belonging.

If possible get the team to meet in person before the start of the project, or issue photographs and biographies of all team members to one another, so that they don't feel like strangers and have a basic sense of familiarity.

5. Recognise and honour diversity

The team has been pulled together because of the diverse skills and experience of each and every team member. Although it is important that the team develops its own culture of common working practices and holds itself mutually accountable in the pursuit of their shared goals, it is also important that each individual continues to be appreciated for their unique skills.

Encourage the team to bear in mind each other's individual qualities and needs so that telephone conferences and meetings do not end up being scheduled in such a way that forces the same members of the team to work outside of their normal hours. Even if a team member offers to put themselves out, it should be acknowledged that they are conforming to the rest of the team's needs at their own expense and this should not be taken for granted. This is particularly important when the majority of the team are based in the UK, with just one or two virtual colleagues based overseas.

6. Create a stakeholder map for each team member

Who does each member of the team report to? What other serious commitments are they obligated to fulfil? Who, in a position of authority or influence over them, can you depend on to support the team's work and who might be in a position to detract from this? It is important that, where possible, this information comes from the team member themselves and that any intervention to pull rank within their own organisation is done with their blessing, or as a last resort, so that trust is not carelessly damaged. The aim is to understand the confines that each member of the team has to operate under. How limited is their resource and access to information and people? Can anything be done to help them remove obstacles that may be having a negative effect on their involvement in the project?

7. Put in place measures for evaluating project progress

In order to increase individual accountability and a sense of duty to the other team members it is important that a way of tracking the team's output against target is produced and milestones put in place. Quantify targets with their impact on the business to demonstrate their importance. The sooner any project slippage can be detected the sooner it can be put right and faith in the project restored. Targets must also be used as a means of motivation as well as control. Reward the team for work delivered on time, or in advance of time, and don't shy away from praising individuals before the team to help create a sense of achievement and motivate others to meet their deliverables also.

Part 3 < Back to Top > Part 5   

© 2004 Copyright MaST International Group plc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. Any opinions or views contained in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Training Reference.

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