Managing Virtual Teams Is A Different Ballgame 

By Author: NetZealous LLC, DBA TrainHR
Total Articles: 48
Comment this article

Organizations in the present world have to reckon with the fact that the virtual team is the reality of the workplace. Among the most important reasons that have contributed to the evolution and growth of this trend, we can point to increasing competition in the marketplace, decentralization and globalization of work processes and advances in information and communication technologies.

If companies have to remain competitive, they need to bring about greater flexibility and agility in their delivery of products and services, something that a virtual team can enable with ease. While playing a key role to meet these demands; virtual teams also help companies that adapt this method of working reduce their operating costs, encourage knowledge sharing among their employees to promote organizational learning, and expand their business hours to 24/7.

Thinking has to change…

Despite all the advantages that virtual teams bring; many companies treat their virtual teams the same way they treat teams that share the same physical locations. This has meant that although the number of companies with virtual teams has ...
... been going up; this has not necessarily led to more efficiency or success. What kind of attitude do organizations that leverage virtual teams at their workplace need to develop to make the concept of virtual teams successful?

This is the learning that will be offered at a webinar that is being organized by TrainHR, a leading provider of professional trainings for the HR industry. Marcia Zidle, who is the CEO of Leaders At All Levels and a board-certified executive coach based in Dallas, Texas, will be the speaker at this webinar.

This webinar has been approved for 1 HR (General) recertification credit hours toward aPHR, PHR, PHRca, SPHR, GPHR, PHRi and SPHRi recertification through HR Certification Institute (HRCI). To enroll for this learning session, please log on to http://bit.ly/2gnTS2j to register.

Old wine in new bottle approach doesn’t work

If organizations have to ensure success in implementing virtual teams, they need to think differently. They need to devise and utilize new tools and techniques to manage the unique challenges posed by virtual and dispersed teams. Not doing this is one of the mistakes many organizations make. They continue to use the same guidelines and best practices they use for their co located teams and think this approach works.

Marcia will offer an explanation of the four major drawbacks virtual teams fall prey to:

Lack of clear goals, direction, or priorities
Lack of clear roles among team members
Lack of cooperation and trust
Lack of engagement
She will cover the following areas at this session:

Identify the nine critical success factors for virtual teams to get a higher Roll
Review the four dimensional model of virtual teams purpose, people, link, time
Do a reality check The five advantages and three disadvantages of virtual teams
Understand and put into practice the three leadership styles essential for virtual team success
Discover how to manage the social isolation in virtual team dealing with out of sight out of mind challenge
Identify seven critical competencies of virtual team members beyond just good technical and communication skills
Learn to set up a virtual team answering two critical questions: What do we want to accomplish? How do we do it?