MITSloan Management Review | Gloobal, Virtual Organizations
Around the world, a wide range of corporate tasks are being performed by teams of employees who rarely if ever meet in person.
The rise of so-called virtual teams is hardly surprising, given the vast investments corporations are making in internal communications and networks. Technically, it's no longer a challenge to work closely with colleagues in distant locations or to hold meetings with participants scattered around the globe.
In practical terms, however, plenty of hurdles remain. Among them: time-zone differences that make quick exchanges difficult, and cultural miscues that can cause misunderstandings. Teams that don't meet in person are considered less likely to develop the kind of chemistry seen in teams that do—an element that's often seen as a key factor in making teams productive.
Far Sighted
- The Situation: While technology makes it possible for teams spread around the world to collaborate on projects, relying solely on electronic communications has its shortcomings.
- What Doesn't Work: Members of so-called virtual teams often tend not to develop the desired chemistry due to their physical separation, lack of familiarity and distant time zones.
- Making It Work: Successful virtual teams share common traits, such as social-networking tools and the right mix of members, some of whom are already acquainted and others not.
A recent study of virtual teams at multinational companies—teams ranging in size from four to nearly 200—found that many of the groups were beleaguered by just these kinds of long-distance challenges, to the point of being in continuous danger of breaking up. Other virtual teams, meanwhile, were high performers, virtual hot spots of innovation and energy.
Why does one virtual team thrive while another stumbles? What differentiates the two?
It's an important issue, as companies become more reluctant to bear the expense of frequent in-person meetings—and employees increasingly resent the burdens travel places on their health and personal lives. Finding a way to make virtual teams work better is therefore crucial if companies are going to get the most productivity out of their far-flung work force.
This research began with in-depth case studies of successful virtual teams at a number of companies, including BP PLC, Nokia Corp. and Ogilvy & Mather, a unit of WPP Group PLC. In addition, a research team at London Business School surveyed more than 1,500 virtual-team members and leaders from 55 teams across 15 European and U.S. multinational companies.
Based on our findings, we have identified certain traits and practices common to the most successful virtual teams and their employers. Here, then, are 10 golden rules for making virtual teams more productive:
1. Invest in an online resource where members can learn quickly about one another. Because of their physical separation, one of the biggest challenges virtual-team members face is an inability to easily learn about one another and what each person brings to the project. Online tools can help, in the same way that social-networking Web sites help college and high-school students get to know other members of their communities. Our research showed that such practices are often unfamiliar to those who graduated from college years ago, but they can be enormously powerful when used in virtual teams.
Take the advertising company Ogilvy & Mather. Its late founder, David Ogilvy, placed enormous emphasis on sharing knowledge within the company. More than a decade ago he invested in an internal IT-based community he called Truffles. As a gourmet, Mr. Ogilvy appreciated the rich taste of a truffle, and he believed that people should search for knowledge with as much energy and enthusiasm as a pig searches for truffles in the oak forests of France.
Truffles gives access to shared projects and a database of company knowledge. It provides forums for the many hundreds of communities of interest that have sprung up in the firm, where ideas and insights are shared. Truffles also features a detailed and frequently updated directory of all Ogilvy employees, giving each an opportunity to list the aspects of work that he or she is passionate about.
Such capabilities help ensure that even virtual-team members can rapidly get to know something about one another. For instance, when a big Ogilvy client wants to launch an ad campaign simultaneously in all of its global markets, a virtual team can start working together effectively within days.
2. Choose a few team members who already know each other. Virtual teams are much more likely to be productive and innovative if they include some people who already know each other. So-called heritage relationships are crucial to rapidly building networks among the team members.
A word of warning, though: If a majority of the people on a team already know each other, the team can become stale and predictable. It's often through the unexpected insights of new colleagues that innovation is sparked.
3. Identify "boundary spanners" and ensure that they make up at least 15% of the team. Boundary spanners are people who, as a result of their personality, skills or work history, have lots of connections to useful people outside the team. BP has a long history of colleagues from different business units working together to span the corporate boundaries that separate them.
Another word of warning, though: Having too many boundary spanners risks giving the team so many connections to the outside that it loses its sense of identity and its shared goal.
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