For as long as two beings have worked together toward a common goal, teams have existed. For as long as companies and institutions have had multiple offices, virtual teams have existed. What has changed is the ease with which teams can communicate across space, time and organizations (Lipnack & Stamps, 1997). And, since Lipnack and Stamps made that observation ten years ago, technology has continued to advance exponentially to where most companies now take email, high-speed internet access and instant messaging for granted. They are beginning to devise ways to integrate wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), and other collaboration technologies into their daily work.

Not surprisingly, however, the people side of the equation has evolved much more slowly, and virtual teams face unique challenges in terms of culture, logistics, communication, project management and personnel management, all of which are exacerbated by not being in the same office or locale.

It is important to remember, as we embark on this journey, that technology is at best a tool and a facilitator of efficiency. The best technology in the world cannot fix the oh-so-very human issues that sometimes sabotage even the best teams.

Culture

As with the icebergs that float on the ocean, it is not the obvious, visible differences that cause even experienced people to encounter difficulties when working with other cultures, but the nuances that lurk below the surface of most people’s conscious awareness. And cultural differences exist, not only in virtual teams, but also within the same locale, office, or social group (and sometimes even within the same family).

The iceberg is a common and apt analogy for describing culture.

• Above the waterline. About 15-20% of culture is readily visible. These characteristics include things like language, ethnicity, dress, laws, art, architecture and other attributes that are immediately obvious when meeting a person from a particular culture, or when you set foot in a particular locale that is representative of a culture.


• At the waterline. About 5% of culture is on the edge of one’s awareness. These aspects may not be obvious until they are pointed out, but most people are conscious that they exist and can generally adapt their behavior appropriately. Examples include table manners, level of formality, personal space, hierarchy and so on.


• Under the surface. About 75-80% of a culture lurks below the surface of most people’s awareness. These traits are the deeply ingrained attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, expectations and so on that comprise an individual’s world view. In many cases, even people who are self-aware and thoughtful have difficulty articulating and explaining these attributes, precisely because they are so deeply ingrained. They are typically intrinsic to the culture, the things that “everyone knows,” such as the level of independence from family that is appropriate, rules for contract negotiation, methods for resolving conflict and so on. If you have ever had the experience of finding yourself feeling very uncomfortable in a seemingly innocuous situation with someone, chances are that your discomfort resulted from differing cultural expectations or beliefs.

In most situations, you get what you give. If you approach a situation with an open mind, a friendly attitude, and a genuine desire to understand and work with the other person, the other person will respond in kind. When inevitable misunderstandings occur, have a sense of humor about them and patiently work through the misunderstanding. Encourage your team to stretch beyond individual comfort zones and to learn about and to accommodate cultural differences. Enable them to remember that, at our core, we are more alike than different—we all want food, shelter, clean water, for our children to be better off than we are, and to leave the world a better place than it was when we arrived.

Logistics

With virtual teams, even casual conversations require orchestration and tools. While instant messaging, WebEx, web cams, and other technologies can facilitate communication for a virtual team, it is not quite the same as wandering by someone’s office on the way to lunch. When planning a project with a virtual team, you need be more explicit about everything you do, from communication times and milestones to holiday schedules, rules for out-of-office notifications, format for posting to the wiki and so on.

As the adage goes, “To err is human; to really mess things up requires a computer.” Never underestimate the uncanny ability of technology failures to wreak havoc on your project schedule, communication and general sanity. Project managers can alleviate some of the potential problems by ensuring that redundant systems are in place for the team to continue working, even if part of the system goes down. As we have learned with the many natural disasters in the past few years, having a disaster plan is also a good idea.

Communication

When people communicate face-to-face, about 70% of the information exchanged is nonverbal. This nonverbal information is lost when the people communicating cannot see or hear each other, and forced to rely on written exchanges. Add to that the increased noise-to-signal ratio inherent in virtual communication, and it is easy to understand how minor misunderstandings can escalate into full-blown wars.

Virtual teams must be vigilant about closing the feedback loop, being proactive about communication, avoiding jumping to conclusions, establishing a clear escalation path, and maintaining a sense of humor. For example, when verbally discussing an issue, challenge or opportunity, always follow up with an email summarizing the discussion. Doing so helps ensure that everyone truly understands the resolution, action items and due dates.

Conversely, never send an email when you are upset about something. Instead, take the time to call or have a video conference with that person. Assume that it is a resolvable misunderstanding, rather than something done intentionally. Particularly with virtual teams, it is difficult to know what obstacles and personal issues the other person may be having. Treat them with compassion and as you would want to be treated if the situation was reversed.

Teambuilding

Teambuilding in a multi-site, multicultural environment can be challenging because, often, none of the members will ever meet in person. Project managers and supervisors must actively and creatively seek ways to build team cohesion. Here are some ideas to help you get started. (You may need to develop guidelines for what is appropriate in the context of your corporate culture).

• Virtual water cooler. Because the virtual team is not located in the same room, it is difficult to hold “drop-by” conversations, which often provide a significant source of information about a project. Consider working with your IT department to enable instant messaging, and encourage team members to keep it on, so that they can see who’s available and who’s not. Though not as beneficial as face-to-face communication, it can ease feelings of isolation for remote team members, and it will enhance your team’s productivity.
• Team face book. On a secure intranet, post a page where team members can place pictures, bios and a bit about their lives and work. If it’s searchable, team members can use it when they need someone with a specific skill that may not be part of the person’s regular duties for the team.
• Stories page. On a secure intranet, encourage team members to post stories about the funny, interesting or bizarre daily happenings on the project. Some companies even do skits at company events that make fun of the things that happen during projects. This is one way of building a shared history. The documentation team at one company collected malapropisms and funny comments from other employees and regularly updated the list. Other teams shared recipes, tool tips and so on.
• Shared training. Identify team training needs that can either be met by gathering the team together, or via interactive e-learning. Such activities build shared experiences among team members.
• Celebrations. Celebrate personal milestones for team members: birthdays, weddings, babies, promotions and so on. Doing so makes team members feel valued as human beings. However, if you do it for one person, you must do it for all, or someone will feel slighted.
• Cultural exchanges. Multicultural teams provide an excellent opportunity to learn more about other parts of the world, and maybe even a new language. Exchanges can be in-person or virtual, and you can do things like (1) sending non-perishable food items that are native to your locale, (2) providing time during a team meeting for a photo tour of the locale or culture, (3) holding informal language lessons and so on. For example, while working with a team from Poland that was visiting the office for several months, I asked them to teach me a phrase every week, starting with the basics like “hello”, “where’s the bathroom?”, “how much does it cost?” and “I’d like 5 beers”. It was a great teambuilding exercise because they got to laugh at my attempts to speak Polish, and I got to learn about a new culture (and help them with their Americanisms).

Teambuilding ideas are limited only by your imagination (and budget).

Project Management

Virtual project managers spend much of their time facilitating communication among team members, and ensuring that processes contribute to team efficiency. While typical project estimates usually include an overall project management charge of about 10-15% of the project cost, virtual teams may require a higher percentage at the beginning of the project, especially if many team members have never worked virtually before. However, effective project management is vital to ensuring the success of the team.

The advantage of a virtual team from a project manager’s perspective is that, with the appropriate tools, the virtual team can take advantage of time zones and holiday schedules to keep things moving on the project 24/7. For example, if a team member in Europe submits something for review at the end of her day and needs a quick turnaround, the team members in North America, Asia and Australia/New Zealand can often respond by the time their European colleague arrives at work the next morning.

Personnel Management

Supervisors and managers in matrix organizations face an interesting challenge in managing their employees since the latter often spend more time with their respective project teams than they do with their functional groups. The supervisor must depend on the project managers and other reports to assess the employee’s capabilities, needs and job performance.

When the employee is virtual, the challenge can be doubly difficult because the supervisor cannot do “management by walking around,” at least not easily. Other traditional management strategies are not effective either when the employee is working outside the office. In order for this arrangement to work, the supervisor must have a high degree of trust in the employee and be comfortable with a certain lack of control. Like project managers, supervisors with remote employees spend much of their time facilitating communication.

The advantage to the supervisor in having virtual employees is that they tend to be highly motivated and self-directed. Several studies have shown that virtual employees also tend to be more productive than people who work in an office, probably because they can focus on the work rather than on the politics of the office.

Summary

Communicate, collaborate, coordinate and communicate some more is the mantra for successful virtual teams. By working to build a cohesive team environment, virtual teams can be very successful.

Copyright 2006, M Katherine Brown, Comgenesis, LLC. First serial rights granted to "Multilingual Computing and Technology." Scheduled to appear in the April/May 2007 issue. May not be distributed or reprinted without written permission.

Editor’s Note: For more on virtual teams and trust, read Trust: The Cornerstone of (Dis)Assembling Virtual Global Project Teams.

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Kit Brown is the principal for Comgenesis LLC, a technical communication services and consulting company. She has 16 years of experience writing and consulting for the medical, biotechnology, environmental, and computer industries. Brown is an STC Associate Fellow and has been a consultant in the localization industry for several years. She can be reached at kit.brown@comgenesis.com.