This was a question explored by our virtual team in the Culture, Technology, and Communication in the Global Workplace at the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) in Portland Oregon.
Tips for Avoiding Problems on Virtual Teams
In order to avoid challenges on teams, it is important that each team member has multiple ways in which to get in touch with other team members. For instance, do team members have contact information on email, skype, telephone, snail mail or other agreed upon technologies? Do team members have back-up contact information in case they haven’t heard from a teammate?
It is also important to set communication standards for the team. The team should have a shared understanding of what “silence” means. The leader should ask each person:
- What does silence mean to you?
- When you experience silence from other people, how do you respond?
- When you are silent, how would you like other people to respond?
- How much time (in general) would you like people to wait before contacting you?
Micheal Sampson suggests team leaders should be transparent and model for others how to act on the team. Individuals on the team should not stop talking to each other about:
- what’s coming up
- when they are going to be out of the office and out-of-touch
- what they think is working and not working on the team
- ideas they have for improving what’s being done
All team members must be willing to share their working conditions if they encounter non-understanding. This would include their physical environment, timezone, colleagues or any other factors affecting how you are able to work.
How we gathered information
We used a variety of inputs to create this listing of tips.
1. web research
2. tagging in delicious
3. class discussion including class members from respective cultures
4. input from faculty
5. input from comments on the week posts (thank you Virginia, Michele, and Ken!)
6. wisdom from our team members experience
While we had almost continuous technical challenges, we learned a lot. It’s not easy, but we realize this is where we are going in the future.
See also:
Exploring Culture and Technology
Exploring Culture and Technology: Day 2
Exploring Culture and Technology: Day 3
Exploring Culture and Technology: Day 4
Collaborating over Google Docs
I like the question you bring out into the open “What does silence mean to you?” When you consider that 70% of the information in normal face-to-face communication are the non-verbal cues technology can place major barriers on understanding and resolving issues. When you consider that silence is the only time non-verbal communication makes up 100% of the information in face-to-face communication the importance of this issue becomes clear. In my opinion this makes silence the largest unknown when you have to communicate in a format that is not face-to-face.
The only other question I might add is that sometimes silence may be because there is not a tool/medium in place that a team member feels comfortable communicating in. It may not always be a lack of communication but a lack of opportunity within a persons comfort zone.
Overall, great information drawing attention to one of the more subtle, but most important challenges in virtual communication.
Ash,
That is a great addition to the list. maybe: What technologies do you feel most comfortable with?
Hi Class,
As Terry mentioned one of this days, I think the in-person meeting is SUBSTANTIALLY important before, or during working with people virtually. In my experience, this meeting allow team members to become more connected to each other’s reality while interacting on the common group purpose.
In my line of work, understanding each team member culture dimensions have helped me work when interacting with virtual teams. By Culture dimensions I mean what Terry called “Country Navigators”, where you can research about cultures and have a base line understanding people from other cultures.
Thanks for the great time!
Norm,
Now we just need to convince our organizations that the expense is worthwhile. Wonder if the studies Terry quoted have been quantified, you know? So we can make a better business case.
It was great that you could work through the technical issues in a pragmatic way. Too many people panic when the technology let’s them down, but there are so many different options available now (contingency plans are good to have). What I also like is your emphasis on team process. In my experience many teams don’t take the time – periodically – to ask “Is the way we’re working together enabling or inhibiting the achievement of our goals. I ask all the teams I work with to do a ‘process check’ – putting aside the task for a moment and focusing on the processes for communication,etc. Also important is what you say about the working conditions other team members are facing. Virtuality doesn’t lend itself well to the development of empathy, but it is so important for trust. You send me an email to say you want certain information from me quickly, but you don’t see that in my culture the hierarchy is strong, and I don’t have access to that information. When the information doesn’t come back right away, you might attribute that to my laziness or incompetence. But my ground realities need to be understood. How? Through dialogue. Investing the time to talk together and reach shared understanding.
Terry,
Good thing you didn’t put too much pressure on us to perform, or we may not have been quite so playful about the continuous technical messes we co-created. I’m still amazed at how insistent we all were at ignoring your continued guidance to focus on the process and instead jumping right into the task. I was fascinated to watch myself doing it, even having been a process facilitator for a long time. It was an important lesson to learn in a class environment. Now I hope I can really remember the lesson when I apply the class content in the rest of my life.
Christine, as promised, I
blogged about the lessons my students learned in participating in international virtual projects.