Six lessons for building successful virtual teams

The office of the future is no office at all. Many of us work from our homes, hold client meetings at coffee shops, and have a business address that’s a post office box. Without an office, we frequently rely on phone and e-mail to communicate with collaborators.

But Darleen DeRosa and Rick Lepsinger warn that the vision often falls short of reality. “Virtual teams” may be popular, but they’re not always successful.

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DeRosa and Lepsinger wrote Virtual Team Success: A Practical Guide for Working and Leading from a Distance to help businesspeople create teams across distances. They say too many companies treat virtual teams the same as teams that share the same location.

“Frankly,” says DeRosa, “that just doesn’t work.” Leaders who understand the different needs of virtual teams are the ones whose teams succeed.

DeRosa and Lepsinger’s company, OnPoint Consulting, studied 48 virtual teams to find the success factors of top performing teams. Surprisingly, 27 percent of the teams were not fully performing. The authors identified these pitfalls:

• Lack of clear goals, direction, or priorities
• Lack of clear roles among team members
• Lack of cooperation and trust
• Lack of engagement

The authors identify these points of success:

1. Focus on people. Compensate for the inherent lack of contact by supporting team spirit and trust.

• Develop a team web page where team members can get acquainted.
• Use communication tools like instant messaging, Facebook or Twitter to create a virtual water cooler.
• Build a collective online “resource bank” to share information and experiences.
• Create ways to virtually celebrate successes as a team.

2. No trust, no team. Task-based trust is one factor differentiating top performing teams. In virtual teams, trust seems to develop more readily at the task level than at the interpersonal level. DeRosa says trust “doesn’t simply develop because a team has been working together for a while.”

• Make sure teams meet face-to-face at least once early on to build relationships and learn about one another’s capabilities.
• Empower team members to make and act on decisions. Beware of micromanaging.
• Proactively manage conflict.

3. Soft skills are essential. Virtual teams that have been through team-building and interpersonal skill development activities perform better than those that have not. Selecting team members based solely on technical skills without considering interpersonal skills is a mistake.

• Include characteristics like effective communication and collaboration in the selection criteria.
• Use team-building sessions to strengthen relationships and create momentum.
• Assess development needs for team members and team leaders and conduct training on these areas.

4. Watch out for performance peaks. Teams who have been working together for more than three years tend to be more successful than teams working together for less time, but many teams peak around the one-year mark. After that, performance tends to level off or decline.

• Clearly define team roles and accountabilities.
• Review and refine processes regularly.
• Periodically examine the level of team performance. Collect feedback from various stakeholders to assess the team’s performance.
• Identify barriers to high performance and steps that can be taken to overcome these barriers.

5. Create a “high touch” environment. The technology that makes virtual teaming possible it is not a perfect substitute for human interaction. Arrange for virtual team members to meet in person at least once a year. “Virtual teams that invest in one or two such meetings per year outperform those that don’t,” says Lepsinger.

• Use electronic bulletin boards to create a sense of shared space.
• Choose communication technologies that are most appropriate to the task. E-mail is good for sharing facts, while conference calls are better for sharing ideas and plans.
• Use videoconferencing. Teams that use video technology outperform those that don’t.

6. Leadership matters. Leadership is the factor most important to the success of virtual teams. Virtual team leaders must be especially sensitive to interpersonal communication and cultural factors. “Organizations can avoid this performance barrier by selecting team leaders who not only have the necessary technical skills but also the soft skills required to effectively lead in a virtual environment,” says DeRosa.

• Set clear goals and direction and revisit these as priorities shift.
• Engage team members in developing strategy.
• Provide time for team building.
• Provide timely feedback. Be responsive and accessible.
• Emphasize common interests and values, and reinforce cooperation and trust.
• Create a system to easily integrate new team members.
• Teach the importance of conflict resolution.
• Celebrate team achievements and successes.

Lepsinger says, “organizations start virtual teams in response to an opportunity or problem without planning or proper follow-up—never a recipe for success.” DeRosa adds, “Better planning could dramatically improve their odds for success.”