Managing Virtual Teams: Challenges & Strategies

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Author(s): Sunitha Narayanan, principal of Career Advantage Ltd. working with OI Partners—Cincinnati, OH

Virtual teams are a business reality. How can organizations make small shifts in their paradigm of traditional supervision and management processes to use the virtual work environment to their advantage?

A faster business pace, demand for prompt results, intense competition and cost-effective labor in some countries have ushered in virtual work environments where business objectives are met across space, time and organizational boundaries. It is easy to discuss the concept of virtual teams in theory, but creating effective virtual teams requires individuals to learn different work patterns and change the way they perceive their work, especially teamwork. Kevin McNulty, founder, Humadyn-Center for Human Relations, Growth & Achievement, believes, "the virtual management world is in transition and thus, still ignorant and unknowing." McNulty further adds, "as managers evolve and change they will do so because of a desire to learn and grow and not begrudgingly because they are forced to change."

From an organizational perspective, managers ask, "How does a virtual workforce benefit us?" "How can a manager create virtual team synergy?" And "What processes make virtual teams successful?"

One important benefit to organizations is the availability of a larger and sometimes more talented labor pool. Specifically, people can be hired based on competencies, availability and geographical location. Collaborating with people with specialized knowledge by taking the office out of the local area can increase the talent pool without increasing overheads for an employer. For example, some organizations offer career and transition assistance to accompanying spouses when employees relocate. These services are typically provided by local consultants in the destination city. The organization here uses professionals to provide relocation services and reap the benefit of having successfully relocated a valuable employee, who when satisfied, will contribute more efficiently to meet business objectives.

Another benefit is providing opportunities to employees to continue contributing when life circumstances change. When people make choices to leave the professional work world to care for their families, considering a virtual work environment could be a win-win situation for both, the employee and employer. McNulty shares, "you can find talented employees in the pool of people who have made the decision to stay home. I find attributes in this pool such as integrity, dedication and superior skills in their field."

A third benefit is the substantial savings to a company with overheads such as travel, parking, rent/lease expenses and commute time for employees.

Factors that influence successful virtual teams include recognizing that virtual teams have unique needs, different from those of traditional teams, sensitivity to cultural differences in work styles and decision making, especially when working across geographical and international boundaries and recognizing recruiting and managing virtual team members requires a change in supervisory styles.

Richard Miller, in his article, How to Be a Virtual Team Player (www.vbmagazine.com, 2001, pp. 10-13), outlines suggestions to help managers recognize how virtual teams are different from traditional teams. Miller emphasizes that, "particular attention needs to be given to membership, objectives and ways of working of a virtual team." In one example, Miller describes how an organization uses the company's intranet as a vehicle to communicate shared values, best practices and lists collaboration tools available to all members. This tool becomes a powerful online learning resource which allows managers and employees to focus more on project outcomes, rather than daily work habits and performance.

An appreciation and willingness to understand cultural differences and use that knowledge to create synergy is essential in creating successful virtual teams. For example, recognizing that people from an individualistic culture bring different decision making skills than people from a consensual culture and understanding how this will affect the synergy of a virtual team is important. Miller makes this point forcefully, "in a teleconference, the individualists will be arguing with each other, and the consensualists will have dropped out of the conversation." Therefore, it is important to build trust at the start-up phase by having thoughtful and deliberate discussions, offering an open line of communication.

An intentional change in supervisory style is also helpful. McNulty, who leads virtual teams successfully, suggests that when managers are focused on the act of supervising rather than results, virtual teams fall apart. He further shares, "Rather than a moment-to-moment basis, I focus on the outcome and results of each virtual team member."

There are challenges inherent in setting up such teams, such direct interaction, miscommunication, waiting periods and recruiting the "right fit" virtual employee. However, these are growing pains that have solutions. There is truth in Albert Einstein's quote, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Sunitha Narayanan works with OI Partners-Cincinnati and is also principal of Career Advantage Ltd., a career management services group in Cincinnati. She has masters degrees in counseling and higher education administration. She can be reached at a.narayanan@fuse.net.

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