What are the thoughts out there on virtual teams? I have heard of even more companies with distributed teams around the country and even around the world. What are the pros and cons associated with this approach?
And yes, this question was brought on by the “deluge” of snow in the Northwest…
UPDATE: Thanks to @wesm for this link on the pitfalls for vitual teams.
About nathan kaiser
Virtual teams do work quite well – but you have to have the right tools, the right people and a real commitment to making it work.
I have lots of opinions on tools, skills, and leadership considerations needed to be successful – almost all from personal experience!
There are more powerful tools out there if you need them and have the money, but Google Docs for collaborating on documents, spreadsheets and presentations is tough to beat for quick, cheap (free!) and easy!
I’ve been involved in a few different types of virtual teams, most recently at a small startup. What we find is that if we are able to spend a few days together every 2-3 months, then we can maintain very effective communication via IM, IRC, voice, and video (iChat). However, once we go beyond 2-3 months, we’ve found out the hard way that it’s easy to slip into habits that preclude easy communication and then start focusing more on individual projects. I’ve noticed this pattern with other teams as well, and now make a point of scheduling and budgeting for occasional get-togethers.
I agree with Peter – starting with my design work on premium customer service, up through geographically spread out teams, volunteer organizations, and including coaching relationships that are often handled over the phone, I’ve always found initial face-to-face time to be invaluable. That face time must be repeated at regular intervals to keep the working relationships strong. The trick is to identify the right frequency for your particular group.
Another element to this that may seem superficial but is in fact very important is the matter of non-essential “small-talk” conversations. It became clear to me pretty quickly that non-work-related conversations about subjects of shared interest – jazz, somebody’s kids, skiing, whatever – helps to forge a stronger bond than if the communications are strictly only work-related.
This is true in an office environment too, but happens much more organically there. In both situations, this can be overdone to the point of interfering with work but that actually is pretty rare. in virtual teams, the problem is usually not enough, so I tend to encourage the behavior rather than discourage it.
In all situations, what you’re looking to do is to strengthen the basis for a good working relationship. This aids in adapting to preferred communication styles, makes it easier understand and adapt to work habits, and makes it easier to overcome challenges that might arise, just to name a few of the benefits I’ve noticed over the years.
Nathan, you bring up a great point. Virtual teams are becoming more and more common and that trend shows no sign of diminishing. The market for collaboration tools is going to be huge. I am fascinated by the market right now. There are more than 100 collaboration/wiki products on the market, but the market penetration now is very small. Soon collaboration tools will be as common as word processors.
You ask about the pros and cons. Well the pros are obvious: bringing together exactly the right talent no matter what the geography (or weather). The efficiency of not having to travel distances to collaborate. The cons: I think Peter Secor and Kimm stated it perfectly above. There is much that could be done with online collaboration tools to give virtual teams more of a sense of informality and presence.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some of the best recruiters via virtual teams over the past ten years. We have worked contract recruiting project solutions for Sony(Crackle), Yahoo, Disney, others – gaming, wireless, biotech, nonprofit, etc. Some of our projects have spanned 3+ years. You really get to know each other over time. We’ve used Sharepoint and other database-type tools to collaborate. We use Facebook to get to know each other personally – share pics, etc. We try to find ways to meet in person, but it’s not always possible. Our synergistic efforts created 100 hires for one client alone this year. Beats competing as a lone wolf recruiter any day. KarenF