Tips on Managing Virtual Teams

Virtual teams are not synonymous with groups of telecommuters, although many similarities exist -- enough so that insights gained by some companies in managing virtual teams could help other companies when it comes to effectively managing telecommuters.

A case in point is Nortel Networks.

Why Virtual Teams?
For a company like Nortel, virtual teams are a must. The company, which creates Internet technologies, has 80,000 employees in 150 countries and has to do business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in different time zones and localities all over the world. Dale Pratt is director of HR at Nortel and is herself a member of a virtual team with team members who are close to her Canadian headquarters and others who are as far away as Europe and China. "We have to work in real time across the globe," says Pratt, "and our employees have to be where our customers are. For us, working with our virtual team is the same as other companies where people might sit together under a centralized roof. We simply use different tools."

The Opportunities of Virtual Teams

Virtual teams enable a company or organization to:

• Effectively recruit top talent regardless of location.
  
• Offer employees more flexibility, such as telecommuting options and the ability to work at home.
  
• "Follow-the-sun" 24 hour work days, whereby teams in different time zones take over for one another to keep close contact with customers around the world.

The Challenges of Virtual Teams

Virtual teaming also presents potential difficulties which need to be addressed:

• Managing people who must work together but never actually see and meet one another.
  
• Communicating effectively despite a broad range of personalities, cultures, and language among team members.

Tips for Managing Virtual Teams

Here is some of what Nortel and other companies have learned about successfully managing virtual teams.

• Choose people for your team who are self-starters, have strong communication skills and have other good virtual team skills.
  
• Keep your projects task-oriented so team members can gauge their progress and know whether they are on target.
  
• Keep your team interactions upbeat and action-oriented.
  
• Establish clear goals.
  
• When your team reaches targets, celebrate that fact.
  
• Identify and establish clear procedures and a chain of command when a crisis occurs.

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