Managing Distance Volunteers

“Distance” 4 Physical 4 Hierarchical 4 Temporal 4 Psychological

Introductions Say “Hello” What aspects of “Distance” do you deal with and what impact has that had on how you work with others?

Completion of Menu Choices Read “What’s For Lunch” menu Make and mark your choices - 1 for each section Your goal is to get your choices enacted by the group to which you will be assigned.

Formation of Groups Follow the badges

Selecting a Group Leader

“Point!”

Rules for the Exercise Your assignment is to select a group menu for lunch, through whatever process The Boss determines. While selecting this menu, each of you is required to work and negotiate diligently to get your personal menu choice selected. Do not wimp out.

The individuals who were split off are still part of their Headquarters group for this exercise; they are not a group of their own. Members of the HQ group cannot physically go visit members of the field groups, nor may members of the field groups visit the HQ group.

Other methods of communication (paper airplanes, yelling, using the facilitators as a fax machine) are acceptable. Timeframe will not be provided now, but you will be informed as the deadline approaches.

Time Check You have 5 minutes left.

Time Check You have 2 minutes left.

Time Check You have 1 minute left.

Debriefing Rules “No fault” debriefing - this would have happened no matter who led the groups… Unreal situation - imagine if it had been something important that really affected you… Short timeframe - imagine if it had been going on for months…

Questions To what extent did you feel like you were part of the decision making process of your group? What happened, or didn’t happen, to make you feel that way?

Confession: This wasn’t really a decision making exercise. It was an illustration of what will happen in a management situation in which “distance” exists. Some problems are inherent to distance situations because of the complexity distance introduces.

Side Effects of Organizational Complexity Tension between field and main office

Depersonalized leadership

Tension between field and main office Depersonalized leadership Fragmented understanding

Tension between field and main office Depersonalized leadership Fragmented understanding Inefficient project work and teamwork

Tension between field and main office Depersonalized leadership Fragmented understanding Inefficient project work and teamwork Growing subservience to paperwork

Tension between field and main office Depersonalized leadership Fragmented understanding Inefficient project work and teamwork Growing subservience to paperwork Individual agendas flourish

Group Analysis What was the effect of having some group members in a different location? What was done to make you feel good about the final decision of your group? What happened to make you feel less good about it? What could have been done differently to make everyone feel more a part of the group?

Key Elements Communication Bonding Control

Communication Get used to it: communication won’t work as well as you want - takes longer, contains less content, is more one-sided In the absence of good communication people will create bad communication Avoid the “black hole” syndrome - “echo” messages so people will know you got them. Use multiple methods for communication: face to face, phone, , website

Discussion: What methods do you use to communicate with far-flung volunteers? What works best? What doesn’t work very well?

Bonding Build “personal” connections Start bonding as quickly as possible Face-to-face works best, but you can fake it: , Web site, cell phones, teleconferencing Establish a common vision and a mutual support network

Application: What does your organization do to make field volunteers feel like a valued member of the team? What do they do that might give field volunteers the opposite feeling?

Control

Motivational Analysis Rodger Bailey Direction Toward Away From Source Internal External

Reason Options Procedures Level Proactive Reactive Criteria

“Entrepreneurial Personality” Direction Toward Away From Source Internal External Reason Options Procedures Level Proactive Reactive

Direction Toward Away From Source Internal External Reason Options Procedures Level Proactive Reactive

Anything about this profile you might find worrisome if you were a supervisor of this individual? And you couldn’t see what they were doing?

Control Develop a common vision of what needs to be accomplished: pro- active workers will tend to keep working toward its achievement even when they’re out of touch Agree on the prime values of the effort - “how we should do things and what we owe to each other?”

Control continued Work with each person to develop a set of defined results and establish checkpoints for determining progress Decide how much authority you wish to delegate to each person and adjust it according to their performance

Applying this to your work: What could you do to encourage Bonding? What methods could you use for better Communication? How could you exercise better Control over those you supervise but don’t see often?