Distance Management – Virtual Teams Cornelia Decher Jacqueline Hill 13 March ‘09

© People In Aid 2005 Introductions Name My current activities Why did I come today?

© People In Aid 2005 Session description / Aim “ Managing people at a distance is becoming more and more a day to day reality. This is the case for both staff working in organisations needing to work with suppliers and/or managing team members and, for freelance consultants needing to work with their clients and/or associates. The aim of this workshop is to explore relationships between people and within teams and how to develop these effectively at a distance.”

© People In Aid 2005 Some terminology Organisations that require people in multiple locations around the world to work together. Team mates housed in another building may be as ‘virtual’ as those across the globe. Ken Blanchard

© People In Aid 2005 Building on your experience Discuss distance relationships/situations you have experienced

© People In Aid 2005 Developing Relationships

© People In Aid 2005 Building and maintaining local relationships Individually spend 5 mins thinking about a time when you built and maintained an effective local relationship. –What made it effective? –What did you and the other person/people do? In table groups spend 10 mins pooling your ideas for relationship building activities.

© People In Aid 2005 What did these activities achieve? Spend 10 mins identifying the ‘outcome’ or ‘purpose’ of the given activities.

© People In Aid 2005 What might we do differently? Spend 10 mins identifying what could be done differently to achieve the same outcome/purpose remotely.

© People In Aid 2005 Leading teams

© People In Aid 2005 Context 2.5m employees work from home 1 in 3 managers want more flexible working Over half of the managers complained of work overload 38.2m business trips from and within the UK involving a stay of 1 or more nights Est. 9m overseas business trips in 2006 Managers spend 2-4 hours dealing with and receive between 25 and 120 per day ‘Teams – Succeeding in Complexity’ Ashridge

© People In Aid 2005 Successful virtual teams 8-10 team members, 4 or fewer teams Plan and agree communication up-front Use tools to better understand selves and others Take time to explicitly and deliberately build trust Build shared responsibility: shared vision, agreed standards, protocols, evaluate Prioritise personal and team development Telephone preference Specific HR policies and support ‘Teams – Succeeding in Complexity’ Ashridge

© People In Aid 2005 Leaders Prioritise co-ordination over ‘doing’ Are well networked internally Prioritise 2-way communication Ensure the whole team is focused on and agrees outputs Share leadership ‘Teams – Succeeding in Complexity’ Ashridge

© People In Aid 2005 Organisations Recognise and manage complexity Provide appropriate technology support HR policies to support complex team work –Team performance targets –Team related training and development –Team building events –Team facilitation –Cross-cultural training ‘Teams – Succeeding in Complexity’ Ashridge

© People In Aid 2005 What have you learned today?

© People In Aid 2005 Thank you!