Hello and welcome to a blog on leading virtual teams!
I often recommend the use of blogs to virtual team leaders. With virtual work becoming increasingly popular, imagine my surprise when I found it challenging to find blogs on how to lead virtual teams. I thought it was time for me to practice what I preach and, therefore, here is a blog on how to lead virtual teams.
I have found that many organizations don’t have in place any formal training programs for virtual team management. Even if they do, business leaders don’t know about them but are often thrust into the role of leading virtual teams. In my experience, leading those engaged in virtual work requires more than just a simple adjustment to “regular” face to face leadership – it requires new knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of virtual teams. Leaders of a virtual team face many challenges when leading a virtual team, including team building, motivating and developing team members from afar, rewarding team members even when they have no authority over their pay, and facilitating shared leadership and team learning. When virtual teams don’t succeed in meeting these challenges, they run over budget and miss important deadlines besides creating frustration and dissatisfaction among team members.
The idea behind this blog is to help you learn about virtual teams and what it takes to effectively lead virtual teams. I will be inviting several of my colleagues to join me in posting their thoughts about these topics. We will use our personal experiences, articles from the popular press, and, very importantly, sound academic research to create our posts. There has been a considerable amount of relevant research, including our own, on virtual teams, leadership, collaboration, and computer-mediated communication (i.e., communication through email, instant messaging, discussion boards, video-conferencing, wikis, blogs, and virtual worlds), which my colleagues and I plan to use when writing for this blog. By integrating relevant research into our posts, we hope to contribute to bridging the gap that exists between practice and academic research.
I look forward to seeing you and hearing from you on this blog. This blog can gain from a dialog with those who “practice” and “study” virtual teams. We will gain useful insights only if I challenge your knowledge and you challenge mine. As long as we challenge each other’s ideas rather than each other, this blog posting may be the beginning of a promising new relationship!
Surinder Kahai,
I agree with your statement:
Leaders of a virtual team face many challenges when leading a virtual team, including team building, motivating and developing team members from afar, rewarding team members even when they have no authority over their pay, and facilitating shared leadership and team learning.
If you had to describe the most important skill required of a virtual team leader, what would be your choice?
I recently completed my dissertation leading to a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) degree. My dissertation research was conducted in the area of virtual team leadership. Specifically, I used the Delphi methodology to answer the following research question: What skills contribute to the leadership of a virtual team?
FYI – The Delphi methodology is a qualitative research method which requires gaining the consensus of a panel of experts on a particular topic or issue. In my dissertation my Delphi panel of 25 experts came to a consensus (84% or higher) that the following 20 skills contributed most to the leadeship of a virtual team:
The top leadership skill was EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATOR – I am sure you guessed that one. Here were the final results of my research which should be available and published in ProQuest soon.
1. The virtual team leader should possess an ability to know, understand and practice effective interpersonal communications including the ability to (a) communicate effectively, (b) summarize and write clearly, (d) take the time to listen and (e) provide timely and constructive feedback through communications media.
2 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to build relationships, create a climate of trust and openness and encourage mutual trust among team members.
3 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to understand team dynamics, and assess the skills and attributes of each team member.
4 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to influence team members to claim roles and ownership of tasks towards completion of the mission.
5 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to stimulate energy and urgency in all team members to ensure all tasks are completed on time.
6 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to ensure all meetings are well run with organized agendas, and know how to
effectively and objectively evaluate meetings.
7 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to influence each team member in developing a team mindset.
8 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to envision the big picture, think strategically, and guide the team towards understanding and achieving the main purpose, objective or goal.
9 The virtual team leader should possess the ability in a shared environment to (a) set up a plan, (b) outline proposed tasks, (c) define clear team processes and (d) clarify the task relationships to the team goals.
10. The virtual team leader should possess the ability in a shared environment to (a)organize and structure tasks through the team processes, (b)relay and coordinate task-related information and procedures to team members and (c) facilitate completion of tasks effectively to achieve the common goal.
11 The virtual team leader should possess an ability to motivate team members to accomplish the common goal.
12 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to strategically solve problems.
13 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to delegate tasks and duties to virtual team members.
14 The virtual team leader should possess strong organizational and follow-up skills.
15 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to encourage all members to participate in team activities.
16 The virtual team leader should possess an open, friendly, honest, trusting, tough, and hard-working personality.
17 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to coach and mentor team members.
18 The virtual team leader should possess a positive attitude, be committed to success and be able tofocus on producing high quality output.
19 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to remain calm and control emotions in instances of ambiguity.
20 The virtual team leader should possess the ability to not be offended easily, or in other words be ‘thick skinned’.
The results of my research is supported and corroborate by most everything I have read on the subject of leading virtual teams.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my findings with you and others on this web site. I look forward to further excellent conversations on the subject.
Best,
Jonathan Whited, DBA
Dr. Whited, I am starting my dissertation phase (DBA-Management) and my topic area is also virtual teams. If I may, what were your recommendations for future research?
Thanks,
Recardo