Developing Virtual Team Leaders

By Tara L. Guillot

The skills and competencies sought in a virtual team leader share many characteristics with those of traditional teams. However, many of the processes necessary for sustaining a healthy virtual team depend even more heavily on the team leader than they would in a traditional team environment. Although some high-performing virtual teams will transfer leadership within the group as needed, this is not typical. In most virtual environments, a specified individual acts as the leader and guides the work of the team while acting as mentor and coach to the team members.

Leadership of virtual teams has two components: leading the individuals and leading the group. Although some of the responsibilities overlap, a virtual team leader must balance focus between the two. Placing two much attention on leading individual members will dangerously cloud the leader’s view of the picture. Focusing on the overall goal and excluding individual accomplishments keeps the leader from noticing and plugging skill gaps until deadlines and timelines are in jeopardy.

Participating in a coaching relationship with virtual team members places suitable emphasis on both individual and group accountability without turning accountability into an out-of-control ruling monster that pits team members against each other.

In virtual teams where members are drawn from a variety of cultures or organizations, team leaders should be familiar with each culture or organization so that they are aware of how the team members may be affected. When language differences are a factor, the team leader—if not fluent in all languages included in the team—should have a support network of trusted language experts to use or the reliable language translation software. When evaluating situations in cross-cultural virtual teams, the leader should be able vigilant about not allowing his or her belief system to filter ideas, concepts, conflicts, or resolutions.

In traditional team environments, team members maintain a relationship with the overall organizational structure. They are aware of where they stand within the organization and with co-workers not specifically assigned to the team. Within virtual teams these relationships may blur because of the disparate time and geographic elements. The virtual team leader serves as the anchor for the both the individual and the group. He or she serves as a resource for each of the member’s parent organizations. It is the responsibility of the virtual team leader to ascertain that the work of the virtual team is seen in a positive light b outside elements. This is important for when the team members leave the virtual team and return to the organization full-time.

In addition, virtual team leaders should exhibit and model all or most of the following:

The ability to facilitate electronically. This means having a clear understanding of the chosen technology as well as ways to use the technology to the team’s advantage. They should be cognizant of the unique aspects of virtual facilitation, such as prompting silent members to participate.

The ability to measure workloads. The team leader should monitor the task load placed on team members by the virtual team and by other work elements. Leaders should know how to recognize and deal with signs of overload. In addition, the team leader should have available alternative resources in case a team member must unexpectedly leave the team.

The ability to network. The virtual team may be a single entity within a much larger project or organization. As such, it may need to borrow resources.  The team leader facilitates and networks to make this possible.

The ability to institute reward and recognition programs. Even more than traditional teams, virtual teams may become so focused on their general goal that they become insulated from the outside structures that team members were drawn from. Therefore, virtual team leaders may need to create specific incentives, rewards, and recognition for use within the team and to keep the team members connected to their parent organizations.

The ability to empower. Because virtual teams are dispersed, not all members will simultaneously have all the necessary information to make minor decisions. Virtual team members need to feel empowered to seek out and use the team members or outside resources that can resolve issues quickly without threatening the structure of the team. The virtual team leader smoothes this process by combining coaching and empowerment to foster informed risk taking within the team.

Establish processes

A vital role of the team leader is to help establish the team’s processes and strategies to stay on task. Each member of a virtual team comes from a background that has its own work processes and strategies. A virtual team has to find a way to incorporate and adjust standard processes to the team’s work. These adjusted processes must become accepted standards and should minimize the damage of any changes that could influence the team, such as the entry or departure of team members or international events that might hamper communication channels.

Draw a mission statement. Drawing up a detailed team mission statement and formal goal definition provides virtual teams with a structure. This structure will help the team stay on task. The processes and norms that develop out of the mission statement will serve as a bridge between cultures because they become the team’s processes as opposed to those of a specific culture. Processes should support multicultural and multifunctional task orientations.

Establish a code of conduct. Virtual teams should establish a code of conduct. This should cover communication style, conflict management, the position of the leader within the structure of the group, consequences of commitment lapses, and any other elements that members might indicate as a threat.

Create a document storage method. As part of the established processes, virtual teams require a document storage method that is secure but easily accessed by team members. Requirements for contributing to documents should be outlined in the team processes. When determining a storage method, ask the following questions:

• Are documents stored in this area?
• Are drafts permitted?
• Are authors noted or does the team as a whole assume ownership of all documents?
• How will documents be organizaed and who will maintain the organizational structure?
• Who has the authority to accept of reject documents?
• How will final documents be created and dispersed?
• If team members speak different languages, what will be the accepted document language?

Criteria for documentation should be written and provided to each team member. This will curtail misunderstandings and encourage adherence and accountability. If your team is having trouble staying on task, sending out a reminder message with the agreed-upon document storage method will help steer them back on track.

Write job descriptions. Virtual teams built around the skills of individual members should create detailed job descriptions and task definitions. Resources should be included in the descriptions, and team members should have a copy as a reference. This reference also will help keep team members focused. The negative aspects and risks that may be encountered within each role should be included in the job description. Addressing possible negative aspects of virtual participation early in the life cycle of the team allows team members to establish a comfort level when they reach an impasse rather than bury issues that could smolder and explode later in the team’s development.  

Clarify communication standards. There should be early clarification of communication standards. The tendency is to include everyone in everything as part of the trust-building process. But in some cases, this can be defeating and slow the productivity of a normally high-performing virtual team. If possible, groupings for communication should be created around common knowledge so team members don’t feel slighted when they aren’t included in every meeting or communication thread.

Set meeting format.  Most teams, virtual or traditional, require meetings to move forward with some elements of the work. When establishing processes and norms for a virtual team. It is a good idea to set down the format and requirements for team meetings. Ask the following questions:

• If the meetings are going to be real-time electronic conferences, cal ll members guarantee attendance at a majority of the meetings?

• Does each team member have the technology necessary to hold virtual meetings, and what is there experience level with the technology?

• What are the consequences if a team member doesn’t attend a meeting?

• Who has the authority to call a team meeting?

• Who will facilitate virtual meetings?

• How will information and documents be shared during virtual meetings?

• How will a record of meeting discussions and decisions be kept?

• Who is responsible for recording the results of a team meeting.

Addressing these issues early on will prevent progress delays.

Address technical issues. As the virtual team addresses challenges of documentation, technology issues are sure to arise. Compatibility of technology, if not standardization, is essential within a virtual team. Trying to communicate across virtual borders with incompatible communication tools can seriously undermine productivity, trust, and eventually the goal of the virtual team. Team members should be encouraged to voice comfort levels with the chosen technology. The team leader or the sponsoring organization should take responsibility for confirming compatibility of technology across the team. The team leader, or specific team member, should have access to technology experts in case there is a technological disaster.

Establish conflict-resolution procedures. Conflict is inevitable within any team. It can be minor, or it can threaten the mission and structure of the team.  Traditional teams often can overlook minor conflicts without damage. But even minor conflicts within a virtual team can grow disproportionately in a short amount of time because the members don’t have a way to judge the impact of the conflict. Virtual team can be prey to conflict within the team and conflict imposed on the team by outside influences.

The team leader should emphasize that public and private methods of conflict resolution may be used at the discretion of the parties involved. This will keep any one-on-one conversations about a conflict situation from being viewed as secretive and damaging to the trust level of the group.

Determine evaluation methods. Spell out procedures for evaluating and commenting on individual work and the work of the team as a whole. This is especially true when team membership is spread over cultural boundaries. Within some cultures, it is considered a flaw to speak highly of oneself, which is inevitably a factor in self-evaluation. Members who belong to this culture could easily skew evaluation statistics by making light of personal and team contributions.

Templates are valuable process tools for virtual teams. Having a template with each segment specifically defined encourages members to evaluate based on a team culture rather than a personal culture.

Encourage feedback. Feedback can increase or destroy productivity within a virtual team. The leader should model the volume of feedback. With some teams, group discussion boards can be used for feedback without the volume of messages becoming overwhelming. Other team will become focused on feedback to the detriment of task work.

Team leaders also can provide a feedback template based on the project. The template can address such issues as

• What is outstanding from the previous week?
• Are there any issues you need help with?
• What percentage of your time have you applied to the project since last week?
• How satisfied are you with your work on the project and with overall progress?

Determine adjournment process. Virtual teams that have been brought together for a specific duration should incorporate some sort of adjournment processes into the structure. Address who will be responsible for the adjournment process, when the group’s work will be considered complete, and other standard elements of project completion.

Virtual teams are not a phenomenon but rather a permanent offshoot of the creation of the technology that supports them. As the technology expands, the role of virtual teams will grow.

This article is adapted from Infoline 250205.