So a lot of my students these days (particularly the part-time students) want to know all about "virtual teams"; that is, teams that work together on a project without having any shared physical space. Well, the first thing to know about virtual teams is that there is a lot of differences between them! One the one hand you may have a "virtual team" that is all members of the same organization, all speaking the same language and using the same terminology, all coming from mostly the same basic assumptions about goals, processes, products, etc. On the other hand, you can have a virtual team where one member is in NYC, a second member is in LA, a third member is in Paris, a fourth in Beijing, a fifth in Cairo, etc. And to top it off, at least 2 of those "team members" are either independent consultants or are employed by another organization, so they don't operate within the same structures, systems and norms as some of the others!
So there are virtual teams, and then there are virtual teams.
So a few things to know about virtual teams...
First, despite what you may think, virtual teams in various shapes and sizes have been around for quite a while. The East India company operated in many ways as a set of virtual teams, with ship captains and traders having to coordinate their actions, and predict the actions of their partners, over distances of thousands of miles, in order to maximize profit. The armies of the Romans, Greeks, Persians, and other ancient empires managed to coordinate actions over hundreds of miles, varied terrain, and a multitude of logistical problems (weather, travel conditions, repairs, supplies, etc.) to bring different battalions together at a central point at the same time. So "virtual" coordination of effort, intelligence and information isn't new. The difference now is that it happens, quite honestly, a lot easier and faster than it used to!
The critical thing to know about virtual teams is that they really aren't *that* different from any other team around. They just have a harder time engaging in full sharing of information. Personally, my belief is that the modern idea of the virtual team (where a relatively small amount of people share information and engage in problem solving using computer mediated technologies) was dreamed up by a few hard-core, introverted engineers who thought "If only we all interacted through a *computer*! Then we wouldn't need to to deal with all these people problems!" The dream of a group of people coming together cybernetically into a purely rational network of cognitive function and efficient information transfer however dashes against the sharp, jagged rocks of human perception, emotional reaction and behavior. We just aren't wired for it (literally and figuratively)!
So if you want to have a well-functioning virtual team, you need to treat it like you are *supposed* to treat a "normal" (face to face) team, only more so. You need to be incredibly clear up front about the goals, roles and procedures that will govern the team; you need to make sure that everyone understands them and has accepted them (at least for the duration of the team project); you need to touch base routinely with team members both collectively (a meeting) and individually to find out what is going on, what problems they might be having, what opportunities might exist for synergy within the team, etc.
So being a part of a virtual team is a lot of work. Especially as a leader or manager, but even for non-leader team members. Communication errors happen more often, it is easier to get off track with each others' work, and there is generally little sense of team cohesion or social connection. So why do it?
Well, the great thing about virtual teams in the modern world is that it allows for specialists to work together regardless of physical constraints. An engineering company I do a lot of work with has as one of their corporate mottoes "Design Anywhere: Build Anywhere". They have about 50 different locations throughout the US, each one purchased over time because there was a distinct bit of local expertise or knowledge. So by implementing virtual teams (one member in NY, one in NH, one in TX, one in WA, etc.) they get to leverage the knowledge and assets that they have without spending a lot of time and money on airline flights. So that is the big advantage of the virtual teams: access to the best expertise that you can get, wherever it may be. Is it worth it? For some certainly. But all to easy to mess up.
So remember, if you are setting up a virtual team, outline the basics clearly, early and often; make sure all team members are routinely updated about all aspects of the project and how the pieces are going to fit together; and make sure to touch base regularly with individual team members to provide a sense of connection, continuity and support.
Good luck!
