The team is dead... long live the virtual team

How to lead and live in a Virtual team

The new team model requires a fundamental rethink of traditional team management and leadership concepts.

• Project versus team vision

As we discussed earlier, the Virtual team has different characteristics than those identified by identified by Larson and LaFasto:

1. A clear, elevating goal;
2. Results-driven structure;
3. Competent team members;
4. Arms-length commitment;
5. Specialist climate;
6. Standards of excellence;
7. External support and recognition; and
8. Principled leadership.

As a result, the shared vision and clear, elevating goal, which in a traditional team was focussed on the team and the company as well as the project, must be replaced by the project vision.

In our project management approach, we argue that all members of the project team are completely involved in building the Project Business Case. This set of information is built during the planning process and is the "contract of service" between the project manager, the sponsor, the Virtual team members and the project stakeholders.

It is essential that all Virtual team members understand and share totally the commitment to both managing and achieving the project’s Business Case. As new members join, they must be given an opportunity to, not only, become completely familiar with the Business Case, but also, to modify the Business Case to reflect their own skills and experience.

The Virtual team project manager cannot continue the common practice of restricting technical people to the "smaller picture" of the technical requirements only. Having team members only understanding a small portion of the project leads to "small commitment".

Virtual Team Tip 1
Shared ownership of the project Business Case is the only mechanism that binds a Virtual Team.

Soft Glue vs. Hard Glue

In traditional teams, the ‘soft glue" of Unified Commitment often meant that work assignments and work or task inter-dependencies were worked out informally between friends. Conflicts were resolved quietly and team members would assist other team members when trouble emerged.

In a Virtual team, the detail of work assignments and inter-dependencies must be formalised and binding. While the project Business Case will provide the "glue" at the vision-level, there must be a highly structured arrangement between the Virtual project team manager and each Virtual team member regarding the work expected on the project.

In our approach to project management, formal agreements for service are developed for all critical stakeholders and, as shown in Figure 4, a similar agreement must be developed for Virtual team members [especially if they are from other organisations such as consulting and contracting companies]. While there should be some form of legal contract if outside organisations are involved, in our experience, the legal contract is not detailed enough for team management issues.

Fig. 4 – Virtual Team Member Agreement

While the Project Execution Plan [Gantt charts, etc.] will outline the tasks and resources, the Virtual Team Member Agreement provides greater control for the Virtual team project manager. In particular, the focus on a Contingency resource has proved very successful in enabling the project manager to quickly resolve conflicts when a Virtual team member is "lost".

Virtual Team Tip 2
In Virtual teams, trust is replaced with contracts. Always write the relationship down.

Focus on harder leadership roles

In traditional teams, the role of the project or team manager in establishing an environment of support and trust was critical. In terms of the Belbin model, the Coordinator [previously termed the Chairperson] and Team Worker roles were typically the most dominant as these "softer" leadership roles focussed on building and maintaining the "soft glue" of Unified Commitment.

In a Virtual team, both the Chairperson and Team Worker roles are absent. As we discussed earlier, it is not the role of a project manager leading a Virtual team to nurture the people in his or her team.

In Virtual teams, the Shaper, Monitor-Evaluator and Completer roles are more dominant. These roles focus on the work and the quality of the work rather than the people in the team.

Virtual Team Tip 3
People and task management is replaced with task management.

A clear code of professional conduct

All high-performing teams share a strong team culture. It evolves as the team evolves and provides an essential definition of "how we like to work together around here". Like all cultures, it involves un-written rules on behaviour [acceptable and un-acceptable], attitude, dress, language, conflict resolution and so on. New team members generally learn the team culture through a combination of experience and observation. As observed by social anthropologists and organisational experts, a strong culture will outlive the people and, it is through the passing on of team culture that the traditional team survives as team members change.

In a Virtual team, the informal team culture must be replaced with a formal and public Code of Conduct – see Appendix A. This Code of Conduct explains to Virtual team members the rules and behaviour required by all team members.

As new team members join the team, they must be shown the Code of Conduct and it should be explained to them that the project manager will enforce the Code. In the case of external consultants, the Code of Conduct must be included in any formal negotiations prior to the consultant joining the team.

Virtual Team Tip 4
In Virtual teams, informal team cultures are replaced with a formal Code of Conduct.

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